Little Lock in folders

Don't forget to uncheck the Locked option in Get Info

You might have to change the permissions of these files. Check the "get info" on each of the files. You can do this by right clicking on the file and select "get info". Scroll to the bottom of the window that pops open. You should see a lock. l on it. Enter your system password. And then go back in and change the permissions.

Running "repair permissions" in Disk Utility may do the same thing for you on a global level.

I get that all the time when I mount NTFS drives from dead Windows machines. NTFS volumes are mounted read-only in OSX so you can't change anything. It doesn't really matter though because the NTFS security and permissions aren't honored anyway and you can traverse the filesystem within locked / hidden folders and all.

hth

Permissions have nothing at all to do with the little lock badge showing up on the file/folder icon. That lock badge shows up due to the folder being locked for whatever reason. To unlock it open an Info Window (select the file/folder, click File->Get Info) to the folder and uncheck the "Locked" checkbox in the "General" section.

I'm having the same problem. I have a fat32-formatted 250gb firewire drive. The folder is locked, and I can't uncheck the box next to 'Locked' even though it's a standard checkbox. This is broken. I've made sure that the folder isn't shared and I've followed the steps to unlock it from the command line. Nothing works. Now I can't add music to my iTunes library.

dobes and petrock are correct. The lock symbol is for files that have the ‘Locked’ box checked in Get Info. The permissions prevention symbol is a red circle with a horizontal line in it.

Your issue is different then the OP's. Your issue is a bug in OS X's handling of Fat32 and NFS volumes. Search the forum and you'll find people with the same problems and possible solutions.