WD Passport Studio Permissions set to custom and not changable

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Level 1

8 points

WD Passport Studio Permissions set to custom and not changable

I have a WD Passport Studio external 2TB HD for backup purposes. I set the permissions using a MacBook Pro I no longer have, and am not able to access my backups and files with my new MacBook Pro. How do I reset permissions so I can get access? I tried to use verify and repair permissions in Yosemite (v10.9.5), but they are grayed out... Help! don't want to lose my pictures and home movies. It is a Journaled HFS Volume, and disk verify and repair show no issues. Help!!

Thanks!

Posted on Aug 18, 2016 1:36 PM

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Answer 1

Ulexes138

Community Specialist

Aug 19, 2016 10:06 AM in response to jcooke95746

Hello jcooke95746,
Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Community. I know how important it is to preserve your files and photos and I'll do all I can to help. What I'd recommend from here is right clicking on the drive from your Finder and selecting "Get Info" Here you should be able to enter the username and password to unlock the drive and access your data.
OS X Yosemite: If you don’t have the permissions to open a file or folder
OS X Yosemite: Set permissions for items on your Mac
If you have any questions or still run into any trouble, let us know what you see. The whole community is here to help.
-Best Regards-

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,341 points

Aug 19, 2016 4:44 PM in response to jcooke95746

Do a Get Info (command - I) and see if there is an option to Ignore ownership. If not, try unlocking the padlock and then give yourself read/write permissions.

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Answer 3

jcooke95746 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 19, 2016 4:47 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric -

Thanks, but this was one of the first things I tried. Even though I can set it to ignore ownership and unlock the access, it won't let me change permissions for any user. It will allow me to select it to attempt to change to read/write, but gives me a permissions error and stays set at "custom". :^(

Still need help...

Thanks!

Jim

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

685,341 points

Aug 19, 2016 4:51 PM in response to jcooke95746

You are welcome. Maybe a long shot, but if you can set Ignore ownership, try shutting down the external drive, unplug it, let it sit for a short time, reconnect, and then power it on.

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