The operation can’t be completed...

Question

Level 1

8 points

The operation can’t be completed...

*The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access “iPhoto Library”.
The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access “iPhoto Library”.
The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access “iPhoto Library”.
The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access “iPhoto Library”.*

I have no idea of what to do about this. I have an iPhoto library of +100GB. I used Time Machine to backup everything. I wiped the original drive, sold the computer and now I'm trying to restore onto the new computer. I get about 1.92GB into the restore then the error message comes up:

*The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access “iPhoto Library”.*

I've tried it about 3 or 4 time and it's exactly the same every time. The restore fails at 1.92GB

Hopefully one of the Apple admins comes to the rescue?

iMac 24", Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Dec 3, 2009 11:08 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Dec 3, 2009 11:16 AM in response to ottawaRob

I'm assuming that the admin account into which you are logged in on your new computer has a different short name than the one used on the old computer. Therefore, the permissions associated with the backup do not match the user on your new machine. This would be the primary scenario in which you would not be permitted to access the data on your backup.

Is my assumption correct? Also, select your TM backup drive and Press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. Open the Ownership and Sharing pane at the bottom and tell us what the drive's permissions are.

(There are no Apple admins here. The Apple Discussions is strictly a user-to-user help forum.)

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Answer 2

ottawaRob Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 3, 2009 11:31 AM in response to Kappy

yes, you're correct!

the short names are different from old machine to new machine.

the Sharing & Permissions shows:

my old short name has "read & write" permissions
"admin" has "read & write"
"everyone" has "read only"

side note: just tried moving the iPhoto Library folder over manually using the Finder, same thing happens..

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Dec 3, 2009 11:52 AM in response to ottawaRob

OK, that's what I suspected. Unfortunately I'm not really sure of what might happen if you mass change ownership of all the files in your TM backup since some of those files will be owned by the system. But you can change your short name back to the same one you were using. There's an easy way, a not too difficult, and a more difficult way. The easy way just requires you make a new admin account using the same old short name. Then log into the new account, use Accounts preferences to set the new account for auto login, then delete the account you are now using. The downside is if you've already loaded stuff into your Home folder then you will run into the same permissions problems trying to move it to the new account. However, if everything is pretty clean and you can restore everything you need from the TM backup then you'll be back in business.

The not too difficult way is to use Migration Assistant to migrate your old Home folder and account, log into the account, reset auto login, then delete the account you're now using. Basically the same as the easy way.

The difficult way involves changing the short name on your current account back to the name you used on your old machine. The process involves using the Terminal or booting into single-user mode. This document outlines the procedures: Macworld | Changing the short username in Leopard. The complete procedure you should use is the last procedure outlined, the one called The Full Monty.

I'll leave it to you to decide how you want to go about this. By using your old short name either by creating a new account, migrating your old one, or doing the short name change procedure you will regain full access to your TM backup.

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