Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How to unlock multiple files easily?

SPG

SPG

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 24, 2001
1,083
0
In the shadow of the Space Needle.
I have a ton of footage that was loaded into my computer over the summer. The jobs done and I could really use those couple hundred gigs of space. Only catch is that all the files are locked! I know how to unlock them manually, Apple-I , uncheck the locked icon and then to the trash, but there are THOUSANDS of files in hundreds of folders...a real PITA!
I'm not super familiar with automator, but didn't see a solution there either.
Anyone got a good trick to do this quickly? Otherwise it's gonna take me hours to do it manually.
 
plinden

plinden

macrumors 601
Apr 8, 2004
4,029
142
SPG said:
I have a ton of footage that was loaded into my computer over the summer. The jobs done and I could really use those couple hundred gigs of space. Only catch is that all the files are locked! I know how to unlock them manually, Apple-I , uncheck the locked icon and then to the trash, but there are THOUSANDS of files in hundreds of folders...a real PITA!
I'm not super familiar with automator, but didn't see a solution there either.
Anyone got a good trick to do this quickly? Otherwise it's gonna take me hours to do it manually.
Click to expand...

Do you want to just delete all the files? Are they all under one top level directory?

You can probably delete them from an admin account using the Terminal command "sudo rm -rf <...directory name ...>". Be very careful with that, though. Double check you're in the right place.

If you want to just unlock them, you can use the Terminal command chflags (I haven't tried this exactly, but this seems the correct syntax from the man page):
chflags -R nouchg <... directory name ...>

Edit: yes, I've tried that and it should work
 
E

eb6

Cancelled
Sep 7, 2006
183
0
did you try selecting all the files at once and hitting command+I? I think if you select enough files it will just bring up just one info box instead of one for each file. Its worth a shot.
 
SPG

SPG

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 24, 2001
1,083
0
In the shadow of the Space Needle.
eb6 said:
did you try selecting all the files at once and hitting command+I? I think if you select enough files it will just bring up just one info box instead of one for each file. Its worth a shot.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion but the problem with that approach is that there are usually only about 5 or six files in each folder...not enough to trigger one info pane, but enough to be a pain.
Copying them all into a single folder results in duplicates being made which isn't helpful...oh well.
 
SPG

SPG

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 24, 2001
1,083
0
In the shadow of the Space Needle.
plinden said:
You can probably delete them from an admin account using the Terminal command "sudo rm -rf <...directory name ...>". Be very careful with that, though. Double check you're in the right place.

If you want to just unlock them, you can use the Terminal command chflags (I haven't tried this exactly, but this seems the correct syntax from the man page):
chflags -R nouchg <... directory name ...>

Edit: yes, I've tried that and it should work
Click to expand...

Option one seems pretty scary since I'm not that confident with my programming skills and I have a bunch of current projects on that same drive, so I'll try option two. Thanks!
 
angelwatt

angelwatt

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
7,852
9
USA
SPG said:
Thanks for the suggestion but the problem with that approach is that there are usually only about 5 or six files in each folder...not enough to trigger one info pane, but enough to be a pain.
Copying them all into a single folder results in duplicates being made which isn't helpful...oh well.
Click to expand...

With a bunch of files selected, right-click on them and when the menu pops-up hold the Option key and you'll see one of the options change to Show Inspector. This'll force just one window popping open and allow you to change the lock setting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peircej and SHadowMist
arkitect

arkitect

macrumors 604
Sep 5, 2005
7,072
12,406
Bath, United Kingdom
angelwatt said:
With a bunch of files selected, right-click on them and when the menu pops-up hold the Option key and you'll see one of the options change to Show Inspector. This'll force just one window popping open and allow you to change the lock setting.
Click to expand...

Chossing the files and then doing Option-Command-I also works. No need to right click.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peircej
M

MivecGPX

macrumors newbie
Feb 28, 2009
1
0
Fixed my "Locked" issue

chflags -R nouchg.... bang on. None of this cmd-I nonsense, fixed in one go. Thanks for saving me soooo much time digging into each folder and unticking the "locked" flag. :)
 
K

Katechall

macrumors newbie
Jul 12, 2013
1
0
angelwatt said:
With a bunch of files selected, right-click on them and when the menu pops-up hold the Option key and you'll see one of the options change to Show Inspector. This'll force just one window popping open and allow you to change the lock setting.
Click to expand...

WHOA, thank you so, so much! Best tip ever!
 
T

theCatat

macrumors newbie
Nov 30, 2013
1
0
SPG said:
I have a ton of footage that was loaded into my computer over the summer. The jobs done and I could really use those couple hundred gigs of space. Only catch is that all the files are locked! I know how to unlock them manually, Apple-I , uncheck the locked icon and then to the trash, but there are THOUSANDS of files in hundreds of folders...a real PITA!
I'm not super familiar with automator, but didn't see a solution there either.
Anyone got a good trick to do this quickly? Otherwise it's gonna take me hours to do it manually.
Click to expand...

Throw your files in the trash. Hold the option key down >> Finder >> Empty Trash.
 
SHadowMist

SHadowMist

macrumors newbie
Aug 23, 2015
1
0
angelwatt said:
With a bunch of files selected, right-click on them and when the menu pops-up hold the Option key and you'll see one of the options change to Show Inspector. This'll force just one window popping open and allow you to change the lock setting.
Click to expand...
Thank yo so much for this info... i have struggled with this for so long .. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom