Owner Enabling an external hard drive

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stros2009 Author

Level 1

7 points

Owner Enabling an external hard drive

I installed OS 10.6. I changed the permissions for the base internal HD and i can not access the 2 backup HD's "no permission" also both drives have "Owner Enabled: NO" Any solution?

TIA

IMAC, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Sep 22, 2009 8:38 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Sep 22, 2009 10:51 AM in response to stros2009

Is this on the Desktop drive icon that you see the lock? Does this drive enclosure have a mechanical locking switch? You cannot alter the permissions if the "ignore ownership ... " box is checked. Uncheck the box. If for some reason the drive's permissions are No Access see the following:

Fix No Access Permissions on HD.

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Answer 2

Sep 22, 2009 8:48 AM in response to stros2009

HI,

Repair disk permissions.

Quit any open applications/programs. Launch Disk Utility. (Applications/Utilities) Select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, select the FirstAid tab. Click: Repair Disk Permissions. When it's finished from the Menu Bar, Quit Disk Utility and restart your Mac. If you see a long list of "messages" in the permissions window, it's ok. That can be ignored. As long as you see, "Permissions Repair Complete" when it's finished... you're done. Quit Disk Utility and restart your Mac.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Sep 22, 2009 8:49 AM in response to stros2009

The permissions for a startup drive should be:

Owner=system with r/w privileges
Group=admin with r/w privileges
Everyone with read-only privileges

The permissions on a backup drive depend upon what you are using for your backup utility and how you are using the backup utility. In general it's safe to use the above settings for any attached hard drive.

Exactly where do you see "Owner Enabled NO?"

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Answer 4

stros2009 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 22, 2009 9:05 AM in response to Kappy

In disk utilities with the external drive subset highlighted, the owner enabled shows up when you click the info button. Also the external drive shows a LOCK next to the drive icon. The permission repairs on the start up drive as as you list. its the external drives that i cannot access.

I just got this message with the Permissions repair
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired."

and

Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.

Thanks again

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Sep 22, 2009 9:25 AM in response to stros2009

The SUID messages are spurious and may be safely ignored.

Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the terminal prompt enter the following pressing RETURN after each command line:

sudo chown root:admin (drag the Desktop icon for one of the external drives here. Note the space after "admin.")

You will be prompted to enter your admin password which is not echoed.

sudo chown root:admin (drag the Desktop icon of the other external drive here.)

This should fix the permissions of your two external drives.

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Answer 6

stros2009 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 22, 2009 9:34 AM in response to Kappy

It does not work the following is the copy of the session:

Last login: Tue Sep 22 12:23:43 on console
steven-troscianeckis-imac-3:~ steventroscianecki$
steven-troscianeckis-imac-3:~ steventroscianecki$ sudo chown root:admin /Volumes/FreeAgent\ Drive

WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

Password:
chown: /Volumes/FreeAgent Drive: Operation not permitted
steven-troscianeckis-imac-3:~ steventroscianecki$ sudo chown root:admin /Volumes/Time\ Machine\ Backups
chown: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups: Operation not permitted
steven-troscianeckis-imac-3:~ steventroscianecki$ sudo chown root:admin /Volumes/FreeAgent\ Drive
chown: /Volumes/FreeAgent Drive: Operation not permitted
steven-troscianeckis-imac-3:~ steventroscianecki$

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Answer 7

stros2009 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 22, 2009 10:46 AM in response to Kappy

All permissions at "custom" for both drives... i unlocked and tried to change to RW but goes back to custom. the users are steventroscianecki, staff, everyone. also ignor ownership on this volume is checked and the HD icon has a padlock on it.

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Answer 8

stros2009 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 22, 2009 10:50 AM in response to Kappy

When i boot from the install CD, i can view the contents of both drives and it seems i have the ability to restore from previous backups though i have not tried the restore yet as i am not sure it will fix these issues

steve

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Answer 9

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Sep 22, 2009 10:51 AM in response to stros2009

run the following terminal commands (copy and paste, please)


 sudo chflags 0 /volumes/*
 
 sudo chmod a+rx /volumes/*

you'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see). that's normal. this should unlock the drives.

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Answer 10

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Sep 22, 2009 10:39 AM in response to stros2009

Select this drive's Desktop icon and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. In the Ownership and Sharing section at the bottom what is reported?

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Answer 11

stros2009 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 22, 2009 11:01 AM in response to Kappy

The lock are on the external drives not the desk top drive. The drives do not have lock switches on them.

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Answer 12

stros2009 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 22, 2009 11:08 AM in response to V.K.

BINGO... Thanks a million V.K.

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