Internal Hard Drive Locked "Read Only"

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Internal Hard Drive Locked "Read Only"

Hi, I'm locked out of the internal hard drive of my Macbook Pro running Mountain Lion….although I can access the repair (CMD+R) partition on the internal drive and alternatively boot from a USB thumb drive Mountain Lion installation, the main partition on the internal drive remains locked. I cannot select it to reinstall Mountain Lion or even backup files via FireWire disk mode (drive does not appear on host computer)

When clicking on the graphic image of the internal disk to which I'd like to reinstall OS X a window pops up saying, "This disk is locked." ('Disk Utilities' are unable to repair disk/permissions)

In Terminal when running from the OS X repair partition before the cursor occurs this text: -bash-3.2#

Can 'read only' permissions be changed via Terminal commands executed from the OS X repair startup (CMD+R)?

chflags 0 /volumes/volumename

nothing happens…just returns cursor after -bash-3.2#

chown 0:80 /volumes/volumename

returns: chown: /volumes/volumename: Read-only file system

chmod 775 /Volumes/Volumename

returns: chmod: Unable to change file mode on /volumes/volumename: Read-only file system

chmod -N /volumes/volumename

returns: chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file /volumes/almathea: Read-only file system

thanks!

OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Aug 9, 2012 11:22 AM

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Answer 1

macjack

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Aug 9, 2012 11:47 AM in response to oceanbluesky

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2329689?start=0&tstart=0

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Answer 2

oceanbluesky Author

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Aug 9, 2012 11:59 AM in response to macjack

thank you I've read that thread several times, including sublinked threads, to no avail...as others posted there, these commands did not work for them either:

sudo chflags 0 /volumes/*

sudo chmod a+rx /volumes/*

What commands change the partition from 'Read-Only' via a terminal started via OS X repair?

thanks

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Answer 3

oceanbluesky Author

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Aug 9, 2012 12:04 PM in response to macjack

I do not need the 'sudo' command since this Terminal is from the repair partition, right?

when executing the above with sudo the following returns:

-bash: sudo: command not found

but when executing the commands without sudo the more responsive error messages listed above are returned...

also, should I be asked for a password?

is -bash-3.2# supposed to be ahead of the cursor in the repair partition's terminal?

thanks again

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Answer 4

macjack

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111,168 points

Aug 9, 2012 12:14 PM in response to oceanbluesky

I would use sudo and yes sudo should prompt you for your password, unless you've used it within 15 min.

I don't know why the -bash: sudo: command not found error

How did it become read-only?

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Answer 5

oceanbluesky Author

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Aug 9, 2012 12:23 PM in response to macjack

if this helps, after executing the first line, the following is returned:

-bash-3.2# ls -l

total 8

d-wx-wx-wt@ 2 root admin 68 Aug 9 10:46 .Trashes

drwxr-xr-x 36 root wheel 1292 Aug 6 02:03 volumename

drwxrwxr-x 9 root wheel 374 Jul 26 11:12 Image Volume

lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 1 Aug 9 10:46 Mac OS X Base System ->

-bash-3.2# [cursor]

what does "wheel" mean?

thanks again

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Answer 6

oceanbluesky Author

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Aug 9, 2012 1:02 PM in response to macjack

apparently it is unnecessary to use sudo since -bash-3.2# is root

is there a Terminal command to change the entire volume to read and write for everyone? I'd change it back later

thanks

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Answer 7

oceanbluesky Author

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Aug 9, 2012 1:25 PM in response to macjack

this is the result of running Disk Utility's 'Verify Disk Permissions'

Verifying permissions for "volumename"

Group differs on "Library/Java"; should be 0; group is 80.

Permissions differ on "LibraryJava" ; should be drwxr-xr-x; they are drwxrwxr-x.

Group differs on "Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist"; should be 80; group is 0.

Permissions differ on "System/Library/Fr…ild be lrwrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x.

ACL found but not expected on "private/var/root/Library"

ACL found but not expected on "private/var/root/Library/Preferences"

Group differs on "private/var/db/GPURestartReporter"; should be 0; group 80.

Permissions differ on "private/var/db/GP…Id be drwxr-xr-x ; they are drwxrwxr-x.

Permissions verification complete.

...if that helps?

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Answer 8

macjack

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111,168 points

Aug 9, 2012 4:24 PM in response to macjack

I never ran into a drive I couldn't re-format unless it was bricked (re-format is the only way I know of to accomplish what you want).

But then you want to change it back, why?

btw - that is a Verify, what happens on a Repair?

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Answer 9

Mar 31, 2013 4:06 PM in response to oceanbluesky

Hello,

I found this thread due to having a similar issue. Perhaps I can help:

Mac OS 10.8.2 boot hung. Needed to install file to primary hard drive by using USB Mac OS Install flash drive to boot and go to terminal. Had "mv (path):read-only file system" issue as well.

Invoked:

mount -uw /

Worked for me.

Best of luck,

-A

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