can’t move or copy a file or folder to my Macintosh HD

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Level 1

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can’t move or copy a file or folder to my Macintosh HD

I just upgraded my MacBook Pro to the latest version of Catalina. Previous to this upgrade I had several folders on the Macintsoh HD (same level as System, Applications...). But after this upgrade, can not move my folders back (or create a new folder) to this location. Admin is only Read Only (just like my iMac) which is still on Mojave and I can move and create folders at this level. Using the Admin account, I can not change the permissions for admin to Read & Write. What happened/changed? How can I change this back to allow folders to be created there at this level? thanks

Posted on Mar 28, 2020 9:28 PM

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Answer 1

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babowa

Level 9

78,405 points

Mar 28, 2020 9:47 PM in response to canfam

Catalina now has two volumes: one is Mac HD which is read only, has the OS and system, and is "locked" for safety so no one can make any changes; the other volume is Mac HD - Data which contains your apps and files and which is read/write. You can only make changes to your User folder. FWIW, it is best not to make changes to the system level anyway - use your User folder instead.

The only way to change any of that would be to erase the entire disk and reinstall an earlier version/backup you made before upgrading.

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Answer 2

canfam Author

Level 1

12 points

Mar 29, 2020 6:52 PM in response to babowa

Thanks for the feedback - good to understand the changes. I will move files/folders to the new suggested locations.

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can’t move or copy a file or folder to my Macintosh HD

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