Time machine denying access

[splodger]

Help, please! Time Machine suddenly won't allow me to use a firewire external hard drive. I get the message: you do not have appropriate access privileges to save file ".001b63a9cdcd" in folder "External" No such file can be found on the computer, even with file extensions revealed.
Trying to change permission with Get Info doesn't work. I don't want to have to re-format. Is there a fix for this, or a known cause? It seems to have occurred after auto updating.
Thanks in advance.

 

[kastenbrust]

Help, please! Time Machine suddenly won't allow me to use a firewire external hard drive. I get the message: you do not have appropriate access privileges to save file ".001b63a9cdcd" in folder "External" No such file can be found on the computer, even with file extensions revealed.
Trying to change permission with Get Info doesn't work. I don't want to have to re-format. Is there a fix for this, or a known cause? It seems to have occurred after auto updating.
Thanks in advance.

So is this a new external hard drive?

If so i assume you've formatted it in the HFS+ file format so it can be used with Macs?

 

[splodger]

Time Machine denying access

Thanx for the reply.
No, not new. Has been in use for some time. Coincidentally, I connected a new firewire drive, which is working, and the old one is not.

 

[SaSaSushi]

Try opening terminal and typing in:

sudo chmod 644 /volumes/"TM drive name"/.001b63a9cdcd

Replace "TM drive name" with the name of your Firewire external.

You will be prompted to enter your administrator password.

Apparently the 10.5.6 update wreaks havoc on file permissions for some users.

 

[r.j.s]

Did you repair permissions, or just try to change that one permission?

 

[SaSaSushi]

Did you repair permissions, or just try to change that one permission?

If his situation is anything like mine the option to repair permissions on an external F/W HD in Disk Utility is greyed out.

Others with this issue are reporting that just fixing the permissions on that single file (which Time Machine apparently names based on the machine's MAC address) allows Time Machine to access the drive again.

 

[splodger]

Time Machine denying access

Thank you, people.
Yep, we do have 10.5.6
Well, I couldn't see a way to repair permissions on an external drive, in Disk Utility. Any tweaking in Get Info was ineffective.
I must try the terminal thing, but Terminal is a bit intimidating. Is that the only way to locate this strange file that TM won't let me copy?

 

[SaSaSushi]

I must try the terminal thing, but Terminal is a bit intimidating. Is that the only way to locate this strange file that TM won't let me copy?

I think you'll find the terminal method to be the most effective method. It is not as difficult as it seems. Just fire it up, type in that single command and then enter your password when prompted. Time Machine should instantly be able to start backing up to the drive again.

 

[splodger]

Time Machine denying access

Thanks so much SaSaSushi!
The Terminal thing worked a dream!
How do you get to know so much?

 

[SaSaSushi]

Glad to hear it worked. Cheers.