iMac write-protecting my drives on its own

[vchampea]

At some point my iMac decided to write-protect both my flash drive and my external HDD. As far as I know, I didn't do anything to make this happen. I am now unable to add or delete files on both USB devices. How can I fix this?

 

[GGJstudios]

At some point my iMac decided to write-protect both my flash drive and my external HDD. As far as I know, I didn't do anything to make this happen. I am now unable to add or delete files on both USB devices. How can I fix this?

How are the drives formatted? Right-click on the drives and Get Info.

 

[vchampea]

The external HDD is NTFS and the flash drive is FAT32.

 

[AppleNewton]

When you right-click Get Info, is "Ignore ownership on this volume" - checked or no?

 

[GGJstudios]

The external HDD is NTFS and the flash drive is FAT32.

NTFS (Windows NT File System)

• Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
• Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
  [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
  • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon ($19.95) (Best Choice for Lion and Mountain Lion)
  • For Mac OS X 10.5 and later, including Lion, FUSE for OS X
  • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
  • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
  • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36), which is an enhanced version of NTFS-3G with faster performance.
  • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and later versions, but is not advisable, due to instability.
• AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
• Maximum file size: 16 TB
• Maximum volume size: 256TB
• You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.

 

[vchampea]

The read and write permissions have come back on my external HDD for some reason, but I still can't do anything with my flash drive.

I have Paragon on my Mac; I've been using this HDD with my mac for a long time and suddenly I've been having problems. If I hadn't installed Paragon, I wouldn't have ever been able to write to my NTFS drive.

I didn't see the "Ignore ownership on this volume" option when I clicked on get info. I'll check again, but I'm pretty sure it's not there.

 

[vchampea]

Ok, nvm about getting my read and write permissions back. I can read and write on my iMac but when I plug it into my windows laptop it's protected. Not sure why this would be or what to do.