Issue with Disk Permissions

Question

Level 1

62 points

Issue with Disk Permissions

An external HD I've used for many years has some access issues with only just a few on the folders on that HD.

After opening a file from that external HD, making alterations to the open file or image from the external drive, several programs refuse to save the changes to the same source giving a warning.

This is quite strange because the external HD, The Folder, and the Original File on the HD all have Read/write permissions.

Even the Duplicate can't be saved to this external HD for these few folders.

If a document file or image is saved to the desktop, then a popup requires a password before the document can be transferred to the folders on the external HD that has an issue.

To be clear, most of the other folders on this external HD have no issues.

OS Monterey 12.7.2

Is there a solution for this?

Thank you.

Posted on Jan 19, 2024 10:40 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

69,170 points

Jan 24, 2024 6:28 PM in response to Memoire

Your First Aid report did show a "permissions" issue with a private folder:

Incorrect permissions for private directory

Run First Aid again until no errors are even mentioned in the report.

Unfortunately there is no longer an option to just Repair Permissions as it was removed years ago. Hopefully when you run First Aid again, the permissions are repaired and no errors are listed in the report.

If not, then you could try using Disk Warrior (paid third party app) to attempt to repair the file system if First Aid is unable to run cleanly without any listed errors. Disk Warrior does an amazing job of fixing the HFS+ (aka MacOS Extended) file systems. My organization used it for decades...there were very few times it would fail and those times usually were due to hardware issues. I just recently used it to recover a co-worker's external HFS+ data drive that First Aid failed to repair. If the external drive has a hardware issue, then Disk Warrior will likely be unsuccessful in repairing the file system, but if there are no hardware issues involved, then Disk Warrior has a very good chance of fixing most errors on an HFS+ file system.

I would highly recommend running DriveDx (free trial period) to check the health of this external drive before purchasing Disk Warrior. Post the complete DriveDx text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. You will need to install a special USB driver in order to attempt to retrieve the health information from the external drive.

If you don't want to pay for Disk Warrior and First Aid still shows errors in the log, then you would need to erase the whole physical external drive and restore its contents from a backup (assuming the drive is healthy...perhaps this would also fix it). If you don't have a backup of this external drive, then you will need to make one now or transfer those files temporarily to another location. You should always have frequent & regular backups of all external media (including the cloud) that contains important & unique data.

I guess you can also try to do "Get Info" on a parent folder at least one level above the folder you have issues and make sure to check the box to set permissions to all sub-folders & files. I don't know why you don't have the "Ignore Ownership" options for this external drive.

Reply

Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

69,170 points

Jan 21, 2024 4:58 PM in response to Memoire

What file system is on this external drive?

Run DriveDx (free trial available) and post the complete text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. You will need to install a special USB driver in order to attempt to retrieve the health information from the external drive.

Try running Disk Utility First Aid on the external drive. Even if First Aid says "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll back through the report to see if any unfixed errors are listed. If there are any unfixed errors, then run First Aid again to see if they can be repaired.

Here is an Apple article with some tips:

If your Mac can't save files to an external drive - Apple Support

How deep is the folder where you are trying to save these files? Keep in mind each parent folder in the chain must also have the correct permissions as well. In addition to the basic file/folder permissions, macOS also has some other ways to restrict access such as ACLs. Maybe another more knowledgeable contributor can chime in to assist in this area.

Reply

Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

69,170 points

Jan 19, 2024 7:37 PM in response to Memoire

Is the external a data only drive or is it also a backup drive?

If it is a data only drive, then make sure "Ignore Ownership" is checked in the "Get Info" panel for the external drive.

What file system is on the external drive?

Memoire wrote:

If a document file or image is saved to the desktop, then a popup requires a password before the document can be transferred to the folders on the external HD that has an issue.

When you save a file to the Desktop, does it save properly or do you need to provide a password? Or is the password required when you copy a file from the Desktop to a folder on the external drive? Or both? I'm not clear when the password is required.

Reply

Answer 4

Memoire Author

Level 1

62 points

Jan 25, 2024 11:37 AM in response to HWTech

Greetings HWTech I appreciate your continued support, thank you.

I will try what you have suggested regarding rerunning Disk First Aid again, as well as look into Disk Warrior and Drive DX.

I guess you can also try to do "Get Info" on a parent folder at least one level above the folder you have issues and make sure to check the box to set permissions to all sub-folders & files. I don't know why you don't have the "Ignore Ownership" options for this external drive.

Yes, I set Read/Write permissions for the External HD, The 2 Folders containing files issues, and The individual files themselves. I did this before posting the initial issue of the forum.

The reason for "Ignore Ownership" not being shown for the external drive could be the age 2010 and the OS 12.7.2.

Thank you for the great support.

Reply

Answer 5

Memoire Author

Level 1

62 points

Jan 21, 2024 2:30 PM in response to Memoire

I appreciate the reply HWTech, thank you.

The external HD is a data only drive.

In the "Get Info" panel for the external drive there is no section for "Ignore Ownership" being shown that you mentioned.

There is an uncheck 'Check Box' for Shared Folder - is this relevent?

The few folders that can't be save to are from a period when this issue of access didn't exist.

I've been using this external HD since 2010, so I assume some subsequent OS updates have cause this issue.

A file can be opened from the troublesome folders, but if modified can't be save to that same source.

In such cases I save that file to the desktop without putting any password, then enter the admin password for the modified file to overwrite the original on the external HD.

As far as I know there is no operating system on this external HD.

This issue causes a lot of duplication when say modifying my website and adding new images, everything has to be saved to the desktop then moved to the individual locations on the HD, with passowrd being require to overwrite all the originals, one by one.

ANy ideas would be welcome. Thank you

Reply

Answer 6

Memoire Author

Level 1

62 points

Jan 22, 2024 5:08 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you for the continued support HWTech, much appreciated.

I have read the 'Apple Support' file on the link you provided.

The format is 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' - is this what you meant by: What file system is on this external drive?

There is no OS system or Time Machine files on the external HD in question.

The external HD, The Folder with the files, and the Original Files on the HD all have Read/write permissions set as follows.

There is no “Ignore ownership on this volume” checkbox on the 'Get Info' for the external HD, the few folders with issues, or the files within the those folders that are having save issues.

Dragging the folders or files that have issues from the external HD to the desktop they continue having the same issue, being unable to save an open file after modification without the admin password. A file after modification can be saved independently to the desktop, but then requires the admin password to replace the original in the folder or independent file from that folder on the desktop.

This issue is currently with only a few folders of 87 folders on the external HD, some 85 folders have no issue opening a file -> Modify the file -> then saving it (overwrite the original).

There seems no difference between the few folders that have issues and the many that don't.

Disk Utility First Aid on the external drive shows:

Disk First Aid

The following information showed when clicking the "i - info".

After running Disk First Aid the few folders with issues are still asking for a password to duplicate a file, (this is new) to change the file some messages now pops-up:

A text file in the same folder that isn't locked and has all the permissions set to Read/write had the following pop-up when trying to modify it, not even trying to save.

I'm now suitably confused.

Perhaps I need to run 'Restore' within Disk Utility? Well at least drink strong coffee!

Reply

Issue with Disk Permissions

Similar questions