Permissions on an external hard drive

Can someone PLEASE help.
I have two external hard drives that when I plug into my MacBook come up as read only. I have tried to use the Get Info and change the Ownership & Permissions settings, but there is no options, it just tells me I can read only. Can someone walk me thru how to change these settings so I can write to my external HD's?
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)

If you intend on using the drives only with a Mac, follow the instructions above, but reformat the drives to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) instead of MS-DOS or FAT32. If for some reason you can't or don't want to change the format of the drives, such as the drive needing to contain a file which is 4GB or larger, or not having enough free space elsewhere to store the contents of the drive temporarily, install MacFUSE on the Mac OS X system unless the first sentence is applicable to your situation.
(21212)

Similar Messages

Permissions problem with External Hard drive.

Hi,
I've been using my external hard drive for almost a year now and out of the blue last night I ran into a interesting problem. For some reason I couldn't transfer any files to a thumb drive and shortly after I realized I didn't have Read and write permissions for any files on my mac, and everything required my password to get to. I went into disk utility and repaired the permissions and the list went on forever. Upon completion of that nothing was resolved.
SO! I popped in my Snow leopard disk and did a repair of the permissions and system through there hoping that would fix it. I than booted up the main drive and got stabbed in the face with a HUGE error message upon the apple loading screen with a "MISSING DRIVER" "KERNAL ERROR" "CORRUPT FILE" etc.
I went back and did a restore from my external harddrive hoping that would work, and it did. I can access my time machine backups from my external harddrive but cannot do so through my own control.
What should I do? Should I reformat my external harddrive? Which would suck because I'm a paranoid freak and if something would happen during the reformatting I will lose literally over a year of work that is crucial.
error message upon opening my backup
http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k302/nomhak/?action=view&current=Screenshot201 0-03-01atMarch1-201061.png
error message upon trying to backup
http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k302/nomhak/?action=view&current=Screenshot201 0-03-01atMarch1-201-1.png
icon of backup drive
http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k302/nomhak/?action=view&current=Screenshot201 0-03-01atMarch1-201062.png
Can anyone shed some light?

nomhak wrote:
I went back and did a restore from my external harddrive hoping that would work, and it did. I can access my time machine backups from my external harddrive but cannot do so through my own control.
What is that, a "clone?" What do you mean by "cannot do so through my own control."?
What should I do? Should I reformat my external harddrive? Which would suck because I'm a paranoid freak and if something would happen during the reformatting I will lose literally over a year of work that is crucial.
Again, what's on that drive? Do you have a clone and TM backups on the same external? If so, are they in the same partition?
error message upon trying to backup
http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k302/nomhak/?action=view&current=Screenshot201 0-03-01atMarch1-201-1.png
This one says you need to repair or reformat the disk; that means your backups are corrupted.
Try to do a +*Repair Disk+* (not permissions) on it.
If there are errors that Disk Utility can't fix, or the +*Repair Disk+* option is grayed out (meaning OSX has already determined that it can't fix it), post back.

Restore permissions on an external hard drive

I have recently upgraded my computer. My external hard drive, a LaCie 320GB, is full of stuff that I want to get rid of. Can't delete it. Looked into the permissions and it turns out they belong to an unknown user. I tried clicking the little lock and trying to change permissions, but it will not let me interact with the drop down menu.
I believe there is a terminal command to reset permissions locally, however, I cannot figure out how to do so on an external drive.
Suggestions?
Thanks

Permissions with an external Hard Drive

Have just got a new 20 inch Intel Core Duo(1)and its great. Being a recent switcher, a lot of my stuff is on external hard drives formatted by windows XP machines. I am able to access the photos, music etc, but when I try to delete or modify anything I am told that I am not Authorised to change it. I have read only status. I have tried altering the permissions via the utilities in OS X but everything useful is greyed out. I am not even allowed to just delete the whole thing!
The hard drive is a USB Porshe Lacie drive.160Gb
How can I gain access to delete/change my files?
Please help

The drive's are almost certainly formatted as NTFS. Mac OS X can only read from NTFS volumes, it cannot write to them. Since it cannot write to them, it cannot delete anything, since the FATs (File Allocation Tables) cannot be updated.
OS X can read and write to FAT32 formated disks, so your only option is to reformat the drives to HFS+ (preferable) or FAT32 (if you still need them to be accessable by Windows machines).

Can't seem to change the permissions on an external hard drive

HEELLLLPPP! We have a Western Digital terabyte hard drive that we initially set up on our Mac. We backed up both my husband's and my iTunes libraries to this hard drive from our individual work PCs, and reconnected to the Mac to do some duplicate file clean up. . . only the durn Drive seems to have it's permissions now locked as read only. Is there a way to re-set the Western Digital permissions on the Mac so that we can truly clean up and delete all duplicate files? We both just spent a combined effort of about 25 hours in iTunes deleting (we THOUGHT) almost 25 gig of duplicates, but when they didn't delete from the hard drive. . .
Repair of this drive in Disk Utility is not available (all options grayed out), we have re-hooked it up to our windows PCs and reset file attributes, security, etc. and given "Full Control" to all users, and it still shows up as Read Only on the Mac.
Anybody have any ideas?

Select the drive in the Finder and choose Get Info from the File menu; if it is listed as being in the Windows NT Filesystem, install a software package such as this one onto the Mac.
(26308)

Lost ownership and permissions on an external hard drive

Hey,
I have a LaCie 500GB external HD that i connect to my MacBook via firewire.
I was checking the amount of space left of the external HD by clicking command-I on it. I accidentally changed the ownership & permissions and now my account has no access to it. I can't see the HD on my desktop but when I go into Disk Utility, i can see that it's there but I can't repair its permissions.
to see whether I could still have access to it, I created another user account and gave it admin status and am able to access the HD there.
Is there any way to restore the ownership and persmissions of my external HD on my primary account?
i feel stupid
many thanks

I was excited by a resolution to the same problem I have (I don't know what Ownership & Permissions I should have on my external -- bootable -- HD). Mistakenly I used Leopard to set them up rather than Mac OSX 10.4.11. Now I no longer had access to the HD nor would it show up on the desktop on Mac OSX 10.4.11 although the Disk Utitlity showed that it existed. I finally erased and cloned the disk but don't know what Permissions I should set it at. "Niel" supposedly answered this problem but his answer was "click here and follow the instructions" which does not show up on the forum. I can't find any other discussion of my specific problem nor an explanation of various permissions sets for Hard Disks internal nor external. If someone could help me I would be grateful. I am in Japan far from any Apple Stores or shops. Thank you.

How do i change read/write permission on an external hard drive?

how do i change read/write permissions for an external hard drive?

If, on the otherhand, you are trying to write to a drive that is formatted NTFS (for Windows), and can't.
You have two choices...
1. Reformat the drive. Either Mac OS format, if you are using this only on your Mac. Or ExFAT, or FAT 32 if you intend to use it on both a Mac OS computer and a Windows unit. note: ExFAT is not suported by XP.
2. Install one of the drivers necessary for the Mac to write to a NTFS volume. Unless you want the experience of having the support for this being one that is sporadic, avoid this. I used to be a strong proponent of NTFS-3G, until I started having the problems with Lion, that many users warned us about. Go this route only if you find you must use NTFS on your drive. Paragon and Tuxtera are the sources for these.

Permissions problem when copying files from external hard drive

Hi.
I have recently reinstalled leopard (wiped the hard drive clean) on my macbook pro. (10.5.4). I had used Time Machine so I have a complete backup. But I only wanted a few of the files so I didn't do a backup restore. I went into the file directory of the backup on my external hard drive and dragged the folders I wanted back over to my laptop.
But I'm in permissions **** though! When I want to copy them over I get an alert saying you may not have privilege to do this and asks for my password. I enter my password and it copies fine. But every time I want to do anything with those files (like move them, or delete them) I have to re enter a password.
So, inside of the terminal I do a "ls -al" command to see whats going on and find that everything is the same as a natively created folder except for a '@' on the permissions column. I do a "ls -al@' to see more details and I get this:
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 xenition staff 204 Jul 20 17:08 Assets
com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineNewestSnapshot 50
com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineOldestSnapshot 50
I did run repair permissions from Disk Utility and it didn't solve it. How can I resolve the permissions on these files?
Message was edited by: risingtiger

run ls -aleO on the copied files and see if there are any ACLs or flags.
BTW, another (and possibly better) way to restore files from an old TM drive is via TM interface. control-click on TM in the dock and choose "browse other TM disks" select a disk to browse and go at it. when you try to restore something you'll be prompted for a location to restore it to and maybe a password.

After trying to change permissions on my computer so others on my network can access files, my external Hard Drive has a lock on it and I can't access files. I've tried repairing permissions, logging in under another Administrator account, using Terminal

After trying to change permissions on my computer so others on my network can grab files, my external Hard Drive has a lock on it and I can't access files. I've tried repairing permissions, logging in under another Administrator account, using Terminal to fix the problem, downloaded BatChmod but nothing works… Any other suggestions? I have an Imac running OS10.6.8.

There is suddenly a lock icon on my external backup drive!
Custom Permissions

Data recovery from a Lacie external Hard Drive with blocked permissions

I have a Lacie 160 gig external hard drive. While trying to block another user on my computers data from being unintentionally stored on the external drive, I apparently blocked all access to the HD. After single clicking on the drives icon I clicked on File, get info, in ownership and permission I must have chosen no access. I guess I blocked access on the device and not a file. I'm finding out this is a bad thing. Now the external drives icon doesn't appear on the desk top. I can find it in disk utility but the apple care guy says the only way to access the drive is by erasing all the data on the drive. He said I might find help here. Is there 3rd party software that deals with this? Maybe drive recovery? Any suggestions are welcome.
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.4)

If the volume has Mac OS X installed on it, select the disk in the Disk Utility window and click the Repair Permissions button; this will correct the settings. If not, follow the instructions below:
Choose Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu and enter /Volumes/ as the folder's location. Next, open the Terminal in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder while keeping the Volumes folder open. Type the following into the window:
chmod 755
followed by a space. Drag the volume in question into the Terminal window and press Enter. Log out and back in, and see if the drive reappears on your desktop; if not, use:
sudo chown shortname
and then drag the volume back into the Terminal window, type in your administrator password, and press Enter. Log out and back in.
(10491)

External Hard Drives Changing Permissions to Read Only

Three of my USB external hard drives have suddenly changed to read only. One of the times I was trying to transfer/back-up the files from one drive that had changed to read only to another external. Suddenly the second drive changed permissions. Then after plugging a third external, that drive changed permissions. They all were working perfectly fine with my computer and I have only been using them on MACS. Any explanations? Could there be something wrong with my USB ports? Is it possible to have a virus of some sort?
Thank you!

In disk utility I had a look. I cannot verify or set permission (greyed out). The data coming back from info. How can I change this??
Name : FUJITSU MHZ2320BH G1 Media
Type : Disk
Partition Map Scheme : Master Boot Record
Disk Identifier : disk2
Media Name : FUJITSU MHZ2320BH G1 Media
Media Type : Generic
Connection Bus : USB
USB Serial Number : 560A48A291F9
Device Tree : /PCI0/EHC1@1D,7/@3:0
Writable : Yes
Ejectable : Yes
Mac OS 9 Drivers Installed : No
Location : External
Total Capacity : 298,1 GB (320.072.933.376 Bytes)
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
Disk Number : 2
Partition Number : 0
Name : NieuwVolume
Type : Volume
Disk Identifier : disk2s1
Mount Point : /Volumes/NieuwVolume
File System : Windows NT File System (NTFS)
Connection Bus : USB
Device Tree : /PCI0/EHC1@1D,7/@3:1
Writable : No
Universal Unique Identifier : C7B58C48-D6BC-4078-9DAE-CB125901A4D6
Capacity : 298,1 GB (320.070.288.384 Bytes)
Free Space : 127,1 GB (136.438.530.048 Bytes)
Used : 171,0 GB (183.631.757.312 Bytes)
Number of Files : 85.578
Number of Folders : 0
Owners Enabled : No
Can Turn Owners Off : No
Can Be Formatted : No
Bootable : No
Supports Journaling : No
Journaled : No
Disk Number : 2
Partition Number : 1

External hard drive issue (lacking permissions)

Have a 1TB WD MyPassport external hard drive that I am not able to fully access (lacking permissions). I have tried to change this thru the "get info" and "Sharing & Permissions" tab, but it says "You can only read." This HD was formatted on Windows in NTFS and needs to still be accessable on Windows-based computers (home & work). Can I make it available on my newly purchased Mac too?
This HD has over 400GB of work-related data and must not be adapted in a way that jeapordized me from using it on a federal government computer, since I am in the Army.
Any solutions?

Thank you for your reply. The drive does come up in the Disk Utility after I reboot and connect the cable. You can click on the hard drive in Disk Utility and it indicates the volume (drive size). If you try to partition the drive the spinning wheel displays and it doesn't appear to do anything but lock up Disk Utility and it needs a Force Quit to close. Disk Utility displays the drive as 232.9 GB LaCie Group SA and below that text it says disk3s3 and is greyed out. I have tried to erase and partition the drive but the Disk Utility locks up. Is there a way to get disk back to its original factory install condition so I may attempt to format it? Is there a UNIX disk utility that could force an erase and partition? Thanks for your help.

I recently purchased an external hard drive to back up my iMovies. When I try to open the movies on the backup I get a message "you may not have permission to modify that folder" How do I change permissions on the backup?

I recently purchased an external hard drive to back up my iMovies. When I try to open the movies on the backup I get a message "you may not have permission to modify that folder" How do I change permissions on the backup?

Hi
One Must NEVER move or alter any folders named
• iMovie Event's - or -
• iMovie Projects - or - alike
on DESKTOP/FINDER - Ever ! - ONLY Within the iMovie Program ! else all connections are broken and hard to impossibly to mend !
but rather do as described here under
Moving Event's and Project's
Connection - Either connect one Mac in Target mode to the other via FireWire. Or use an external hard disk !
(Target-Mode - Start one Mac e.g. laptop - BUT keep T-key down during full up-start - Now a FW-symbol is jumping around the screen and it will work as an external hard disk when connected to the other Mac)
A. The External Hard Disk - MUST BE - Mac OS Extended (hfs) formatted to work for Video. UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange works for most other things but not for Video whatever program is used (iMovie or FinalCut)
B. Should be a FireWire one as USB/USB2 performs badly to me and especially when filling up
C. Do never Move or Alter any folder named
• iMovie Event's - or -
• iMovie Project's
on DeskTop/Finder - as this will result in iMovie losing connections to them and repair can be anything from hard to impossibly
D. Moving and Copying must be done within iMovie application and Events to Events - and - Project's to Project's.
E. Moving Project's to Event's - Do not work for me - I have to export project as a QuickTime movie then Import this into Events.
Event's window can show two faces
Like this
or like this
from one hard disk Event - You can move it to the other hard disk
You can not (at least not me) move Event to Project or other way around only
Event to Event and Project to Project
Yours Bengt W

My external hard drive has "read only" permissions for me, how come?

1 TB Seagate hard drive, USB connected
i can see and move files FROM it to my MacBook Pro, but i cannot copy files back to my Seagate drive
its sharing and permissions are set to "You can only read"

rick_kimberlee wrote:
Nope, locks me out; turns out Seagate had Mac flavored and PC flavored external hard drives; alas, mine is a PC flavored one...
rick_kimberlee you can read more here on reformatting with your Disk Utility:
http://db.tidbits.com/article/10307
Hope this solves your problem.

I mounted my external hard drive to a pc and now I don't have edit or write permissions on my Mac (read only). How do I get them back without erasing the drive?

Hello all, I am a photographer and have my portfolio, edited and raw images backed up on a Seagate Free Agent External Hardrive. I mounted my external hard drive to a pc recently and now I don't have edit or write permissions to it on my Mac (read only). How do I get them back without erasing the drive and loosing my valuable work?

If you re-format it you will lose all the data on it!!!!! So make sure you have backed up the drive or moved all the data on it to another external HD or the internal HD on your iMac.
Below is an Apple Advice letter that explains how to format an external HD, it's written for Aperture but you can use the instructions to formate any external HD.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3509

Permissions on an external hard drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for