Unlocking files on USB flash drive

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Level 1

4 points

Unlocking files on USB flash drive

I have some files that are "locked" on a USB flash drive. I see the checkmark in the "Get info" screen indicating the locked status. The file also appears to be read only. I tried various CHMOD commands from the terminal, but I get a message that the operation could not be completed.

Is there a way to unlock the files so I may delete them?

Macbook Pro 15.4, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on May 6, 2010 8:11 PM

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Answer 1

DDmUSA Author

Level 1

4 points

May 7, 2010 1:57 PM in response to DDmUSA

Within the Apple website, I discovered an article about "removing immutable bit" which may have something to do with not being able to unlock and delete several files on the flash drive.

I am not familiar enough with the underlying Unix environment to determine this information one way or another.

The article on the Apple website is:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1402

Could someone please validate or explain the purpose of this information?

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Answer 2

DDmUSA Author

Level 1

4 points

May 7, 2010 1:14 PM in response to DaddyPaycheck

Other files exist on the flash drive. I realize that I could simply perform a copy of the files I need to retain, then perform a format using disk utility, but I wanted to learn from the circumstance.

Is there a way to modify the file permissions so I can delete the files from the flash drive individually?

If so, please advise...

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Answer 3

May 7, 2010 2:48 AM in response to DDmUSA

Why not just reformat the stick using Disk Utility?

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