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On Startup the USB External Drive is in Read Only mode

On Mojave my external USB drive, formatted as MAC OS Extended Journaled, always boots from startup as read only. However, if I use the disk utility and unmount and then mount it, then it becomes read write. How can I stop the disk being read only mode on startup? I realize it's minor and I have a workaround, it just backup always starts and gives me an error, which I then have to use the utility and then tell backup to go again.

Posted on May 13, 2019 8:12 AM

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Posted on May 13, 2019 8:39 AM

Hmm, interesting indeed. What is the make & model of your external drive? FWIW, I have used numerous brands of external drives and have never come across this particular situation up through using macOS Mojave. Albeit, anything is possible. If I had to guess, it may be due to the drive's firmware. How old is this drive and have you verified that it is running the very latest drivers to work with Mojave?


Per chance do you run a script to mount this drive at boot up? ... and are you using it primarily for Time Machine?

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May 13, 2019 8:39 AM in response to BroncoJim

Hmm, interesting indeed. What is the make & model of your external drive? FWIW, I have used numerous brands of external drives and have never come across this particular situation up through using macOS Mojave. Albeit, anything is possible. If I had to guess, it may be due to the drive's firmware. How old is this drive and have you verified that it is running the very latest drivers to work with Mojave?


Per chance do you run a script to mount this drive at boot up? ... and are you using it primarily for Time Machine?

May 13, 2019 6:55 PM in response to Tesserax

I use primarily for Time Machine, and no script. It's a Seagate Backup Plus portable Drive, PN: 1D8ADF-500 1 TB, SN: NA5317MV, Model: SRD0SP0 Not sure about the firmware, I will have to check on that one. Maybe it's time for a new drive as they are cheap and need to get it before all the prices go up with the Tariffs. It's an older drive.

May 14, 2019 7:45 AM in response to BroncoJim

FWIW, I have a WD My Book Pro for my external HDD that is connected to my 2014 Mac mini, now (as of yesterday) running macOS Mojave 10.14.5. This HDD is actually connected by Thunderbolt 2, although I've also had it connected by USB 3.0. I use it for both file storage and for one of my Time Machine backup drives. I use a Synology NAS for the other.

On Startup the USB External Drive is in Read Only mode

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