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User profile for user: MIKEinMICH
MIKEinMICH Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

MBPro internal HD won't allow me to change from "Read Only"

I bought a used 2015 MacBook Pro. It arrived with OSX 10.11 installed, and the previous owner

simply gave it to me with their user name/password info. I decided to upgrade to Sierra. All was

going well til I installed a favorite recording app which requires me to specify the HD it needs to

recognize and "read/write" to. It reported the HD was unable to be read. I then selected "Get Info"

for the HD and found under Sharing and Permissions the "You can only read" message. The 'system

privilege shows Read and Write, but when i tried to change 'wheel' and 'everyone' to Read and Write

I get the dialog box: "operation can't be completed because you don't have the necessary permission."


I then noticed the Format of the drive is APFS (Encrypted) .


Any suggestions on how to proceed?


Thanks,


Mike

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), June 2013 1.3

Posted on Dec 9, 2017 3:27 PM

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15 replies
User profile for user: MIKEinMICH
MIKEinMICH Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Dec 9, 2017 5:30 PM in response to PN2

The errors with Peak are really quirky across all systems over the years so

but for whatever reason it's just not appearing to be too stable beyond 10.10...

It does look like, based on the speed of this Time Machine backup, a thumb drive

may not be the best choice - i have about 37g of stuff to process here and it's

crawling... currently up to about 600mb after an hour. Is there an option like

Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper, or whatever else - that could be faster or

would i have to stick with a proprietary Apple backup to restore this stuff after

i put an earlier OS on the machine...? Thanks!

User uploaded file

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User profile for user: PN2
PN2
User level: Level 4
1,052 points

Dec 9, 2017 4:26 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

>>I am able to alter permission of a folder that i created.


Sure, that's expected. The question was whether or not the recording application insists on access to the root of a drive, or can use some other folder within it.


That model originally shipped with Yosemite : MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) - Technical Specifications


So, I'd hope that starting in Internet Recovery, using Shift-Option-Command-R & reinstalling from there, would do what Apple say it does : Install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the version closest to it that is still available.

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User profile for user: PN2
PN2
User level: Level 4
1,052 points

Dec 9, 2017 4:36 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

It would require erasing the entire drive, so yes.


I'd confirm a working bootable installer or backup before doing that, of course. You might consider Sierra as an option, since it's still available without an Apple ID that previously downloaded it : Sierra :How to download macOS Sierra - Apple Support


What's the recording software ?. (edit : asking since if users say it works OK in Sierra, they must have changed permissions, if it really has to write to the root of the drive… perhaps that location was added to System Integrity Protection in High Sierra ?)

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User profile for user: PN2
PN2
User level: Level 4
1,052 points

Dec 9, 2017 3:50 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

APFS (Encrypted) suggests High Sierra : what shows in Apple menu - About This Mac ?.


Does the software allow you to choose a sub-folder, rather than the root of the drive ? (perhaps a new folder that you create in your Home folder). It's normal for Macintosh HD to be 'you can only read'.

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User profile for user: MIKEinMICH
MIKEinMICH Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Dec 9, 2017 4:05 PM in response to PN2

The OS is High Sierra.


I am able to alter permission of a folder that i created. For that, it indicates "You have custom access."


Is it possible that the best solution would be to reformat this HD -- in which case i must offload some of the apps i inherited from the owner and try to reinstall them which sounds challenging.... Or would even shifting back to Sierra vs "High" Sierra matter? Would like to first establish whether this Encrypted formatting is what's causing my problem....and what alternative exists if so.


Can a mid-2015 MB Pro run 10.10/Yosemite? I'm also a bit concerned about compatibility of some apps now.


Thanks

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User profile for user: MIKEinMICH
MIKEinMICH Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Dec 9, 2017 4:25 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

Hi, thanks. It's a legacy app and other users have said it's stable in Sierra...and Yosemite (and earlier).

This particular app is appearing quite buggy so far in High Sierra and not allowing any selectability in its interface of specific folders. I'm leaning towards reverting to an earlier OS.


It's been a year or two since I've dealt with the whole reinstallation thing on any of my Macs, but encouraged about this model being capable of running Yosemite for the purpose of keeping this app functional. So the

Recovery mode option; would that wipe any apps/content that are on the HD now (High Sierra) and require

reinstall of those?


Thanks!

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User profile for user: MIKEinMICH
MIKEinMICH Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Dec 9, 2017 4:42 PM in response to PN2

Thanks!

I would like to try Sierra before Yosemite. The app is called Peak and it's a great but orphaned app - and based on user group info it's stable in basically everything up to Sierra - except El Capitan (for unknown reason). Looks like i should just do a Time Machine backup of this and try the Recovery backup to Sierra for starters... and ultimately if i need to just move on to another app, maybe this is my cue to move on.; )

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User profile for user: MIKEinMICH
MIKEinMICH Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Dec 9, 2017 4:59 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

As i say, I'm a little rusty on the proprietary things about Time Machine so maybe you can

clarify... and I appreciate your time! I'm doing a backup of the stuff on this laptop to a USB

using TM. Now, when/if I can put Sierra (or Yosemite) onto this laptop, will there be any problem

with restoring the contents of that backup if I've installed a Different OS to install onto?


Hope this q makes sense and again, much appreciated!


Mike

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User profile for user: PN2
PN2
User level: Level 4
1,052 points

Dec 9, 2017 5:12 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

That sounds like a plan. I'd grab Sierra & create a bootable anyway, since Recovery using Shift-Option-Command-R will install something earlier than that.


Does Peak give a specific error naming the folder it can't write to ?. I see some users claiming that Peak works for them in High Sierra, so it's worth trying to find out what they did to make it so.\

From what I see, HS is the same as Sierra, in that the root of the drive is normally read-only, but can be changed by an admin user, after unlocking the padlock.

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User profile for user: PN2
PN2
User level: Level 4
1,052 points

Dec 9, 2017 6:31 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

>>Hope this q makes sense...


It does, but the answer isn't clear, since some software & settings on High Sierra may not translate back to earlier versions. I've not come across enough posts about doing that to know if there are zero, frequent; or just very occasional problems. I'd expect it to be only Apple's included apps affected, if at all, but can't say for certain.


That applies to restoring using Migration or Setup Assistant; I don't know at all about a full restore to HS from earlier.


USB can be slow, I've rarely used TM to see if it's worse, although others say not. I might use manual copying; CCC; or even Disk Utility to create an image of any required folders on a USB or other drive… unless I really wanted a High Sierra restore.

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User profile for user: MIKEinMICH
MIKEinMICH Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Dec 9, 2017 6:35 PM in response to PN2

Thanks! I found a Terminal command that can temporarily take the throttle off of Time Machine...

it's sped it up quite a bit. Yeah, I think I'll just test Sierra if I can reinstall it in Recovery mode...

If that doesn't pan out as far as making Peak responsive, I suspect next move should be to

try and get Yosemite/10.10 on there as i don't recall any users reporting any major issues under

that - and I know it's stable in 10.8.5/10.9 - tho i can't go there with this new Mac... I maintain

10.8.5 on my main studio Macs (quad i7 2012 Minis) and it's fine.... As I say, this may spur me

to finally make myself adapt to newer, though less satisfying apps vs. Peak. That's a whole'nother

topic: )

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MBPro internal HD won't allow me to change from "Read Only"

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