Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
How do I unlock my external hard drive?
- Thread starter jarmart
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You can also just do this command to unlock anything:
sudo SetFile -a l /path/of/thing/to/unlock
That " l " is a lowercase "L" by the way. And you'll need your admin password of course. This will clear up any annoying "Operation not permitted" errors you may be getting from chmod, chown, etc.
NOTE: SetFile only works if you have Apple's developer tools, called "XCode", installed on your system. If you don't have it installed, maybe try some of the other suggestions first, since XCode is a big install, and I doubt it would be worth the space it takes up just to get SetFile in your Terminal. Maybe there is another way to just add SetFile to the Terminal, but ever since Apple turned the Mac system into a nightmare of invisible files and folders, nobody seems to know the answers to such questions. But you can download the developer tools installer for free, and every Mac and every copy of OS X sold comes with an installer for it.
sudo SetFile -a l /path/of/thing/to/unlock
That " l " is a lowercase "L" by the way. And you'll need your admin password of course. This will clear up any annoying "Operation not permitted" errors you may be getting from chmod, chown, etc.
NOTE: SetFile only works if you have Apple's developer tools, called "XCode", installed on your system. If you don't have it installed, maybe try some of the other suggestions first, since XCode is a big install, and I doubt it would be worth the space it takes up just to get SetFile in your Terminal. Maybe there is another way to just add SetFile to the Terminal, but ever since Apple turned the Mac system into a nightmare of invisible files and folders, nobody seems to know the answers to such questions. But you can download the developer tools installer for free, and every Mac and every copy of OS X sold comes with an installer for it.
Hi! I did the terminal thing, but up to ls - go only (coz i'm quite scared) and I got this:
drwxr-xr-x 1 24576 Nov 9 16:07 FreeAgent GoFlex Drive
It is NTFS.
I really need to unlock my hard disk because I need those files for my business. I hope you can help me.
THanks!
drwxr-xr-x 1 24576 Nov 9 16:07 FreeAgent GoFlex Drive
It is NTFS.
I really need to unlock my hard disk because I need those files for my business. I hope you can help me.
THanks!
Well, as you can see your drive is formatted as NTFS and not HFS+ So, what this means is that it's not a "Mac" drive, it's formatted for PC/Windows use.
The unlocking advice given in this thread is for HFS+ drives, so nothing mentioned in here will solve your problem.
I'm sorry I can't be of more assistance, but I'm unfamiliar with how NTFS works
Maybe someone else can be of more help?
External Hard Drive Folders Unlock to "Read & Write"
Hello,
Please help. I bought a Seagate Free Agent Go Flex External drive. I transferred all my files from my previous external HD.
When I went to access my folders on my external HD, the folders are all locked, with Sharing and Permission section in the Information "Everyone: Read" only! I can't change any of the information or move things! All of them are locked and "read only." I know how to change it, but only manually, individually. I have several hundreds of folders and I don't want to manually change all of them to "Read & Write." Is their a way to let me re-set the folders to "Read & Write" easily??
Hello,
Please help. I bought a Seagate Free Agent Go Flex External drive. I transferred all my files from my previous external HD.
When I went to access my folders on my external HD, the folders are all locked, with Sharing and Permission section in the Information "Everyone: Read" only! I can't change any of the information or move things! All of them are locked and "read only." I know how to change it, but only manually, individually. I have several hundreds of folders and I don't want to manually change all of them to "Read & Write." Is their a way to let me re-set the folders to "Read & Write" easily??
Last edited:
Click the padlock and enter your administrator password.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1048457/
Click the wheel icon and select "Apply to enclosed items"
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1048457/
Click the wheel icon and select "Apply to enclosed items"
Thank you but I've done that. That is not my concern, how do i unlock multiple folders at one time?
Hi IEatApples!
The sudo thingy code actually worked!
I just typed it out, quit all my running programs, then I restarted the laptop.
I clicked my HD, got info, then it said I could read and write on it!! I'm so happpy!
Thanks to your help again!!! You guys don't know how much it meant for me. Thanks so much again!
The sudo thingy code actually worked!
I just typed it out, quit all my running programs, then I restarted the laptop.
I clicked my HD, got info, then it said I could read and write on it!! I'm so happpy!
Thanks to your help again!!! You guys don't know how much it meant for me. Thanks so much again!
Hi IEatApples!
The sudo thingy code actually worked!
I just typed it out, quit all my running programs, then I restarted the laptop.
I clicked my HD, got info, then it said I could read and write on it!! I'm so happpy!
Thanks to your help again!!! You guys don't know how much it meant for me. Thanks so much again!
Nice!
I'm glad you've got your hard disk back!
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi there
I have a Macbook Pro with a split hard drive running Mac OSX and also Windows 7 through Bootcamp.
The external hard drive was originally used on Windows XP by my mum who saved everything to this so that she could use it on my Macbook Pro.
It works on Windows 7 and all permissions are open to me but when I open it on the Mac the whole drive is locked and when I go to 'get info' there is no check box for me to unlock, it just says 'read only'.
I'm very technical when it comes to computers but found this info in 'terminal'
drwxr-xr-x 1 8192 2 Mar 22:22 Elements Hard Drive
Any ideas?? please help
I have a Macbook Pro with a split hard drive running Mac OSX and also Windows 7 through Bootcamp.
The external hard drive was originally used on Windows XP by my mum who saved everything to this so that she could use it on my Macbook Pro.
It works on Windows 7 and all permissions are open to me but when I open it on the Mac the whole drive is locked and when I go to 'get info' there is no check box for me to unlock, it just says 'read only'.
I'm very technical when it comes to computers but found this info in 'terminal'
drwxr-xr-x 1 8192 2 Mar 22:22 Elements Hard Drive
Any ideas?? please help
Cannot change Sharing & Permissions
I've never noticed any problem before tonight, but when I tried to delete some files from an Iomega external drive, a screen says the file cannot be deleted. The Information on that drive tells me I am allowed only to read. Unlocking the padlock icon does not change anything; and, looking under the "General" section, I have clicked "Shared folder," which had not been selected before. Still, I can only read. The Format is "Mac OS Extended." Another external drive has "Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as does my iMac's hard drive. I had used this drive originally on a now-deceased PowerMac, and I do not remember having done anything to this drive except to take it out of its box and plugging it in. I wouldn't know how to format.
After opening the lock icon, the Name and Privilege boxes remain gray and cannot be used; the two boxes beneath the Name and Privilege boxes are not usable. I have tried checking and unchecking the "Ignore ownership on this voume," but the problem remains.
When I unlock the icon on the Information screen for the file I want to delete, the results are the same. However, I cannot check or change anything in the "General" section.
Thanks for whatever help you can give me, and I hope that posting this here is the appropriate place.
Lee
I've never noticed any problem before tonight, but when I tried to delete some files from an Iomega external drive, a screen says the file cannot be deleted. The Information on that drive tells me I am allowed only to read. Unlocking the padlock icon does not change anything; and, looking under the "General" section, I have clicked "Shared folder," which had not been selected before. Still, I can only read. The Format is "Mac OS Extended." Another external drive has "Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as does my iMac's hard drive. I had used this drive originally on a now-deceased PowerMac, and I do not remember having done anything to this drive except to take it out of its box and plugging it in. I wouldn't know how to format.
After opening the lock icon, the Name and Privilege boxes remain gray and cannot be used; the two boxes beneath the Name and Privilege boxes are not usable. I have tried checking and unchecking the "Ignore ownership on this voume," but the problem remains.
When I unlock the icon on the Information screen for the file I want to delete, the results are the same. However, I cannot check or change anything in the "General" section.
Thanks for whatever help you can give me, and I hope that posting this here is the appropriate place.
Lee
I have just had the same problem with my MacBook Pro with a 2TB WD Hard Drive with 4 separate partitions which all became "custom" locked a few days ago. Major problem as this had all my Pro Tools and Sound Librarys on this disk
I found a solution from a user called IEatApples in a string which had been archived in this forum. The solution has worked for me, and all my partitions are now unlocked. Here is the URL to the archived forum on the subject
https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-417647.html
I am extremely grateful to IEatApples and indeed this entire archived string. My drive and all partitions are now all unlocked.
Here is IEatApples solution and instructions repeated below which worked for me.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I called Apple and they gave me the solution:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9035132�
I found a solution that worked.
In Terminal type the following sequence (obviously replace "Volumename with the name of your volume):
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/Volumename
sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/Volumename
sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/Volumename
sudo chmod -N /Volumes/Volumename
but if your hard drives name includes a [space] like this: "My HD", then you must write the command like this:
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/firstname\ secondname
sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/firstname\ secondname
sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/firstname\ secondname
sudo chmod -N /Volumes/firstname\ secondname
or like in my example:
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/My\ HD
sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/My\ HD
sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/My\ HD
sudo chmod -N /Volumes/My\ HD
It saved both my drives! THANK YOU APPLE!!!
Thank You IEatApples - you saved me substantial grief
-----------------------------------------------------------
I repeat, original archived string on this subject in this forum can be found at
https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-417647.html
//FYOS
I found a solution from a user called IEatApples in a string which had been archived in this forum. The solution has worked for me, and all my partitions are now unlocked. Here is the URL to the archived forum on the subject
https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-417647.html
I am extremely grateful to IEatApples and indeed this entire archived string. My drive and all partitions are now all unlocked.
Here is IEatApples solution and instructions repeated below which worked for me.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I called Apple and they gave me the solution
:http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9035132�
I found a solution that worked.
In Terminal type the following sequence (obviously replace "Volumename with the name of your volume):
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/Volumename
sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/Volumename
sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/Volumename
sudo chmod -N /Volumes/Volumename
but if your hard drives name includes a [space] like this: "My HD", then you must write the command like this:
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/firstname\ secondname
sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/firstname\ secondname
sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/firstname\ secondname
sudo chmod -N /Volumes/firstname\ secondname
or like in my example:
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/My\ HD
sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/My\ HD
sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/My\ HD
sudo chmod -N /Volumes/My\ HD
It saved both my drives! THANK YOU APPLE!!!
Thank You IEatApples - you saved me substantial grief
-----------------------------------------------------------
I repeat, original archived string on this subject in this forum can be found at
https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-417647.html
//FYOS
My hard drive is NTFS, so it's locked on my Mac!
Is this something I could do? Copy all files on my hard drive onto a Windows computer. Go to my Mac and reformat the hard drive into the FAT format using Disk Utility. Go back to the Windows computer and load all files back onto the hard drive. After this, the hard drive should be changeable by Macs as well.
Does anyone know of any software that I could download that would allow me to make changes to the hard drive WITHOUT having to reformat the hard drive into the FAT format? Please help please!
Is this something I could do? Copy all files on my hard drive onto a Windows computer. Go to my Mac and reformat the hard drive into the FAT format using Disk Utility. Go back to the Windows computer and load all files back onto the hard drive. After this, the hard drive should be changeable by Macs as well.
Does anyone know of any software that I could download that would allow me to make changes to the hard drive WITHOUT having to reformat the hard drive into the FAT format? Please help please!
I have external hard drive. WD My passport 070B –CH .The problem is that the device is installed and has been recognized, but could not been seen in the computer hardware.
My main focus is on how to disable the write protection ( I do not had any password keyed in and have no idea how this was protected ) through the Disk management , so that i can Initialize it .I use windows 7 in my computer. I need my information in that device and I can't reformat. Please help me.
My main focus is on how to disable the write protection ( I do not had any password keyed in and have no idea how this was protected ) through the Disk management , so that i can Initialize it .I use windows 7 in my computer. I need my information in that device and I can't reformat. Please help me.
it says "Read-only file system"
It doesn't work for me....
After following instructions... it says:
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/My\ Passport
chflags: /Volumes/My Passport: Read-only file system
"Read-only file system" all through the commands...
I need to write to my external HD (My Passport, in NTFS format)... need help...
It doesn't work for me....
After following instructions... it says:
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/My\ Passport
chflags: /Volumes/My Passport: Read-only file system
"Read-only file system" all through the commands...
I need to write to my external HD (My Passport, in NTFS format)... need help...