Read-only floppy drive

For some reason my floppy drive mounts as read-only, so I can't copy anything to a floppy disk. I've tried changing the permissions on the block device, which in this case is /volsys/dev/diskette0/nonunique, but it won't let me. I'm running Solaris 2.6 on an Ultra2.

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately I still can't get it to work. For some reason I can't mount the floppy drive with the mount command- it only mounts using <volcheck>. Here's how I tried to mount it: mount -F pcfs -o rw /volsys/dev/diskette0/nonunique /floppy. This didn't work because the block device 'nonunique' only shows up when I use volcheck, and by that time the floppy is already mounted. I also tried mounting the floppy on /dev/diskette0, but it wouldn't let me (error said '/dev/diskette0 already mounted, /floppy busy, or number of mount points exceeded'). I have another Ultra2 with identical software that mounts the floppy read/write on the same block device (except it's called 'unnamed_floppy'). What's going on? Any more help would be greatly appreciated because this is driving me crazy.

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Read Only Thumb Drive

I'm having a problem with "permissions" for a 1G Thumb Drive. Basically, I am being offered "read only" for this thumb drive. Using Utility, I can verify the drive, but the repair permissions options is grayed out. I cannot erase and reformat either.
Using Get Info, I can see that the thumb drive is FAT16 and that the drive has "read only" permissions. I've ticked the "shared folder" box - still not able to write to the drive. There is no "ignore permissions" option offered. I have other drives of the same type that work with Leopard - just this particular one is for some reason locked into "read only".
I'm curious as to why this one, which is new and has never been used, will not work with Leopard (It works on my Panther notebook and with my Windows PC). I'm also curious as to how to change or repair permissions for this problem.
Thanks for any advice.
Jill

It may be because a Leopard Mac can't write to a FAT16 file system. Reformat to FAT32 on your Windows box and see if that fixes the problem. Repair permissions is only available for drives that contain a Mac OS, since it only repairs the components of an Apple OS install.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Read only external drive

I'm trying to copy some photos from my Macbook Pro to an external drive, but the drive is coming up as read only.
When I plug it into a PC its fine and I've amended the properties to share all.
Any ideas?
I could copy them to a memory stick a couple at a time, but that could take some time.

It's likely the drive was formatted on your PC... in which case, it will be formatted as NTFS. This is a proprietary format that only Microsoft uses. OS X can read NTFS formatted drives, but it cannot natively write to them. If you plan on sharing the drive between a Mac and a PC, you can reformat the drive as FAT32 (NOTE: this will erase everything on the drive, so be sure to have a copy of your data elsewhere)... OR, you can install something like NTFS-3G (free) which will allow your Mac to write to NTFS formatted drives:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g

'Read only' hard drives/SD Card

I have run into this problem multiple times, with many different hard drives and SD Cards. When I plug the drive into my USB port and select 'Get Info', the permissions always says 'Read only'. Is there a security or sharing feature that I can turn off to enable me to write on external hard drives.
This occurs when the drive is formatted using a PC, in DOS format, I believe. If I format the drive into OSX Journaled, everything is fine. But it's annoying when a colleague gives me his USB key to put a file on and I can't because I can't write on it. The other example is with my SD Cadr for my camera, I can format the card on my camera, then I can't write on it from my computer, but if I format the card on my computer, then I can't write on it from my camera. This is beginning to be a big pain. Before Mountain Lion, I could write no problem, I believe there is something wrong with the permissions.
Any thoughts?

I hope this thread of yours gains some traction as I am having a similar issue
I have a Windows-based home server here in the house, I can use "SMB://WHS_SERVER" to connect to it (just like I could in Lion & Mountain Lion) and can see anything that is on it's C: drive, but I can't see any actual files or folders on any one of the other three drives on the machine....
All four hard drives are NTFS and have the same admin user with full permission (to which I am telling OSX to log in as when it prompts me)
I've tried Paragon NTFS, OSX Fuse, and Tuxera... all to no avail.....
I just don't get why I can see everything on one drive but not the other (and could see all on Lion/Mountain-Lion), nothing has changed on the Windows server

Read only USB drive

I have attached an NTFS system USB drive to my new imac and it comes up as read only... How can i change permissions for me to be able to write onto the disk.
Can anybody help?
Thanks

Install software such as the NTFS-3G drivers.
(62097)

How can I stop Adobe Reader from reading (seeking) the floppy drive when opening/closing any PDF?

Ever since I opened a PDF file from my floppy drive Adobe Reader insists on checking/seeking/reading the floppy drive whenever I open and whenever I close any PDF (not using the floppy). It is very annoying, as I use many PDFs per day and it creates a delay and noise every time.

Edit>Preferences
Under Page Display:
Where it says "Location of referenced files", if it shows "Floppy Disk A:/" clear the box, or choose an alternate location if you can't clear it.
Also, under Search:
Click "Purge Cache Contents"

My external hard drive is suddenly locked. It doesn't unlock through 'get information' as I'm restricted to read only.

My external hard drive is suddenly locked. It doesn't unlock through 'get information' as I'm restricted to read only.

The drive has malfunctioned and corrupted itself. If that has ever happened before, or if it ever happens again, replace the drive. You may want to consider replacing it anyway for the safety of your data.
If you choose to keep using the problem drive, launch Disk Utility, select the volume, and run Repair Disk. If the volume can't be repaired, you'll have to erase it and start over. Don't do that unless you have at least two complete backups.

Floppy drive support in OSX. Any new solutions lately?

Hello,
I read that floppy drive support does not exist in OSX. Is this still the case today? Has anyone released any successful third party OSX floppy drivers lately that are known to work well?
My beige G3 has an internal floppy drive and in OSX the floppy drive is not recognized. This is simply the nature of OSX - there is no floppy drive support in any version of OSX - as far as I am aware.
I am writing this post to ask anyone if there are any new solutions to this issue. I see that there are some third party drivers but they seem to have negative reviews and cause more problems that it is worth.
(I might have to just use my external USB floppy drive that is attached to my other computer. However, it would be nice if I could use my built-in floppy drive on my beige)
Thanks.
PS
For anyone interested, here is one work around solution that I found for using the floppy drive. Its not as convenient, however, it is a solution: Restart the computer, insert an OS9 install CD and hold down the "C" key to boot up from the OS9 CD. The computer will now be in OS9 and the floppy will work. Copy your floppy files direct to the hard drive (i.e. don't use the desktop).

Without reliable OS X floppy drivers, you would have to resort to rebooting into OS 8 or 9 to use the floppy drive.
I wonder if anyone has considered mounting a USB floppy drive in that space. Some PCI cards have internal FW ports, but if you had an internal USB port, then possibly you could do some kind of custom installation, removing the stock floppy drive.
I think I would be more interested in putting a digital camera memory card reader in that floppy drive bay, or even a front panel USB port for use with a keychain USB drive. Anyone know of a way to put a USB port on the inside of your Desktop case?
Currently I use an external USB extension cord, maybe I could knock out the unused modem jack cover plate and snake the cable into there...maybe that's too much trouble.
G3 Desktop, SonnetEncoreZIF G4 1GHz, 768MB, WingsAV-6MB, DVR-106D, 60GB Maxtor Mac OS X (10.4.6) PCI: TempoUltraATA66-120GB Maxtor, 120GB Seagate; TangoUSB/FW; ATIRadeon-17" LCD

What Floppy Drive can I use with Mountain Lion to read and write floppy which can be read by SE30 with 7.1

I want to File Exchange between an iMac with 10.8.4 and a SE30 with 7.1.
All I want to do is install some software, such as Word 5.1 and a Chess game and some Fonts.
I have an external USB Floppy Drive but my iMac can only write to it IF I format as FAT, if I format it with the SE30 it can only be read and not written onto by the iMac.
Is there a way I can actually format/read/write Macintosh extended (HFS+) with Mountain Lion?
The external USB Floppy is a generic black one I bought from Amazon last week.
Someone else said I should get a Macally USB Floppy Drive and that reads/writes HFS+ etc with 10.8 no problem.
Is this because the Macally was released along with the Bondi Blue iMac?
I have tried using Apple Exchange on my SE30 - recorded some files onto the FAT formatted Floppy, and read it using Apple Exchange, but when 'translating' the Files transferred over as generic files which were no longer Macintosh programs or Files (eg Word 5.1 application or extensions/ Font suitcases etc) and could not be read.
Is there a way round this?
Or is there any way I can mount/read/write from the generic USB Floppy DRIVE with Sheepshaver (with 7.5.3)?
Any help or advice would be most appreciated.

>surely there must be some Terminal command or workaround for 10.8 to be able to Format in HFS?
Using dd to write an existing HFS disk image to a floppy may still work (but formatting/writing HFS from the operating system does not). You may want to compare this with the technique described in the article below. Obviously, this is only of interest if one wants to try creating floppies from certain (Disk Copy 4.2-style) downloaded 1.44 MB disk images.
http://lowendmac.com/brierley/08pb/classic-mac-boot-floppy.html
>If I got hold of an old iBook or Powerbook G4 (my sister has one) could I plug the USB Floppy drive I have into one of these and copy files over this way?
At least according to the following Wikipedia article, writing HFS has not been supported since Mac OS X 10.6. This should mean that your idea with the USB floppy drive connected to one of the older computers mentioned could work. BTW, I do not think that the USB floppy drive type/make/model is of importance in this very context.
Another idea could possibly be to use an even older intermediate computer for other file transfer methods (without a floppy).
A PowerBook 520/520c/540/540c could run Mac OS 8.1, if at all necessary. It has built-in Ethernet (an external AAUI to RJ-45 transceiver is used), which would allow TCP/IP connections over a network. A LocalTalk connection to the SE/30 can be established via a plain Macintosh MiniDIN-8M to MiniDIN-8M printer cable. With the correct SCSI cable/adapter, one could also use the PowerBook as an external hard disk for the SE/30 in SCSI disk mode.
A PowerBook 5300 can run Mac OS 8.1 or higher, if necessary. It does not have built-in Ethernet, but a PC Card (PCMCIA) network card can be used. Furthermore, with an inexpensive PC Card adapter for CompactFlash and a CompactFlash memory card, the computer would have a simple removable "hard disk". The CF card (in Mac or PC format) can be read by a modern computer (a USB reader may be needed), making it ideal for file transfers. LocalTalk can be used here too, and so can SCSI disk mode (HD target mode).
Jan

All USB drives mount as read only for user

I have searched a bunch and thee results I find seem to be irrelevant to my situation. Most relate to a single USB media that is a problem and won't read or write.
On a new Arch install on a new computer (my third base system install). Running Gnome.
All USB mass storage devices mount as read only for the logged in user. Root has write permissions and I can mkdir no problem. It is not an issue with the USB drive itself as this occurs with multiple USB media (I've tested several SD cards on a reader and at least two drives, all the media works correctly on my existing installations)
I'm posting the contents of my /etc/group file in case there's an obvious error there I don't see, and my dmesg output upon plugging in the drive. User name is changed in the group file posted to "archie"
This is a single-user system.
/ect/group
root:x:0:root
bin:x:1:root,bin,daemon
daemon:x:2:root,bin,daemon
sys:x:3:root,bin
adm:x:4:root,daemon
tty:x:5:
disk:x:6:root
lp:x:7:daemon
mem:x:8:
kmem:x:9:
wheel:x:10:root,archie
ftp:x:11:
mail:x:12:
uucp:x:14:archie
log:x:19:root
utmp:x:20:
locate:x:21:
rfkill:x:24:
smmsp:x:25:
http:x:33:
games:x:50:
lock:x:54:
uuidd:x:68:
dbus:x:81:
network:x:90:
video:x:91:
audio:x:92:
optical:x:93:
floppy:x:94:
storage:x:95:
scanner:x:96:
power:x:98:
nobody:x:99:
users:x:100:archie
systemd-journal:x:190:
archie:x:1000:
avahi:x:84:
polkitd:x:102:
rtkit:x:133:
gdm:x:120:
brlapi:x:999:
kvm:x:78:
ntp:x:87:archie
dmesg output
[ 968.044188] usb 4-3: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[ 968.170628] usb-storage 4-3:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 968.171435] scsi7 : usb-storage 4-3:1.0
[ 969.174450] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic USB SD Reader 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[ 969.175068] scsi 7:0:0:1: Direct-Access Generic USB MS Reader 1.03 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[ 969.939417] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] 15572992 512-byte logical blocks: (7.97 GB/7.42 GiB)
[ 969.941028] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 969.941037] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[ 969.944664] sd 7:0:0:1: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 969.945509] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[ 969.945517] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 969.952682] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[ 969.952693] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 969.956396] sdb: sdb1
[ 969.965003] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[ 969.965011] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 969.965015] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
I'm sure I'm just missing something in user management, but I can't find what.
Last edited by hooya (2014-04-27 03:10:49)

I am also having the same problem. Root can read and write to automounted drives, but my user cannot. I've tried with a variety of drives, I am assuming they are being automounted by root instead of the logged-in user somehow. (I am running x directly, and am not using a display manager, if that has anything to do with it).
When I look at how it is mounted it is as follows:
/dev/sdc1 on /run/media/myuser/drivename type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask=0022,dmask=0077,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,showexec,utf8,flush,errors=remount-ro,uhelper=udisks2)

Floppy always mounts read-only.

I've had this problem for a while with arch but it never bothered me. But now I really want to get my hands dirty with OpenBSD and cant bring myself to waste a cd for a 4meg iso. So i have to use the boot floppy. However when i mount any floppy, it mounts it as read-only. I've checked the on/off tab. I know the drive and floppy are both good as I can mount it and write to it in a gentoo live-cd. The fstab line is:
/dev/fd0 /mnt/fl vfat user,noauto 0 0
any thoughts?

grab a livecd if that works (as user!) then check modules loaded against Arch ...
If you can mount drive as root then its just a permissions thing .. udev maybe
I cannot be too much help as my box does not have a floppy drive
O the write protect thing I that missed that sorry ....

Iomega external hard drive either 'not found' by Time Machine or is now in 'read only' format

I don't know what's going on with my iomega external hard drive. Sometimes the HD is recognised by the computer; other times it isn't; if it isn't I can restore to an earlier back up via Time Machine app; but it's like the disk isn't writable.
Ten days ago, I had trouble backing up my iMac using Time Machine. After turning it off and restarting my external hard drive, it backed up successfully.
However, today I am trying to back up my files, and TM tells me it can't find the external hard drive. Nothing has changed -- I have been out of town this past week -- but somehow my HD now seems to be in 'read only' format. It does turn on, and I could restore my computer to an earlier back up.
"Mac OS X can't repair the disk. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
Annoyingly, despite my HD not showing in Finder or on my Desktop (as it usually does), when I simply turn it off I get that warning message "The disk was not ejected properly".
Have tried verifying and repairing using Disk Utility, to no avail.
Am prompted to reformat but I don't have a good understanding of what this means and how to do it. I'm guessing this would wipe the disk clean and I'd have to create the initial back up image all over again -- I'm reluctant to do this since this HD is my only back up and if it all goes tits up I'll be up that famous creek without a paddle.
Thoughts, suggestions, input all welcome and deeply appreciated -- thank you!

fzgy wrote:
"Mac OS X can't repair the disk. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
It's possible a heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair app can fix it, but they're expensive (DiskWarrior is about $100), and there's no guarantee it can do it.
Am prompted to reformat but I don't have a good understanding of what this means and how to do it.
That will erase it. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #5.
It sounds very much like the disk is beginning to fail, although it's possible there's a bad port, cable, connection or power supply (if it has its own).
I'd suggest getting a new one, and using it for your Time Machine backups; once you have a good backup there, reformat the old one (and select Security Options to write zeros to the whole drive -- if that fails, you know the drive is toast). Use it for secondary backups, per FAQ #27. If it has failed, get a second new one for secondary backups.

Recently my keyboard on my macbook pro died. i backed up the machine to my Seagate 500GB hard drive, successfully, and sent the notebook in for repairs. Now that the macbook is repaired, i can read from the seagate, but not write to it. It says read only.

Recently my Macbook Pro's keyboard failed. Using my wireless keyboard, i managed to backup everything to my 500gb Seagate external hard drive. I sent the machine in, had the keyboard repaired, and now the machine is back, and i am loading my content back onto the macbook. My problem is that the drive is now read only, and i have searched for all the obvious fixes. The lock on the permissions secion of the info block on the drive. (not present). I have even tried disk utility, but all the options are greyed out.
I am a graphic designer, and so i use my external drive extensively to move artwork around, so it is important that i can make it writable. It worked perfectly on this very same machine, two weeks ago, and nothing has changed on the drive, so i can only assume it is a software issue on the operating system.
I have read through all the forums, etc, and can find nothing that works. I am loath to change anything on the drive, as it was working perfectly on this system before the system went in for its repair.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Captain Zub-

Please post a screenshot of Disk Utility that shows what you mean. Be careful not to include any private information.
Start a reply to this message. Click the camera icon in the toolbar of the editing window and select the image file to upload it. You can also include text in the reply.

External hard drive read only unless you unplug and replug in

I've got an external firewire hd (fw 400 with an adapter) connected to a MacBook Pro 2009 running OS X 10.6.2. It's been working flawlessly until recently. I'm not sure what happened and I don't think it's the result of any system upgrade or modification, but now, at startup, the drive shows up as read-only. But, if I eject, unplug, and replug it in, or eject, turn if off, and back on, it mounts correctly as read/write. Get Info on the drive shows that it should be read/write. I've tried repairing permissions and doing a repair disk from Disk Utility, but no problems are found.
Any idea on what the problem/solution is?

I'm not sure where the issue is but you do you do have it running. One thing you can do to see if it's the computer or the drive is to get another FW drive and connect it and see if it works. If the Mac automatically detects it (like it should!) then that tells you it something with the original drive and if it doesn't then it's obviously something with the MBP. If you take it to an Apple Store and explain the issue they can probably provide another drive to test it out.
If it turns out to be the drive (that's my guess) then it might be a power supply problem or the FW connection, a hunch tells me it would be the power supply.
At least you are finally making progress and can use the drive though!

Time Machine - External Hard Drive Read only error

Just recently got a Iomega 1TB MiniMax FireWire 800 USB 2.0 Desktop Hard Drive and used Time Machine to backup my computer. This was my first time using Time Machine and it successfully backed up 350 GBs. It continued to do backups every hour. When I turned my computer off and then turned it on the next day Time Machine wouldn't allow me to do a backup because it said the hard drive was read only. When I checked info it said it was read/write. I used disc utility to verify disc it said it could not verify disc do a disc repair. Disc repair failed and it said reformat disc. I erased the hard drive tried again and I got the same error message. The hard drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I searched this forum and the trouble shooting links and couldn't find anything on how to correct this. Any help on this problem would be appreciated.

See the following:
What to do if Time Machine reports you don't have permission
This was posted in the Apple Discussions by V.K. I have only modified it slightly to be more generic.
The problem seems to be that 10.5.6 changes permissions on a file so that even the root user doesn't have write peivileges. I have no idea why they did this. The workaround suggested in [an]other post will probably work, too, but i did something less drastic. Instead of deleting the file I changed permissions on it, and it worked just fine. An added benefit is that the permission change seems to stick, so you don't have to delete the file every time you change a drive.
[Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt [enter] the following command:
sudo chmod 644 /volumes/"TM drive name"/.xxxxxxxxxxxx
The name of the file .xxxxxxxxxxxx is based on the MAC address of your computer and will be different for every computer. Put the name of the TM drive in the above and keep the quotes.
You'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see) which is normal.
This was edited by Kappy just for cleanup.
Enable Finder to Show Invisible Files and Folders
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
To turn off the display of invisible files and folders enter or paste the following command line and press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
Alternatively you can use one of the numerous third-party utilities such as TinkerTool or ShowHideInvisibleFiles - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Also, see User Tips for Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
Message was edited by: Kappy

Read-only floppy drive

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