Changing Permissions on a USB Stick

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Level 2

161 points

Changing Permissions on a USB Stick

I have a 256MB USB stick that I usually use on my MB. Up until today, I've had no trouble saving documents into this stick. Today I went to save a document and I got a message saying that the device could not be modified. I checked the permissions and it's 'read only.' How do I change permissions so I can 'read and write'?

Could my permissions have changed by using this USB stick on both Mac and Windows OS? Just wondering. Thanks.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.8), 30GB iPod, 4GB iPod Nano (silver)

Posted on Jun 17, 2007 1:31 AM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

741,761 points

Jun 17, 2007 5:47 PM in response to jasperboy

Check the disk's format in the Get Info window; if it is listed as MS-DOS or FAT32, look for a physical switch on the drive which controls write access to it.

If the disk's format is listed as Windows NT filesystem, follow fromntrowenabler's suggestion with MS-DOS as the desired format.

(22342)

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Answer 2

jasperboy Author

Level 2

161 points

Jun 17, 2007 4:16 AM in response to jasperboy

Thanks for your reply. However, I can't repair permissions. I can get the info to come up but from there how do I actually change permissions? It seems that I click on the arrow next to 'ownership and permissions' and it says 'you can only read.'

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Answer 3

Jun 17, 2007 3:16 PM in response to jasperboy

You May Need To Dopy Whatever is on the Flash Drive to the Desktop and then go to Disk Utility. Then from the side menu select your flash drive and then press erase and depending on the format you want select one Name it and press Erase let it do it's thing and then your flash drive is repaired and ready to go.

Hope This Helps

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Answer 4

Haribol

Level 4

2,455 points

Jun 17, 2007 1:57 AM in response to jasperboy

Go to Finder,click on USB stick icon,Command + I,Get info and change permissions. I use mine 2 Gig stick all the time between PC and Mac and this never happened...

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Answer 5

jasperboy Author

Level 2

161 points

Jun 18, 2007 2:58 PM in response to jasperboy

Thanks for all the help!

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