External Hard Drives Changing Permissions to Read Only

Apologies. Yes I meant "*should not* corrupt anything assuming the destination drive is OK."

I'm wondering if the format used on these drives is NTFS and not Mac OS Extended. NTFS is a read-only file system. Mac OS is not a read-only file system. A drive can be configured to be read-only but that is a permissions option. It doesn't change the file system.

Dear all,
I have the same problem. My user profile is stating I have read & write privileges, but 'custom access'. I have changed the staff and everyone access to 'write only' (drop box). If I hook my MSI external drive, it still states at sharing & permissions: you can only read in grey (not changeable). Any further tips on how to change this?
Thanks,
Maaike

In disk utility I had a look. I cannot verify or set permission (greyed out). The data coming back from info. How can I change this??
Name : FUJITSU MHZ2320BH G1 Media
Type : Disk

Partition Map Scheme : Master Boot Record
Disk Identifier : disk2
Media Name : FUJITSU MHZ2320BH G1 Media
Media Type : Generic
Connection Bus : USB
USB Serial Number : 560A48A291F9
Device Tree : /PCI0/EHC1@1D,7/@3:0
Writable : Yes
Ejectable : Yes
Mac OS 9 Drivers Installed : No
Location : External
Total Capacity : 298,1 GB (320.072.933.376 Bytes)
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
Disk Number : 2
Partition Number : 0


Name : NieuwVolume
Type : Volume

Disk Identifier : disk2s1
Mount Point : /Volumes/NieuwVolume
File System : Windows NT File System (NTFS)
Connection Bus : USB
Device Tree : /PCI0/EHC1@1D,7/@3:1
Writable : No
Universal Unique Identifier : C7B58C48-D6BC-4078-9DAE-CB125901A4D6
Capacity : 298,1 GB (320.070.288.384 Bytes)
Free Space : 127,1 GB (136.438.530.048 Bytes)
Used : 171,0 GB (183.631.757.312 Bytes)
Number of Files : 85.578
Number of Folders : 0
Owners Enabled : No
Can Turn Owners Off : No
Can Be Formatted : No
Bootable : No
Supports Journaling : No
Journaled : No
Disk Number : 2
Partition Number : 1

Update: I am now running 10.6.6 and the problem still exists.

Kappy, I thought forums were, by definition, a forum of communication, discussion, synergetic, collaborative, etc. I am not hijacking another users post/thread/discussion, I am adding to the discussion with relavent information. I have seen multiple forums with Iomega drives, there is one in this forum with Fujitsu, I am running WD. The problems are all related: drives that worked as read/write now are only readable. By adding such relavent information we can see that a) it is not one type of drive (internal vs. external) b) it is not one brand of drive, and c) it is not an isolated incident since there are multiple users and multiple threads around the internet with the same issue, all within the past 30ish days.

I am sorry if I hurt your feelings with the NTFS, but it does not appear to be a relavent variable as these drives were working prior to the post, and then not working with no changes made by the user(s). My mention of a possible OSX problem only comes from my limited understanding of what may be causing this.

Interesting remarks from someone who then recommends "Verifying" a disk. A wasted amount of time since verifying does nothing while repairing can fix anything that may be wrong or simply report what verifying reports. Furthermore, verifying a disk does nothing to fix any problem. If you disks became r/w it was not because of verifying them. Were you a real expert you would know that. Furthermore, Disk Utility is and always has been in the Utilities folder. One doesn't need Spotlight to find it if one were truly an expert.

Also, the fact that you've experienced a problem hardly qualifies you to critique those of us who are, not sound like, experts.

You are indeed a noob. You should take care to avoid giving bad advice about something you know nothing about. We'd all appreciate that including and especially those who are seeking help.

Sorry, but you are a noob without a clue. Now that's abusive. Unfortunately, you will need a few thousand more posts before you can report me to anyone here.

You did something and suddenly your problem was solved. But you have no comprehension of the fact that verifying a drive does nothing to fix it. Furthermore, repairing a drive doesn't help with any permissions problems. That would require repairing permissions. However, using DU to repair permissions only affects specific system files and will not change the permissions status of a disk drive. Now, these are the facts. If you consider them abusive then you are an odd person.

With each post you prove how ignorant you truly are. Please, get a life. Hopefully one without computers.

If I'm rude to you consider your earlier remarks that provoked it. Then spend some time in front of a mirror.

Thank you for your unsolicited remark. How come you aren't helping anyone here? I was helping the OP until you and your insulting buddies all descended on the OP's topic without so much as an apology to the OP.

It would seem that telling you and your friends when you've overstepped the bounds here that you then become offended and insulting in order to defend your wrong behavior towards the OP. You people are the unpleasant, unhelpful, and arrogant ones.

Kappy

I've had this problem show up since day before yesterday.
My info permissions show:

system=custom
admin =custom
everyone=custom

I can click on the custom and then the “read & write” but the read and write
does not hold. It pops right back to the custom. I followed your suggestions above
for using the terminal but was not authorized per the messages given.
I've looked around the net but your comments are the most specific to the problem.
I hope a fix/correction can be found as I want to do a backup, then format, new install
and read the ext drive to get the names of some of my apps so I can re-install them.

iMac 27" - OS 10.6
Seagate FreeAgent Goflex ext drive

TIA
Ron

I get a message "operation not permitted" after dragging the ext hd icon over and typing my password. I have tried the repair disk but not with the OS installer disc. I'll see how that works out.

TIA
Ron

Struck out again. Sorry, I should have mentioned in first post that it is a permissions problem.
The go to kept giving me a "folder not found" when using the suggested inputs.
The ignore permissions box is unchecked.

Thanks
Ron

Well, Fix No Access Permissions on HD just did not work. It seems that
the Ext HD just can not be seen using that process. Or, big OR, it just
may be an end user problem. I think most computer problems are just
that. lol

Thanks

Ron

I'm not sure if this will help anyone else but I finally was able to erase/format from DU. Then I just set up Time machine again and all is well. The "get info" shows the appropriate names and privileges in the permissions box. For those who need to keep the data already on the external HD this would not work.

Ron