Hi
My external hard drive (LaCie) became "Read Only" with no apparent reason just after I upgraded my OS to Mojave (from Sierra). The format of the disk is Mac OS Extended and I am pretty sure it is not a problem of the Hard Drive.
The problem remains although the Get Info/"Ignore ownership on this volume" is checked.
Any suggestion will be much appreciated
PS i would prefer to avoid reformatting the hard drive
What are the Sharing & Permissions set to on the Disk. Can you change them or Add your User name to the list.
From the info panel click on the little padlock, enter your password. Have a look under Name is your User name included
and can you set the Privileges to Read & Write. If you need to Add your User name click on the plus button. A small window will pop up, under Users & Groups you should see your User name, highlight it and then press Select, make sure the Privileges are set to Read & Write.
Are you able to write to areas inside the drive, i.e. subfolders?
When you Get Info on a hard drive, you are only looking at the permissions of the root level of the hard drive, not the entire drive.
Mojave added more security to the root level of hard drives (not sure how it helps). You are not allowed to modify the root level.
You can create folders at the root level with authentication, and you can then write to those.
However, Ignore Ownership should allow you to write anywhere without restriction.
Given that it cannot be repaired, I would get another drive and copy all the files over.
You could then try erasing it completely and reformat.
Yeah looks like you will need to copy your files and then reformat the read only disk.
Make sure it is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) on a GUID partition,
do not install any LaCie software.
Have you clicked on the Padlock at the bottom right hand side, so that you can make changes.
Do you have another Mac that you can plug it in to.
My Macintosh HD is read only too, so I wouldn't be bothered about that.
Can you share a screenshot of your external disks Sharing & Permissions
as I did previously.
Yes, I think best solution is to buy a new HD, copy and reformat the old. Sometime, upgrading OS is such a frustrating thing to do! Thank you all for your time!
Eau Rouge thanks for the reply. Trying to add again my user name in Sharing & Permissions I get the "The operation can't be completed because you don't have the necessary permission" message. It seems that something is blocked in Mojave's security operations. Even my Macintosh HD appears as Read only in Sharing & Permissions
Barney no, I am not able to write in sub folders. I can't even create a new folder. And, although the "Ignore ownership on this volume is checked" the hard disk remains Read only.
I also tried to get rid of the /var/db file in my Macintosh/private folder but it didn't work.
I suppose a lot of people will have the same problem
Thank you
If you end up having to replace the EHD I strongly recommend replacing it with one of these: OWC Mercury Elite Pro. Extremely reliable devices.
LaCie is the only drive I've ever had crash and burn on me. Have had OWCs running for over 10 years without an issue. Just some food for thought.
Eau Rouge here is a screenshot. Although the user name is on the list of Sharing & Permissions, I can't do any changes (+ button is inactive)
No, I can't change anything on the Padlock since I don't have the "necessary permissions.". I did plug the HD in my older Mac and it was also Red Only, which was not the case before moving to Mojave
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE (NOT TM) BECAME READ ONLE AFTER UPGRADING TO MOJAVE
