Don't worry when your external hard drive displays as read-only on Mac. This page includes 3 reliable solutions that can assist you in removing the 'read-only' error from your Mac external hard drive, making it readable again. Pick up any method below to make your device accessible without losing any data now:
Hi, In Big Sur, I (administrator user) only have read access to the folders: /System, /Library, and /Users. By right-clicking on these folders, in the show info-box I am not allowed to change the permission for administrator to read/write. As administrator I want read/write access to all of. Sets the directory and all sub directory permissions to 777 (all) permissions on Unix systems like OS X. I use it all the time as ALEXA SxS mags have their own permissions when they come off camera. In a larger network environment, consult your IT before doing this - you would likely set it to your user permission as opposed to EVERYONE. If you want to set the permissions for a file on your Mac without using the terminal, you’ll need to use the Finder app. You can launch Finder from the Dock at the bottom of your screen. The application is represented by the smiling Happy Mac logo icon. I tried both of these options with no luck. I can save to the desktop. But no other drives. (there are 6 different drives) Is there somewhere in windows to configure the read and write settings other that the properties panel for each individual drive? Once the folder in question is.copied to the mac desktop it takes on the permissions that the Mac gives all newly created folder in the users profile. Once work is done and the folder is.copied back onto the smb share windows sees it as a 'new'. But the permissions generated by OS X are retained on the share.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1. Reformat External Hard Drive | Open 'Applications' > 'Utilities' > Launch 'Disk Utility' to 'Erase' external drive > Restore formatted data...Full steps |
Fix 2. Ignore Permissions | Right-click external drive > 'Get Info' > 'Sharing & Permissions' > Check 'Ignore ownership on...'...Full steps |
Fix 3. Repair Drive Errors | Open Disk Utility > Select the external hard drive and click 'First Aid' > Click 'Run'...Full steps |
'Hi there, do you know how to make the external hard drive accessible again when it shows as 'Read Only' on Mac? I'm having this problem that my Seagate hard drive suddenly turned to read-only this morning when I connected it to Mac. I could only read and view saved data on the drive, but can't use the data on it. If you have any clue to fix this problem, please tell me. Thanks very much.'
Right-click your external storage device, select 'Get Info', and if you see 'You can only read' at the bottom, you are encountering one of the commonest problems with an external hard drive. When your external hard drive or other external storage devices show up as 'Read Only' on your Mac, you can:
You can't:
Why can you only read the external hard drive that is connected to your Mac? There are three possible reasons.
Right-click your hard disk and select 'Get Info', if you find the external hard drive in NTFS format, that's what the cause is. The incompatibility of the file system is the main cause. NTFS is a file system that is optimal for Windows-based computers. Although the Mac operating system allows you to read the files on the external hard drive, you can't write files to it because the way that NTFS writes data to the device is incompatible with the way macOS doing it. (Go to the Fix.)
An external hard drive is subject to the access permission set up by OS X for all files and folders on the system. When you use the device on another computer with a different OS, the permission settings with it may not be recognized or prevent access to the files on the hard disk. (Go to the Fix.)
Another common cause for the external hard drive 'Read Only' problem on Mac is the formatting errors of the storage device itself. If you see a warning that says the device is only being mounted in read-only mode while connecting, your hard disk is diagnosed to have formatting errors that prevent you from writing files to it. (Go to the Fix.)
Identify the cause that leads to the 'Read Only' error on your Mac from the information above, then follow the corresponding solution to solve the problem with ease.
Based on different reasons, there are three solutions to the problem.
If your external hard drive is read-only on your Mac due to its NTFS file system, you can fix it by reformatting the device to a Mac-compatible format with Mac Disk Utility. Before that, remember to back up your external hard drive quickly with data backup software since the formatting will erase all the files on the device.
Step 1: Launch 'Disk Utility'.
Step 2: In the list of available drives on the left, choose the problematic external hard drive. Then click the 'Erase' option in the main window.
Step 3: Choose a proper file system and rename your hard disk. (Both APFS and Mac OS Extended file system are Mac-exclusive. Thus, if you want your external hard drive to be both Mac and PC compatible, choose MS-DOS, also known as FAT, or ExFAT instead.)
Step 4: Click Erase to reformatting your external hard drive.
Wait for the reformatting process to complete and then go to the information window, this time you will see the 'You can only read' has changed to 'You can read and write', which means you can read and write the drive on your Mac normally.
Generally speaking, when a storage device shows up as read-only, you can still copy files off of it. If you cannot view or see all saved data on the drive, don't worry. After you format it, you can use the professional Mac hard drive recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to get back your lost data on the drive with simple clicks:
Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the 'Scan' button.
Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.
Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click the 'Recover Now' button to have them back.
If you are sure the problem is caused by the permission settings, you just need to ignore the permissions to solve the 'Read Only' external hard drive problem on your Mac.
Step 1: Right-click your external hard drive shown on your Mac and select 'Get Info'.
Step 2: Expand the 'Sharing & Permissions' section, then click the lock to authenticate.
Step 3: Check 'Ignore ownership on this volume'.
If there is a formatting error on your external hard drive that makes the device read-only, you can use Disk Utility to check the errors and repair the external storage device.
Step 1: Go to 'Disk Utility'.
Step 2: Highlight the read-only external hard drive, click 'First Aid' in the top center, then click 'Run'.
'After upgrading my PC from Windows 8 to Windows 10, I cannot access folder on external drive. An error 'You don't currently have permission to access this folder' occurs.'
You can find a lot of similar questions from users on Microsoft community. When they tried to open a folder on the external drive, they failed to access the folder with a pop-up error message 'You Don't Currently Have Permission to Access This Folder'. According to their report, the error mainly occur when they have upgraded the OS to Windows 10.
If you are suffering from this 'You don't currently have permission to access this folder' problem, please follow our instructions below to fix it as soon as possible.
When 'You Don't Currently Have Permission to Access This Folder' error occurs, you can’t access, rename or delete files and folders even if you have signed into Windows 10 with an administrator account. Moreover, several factors will lead to 'You Don't Currently Have Permission to Access This Folder' error:
Removal of a user or group from 'Group or user names' on the folder’s 'Security' tab.
Application of an explicit 'Deny' to the user or group.
Conflict between the share permissions and New Technology File System (NTFS) permissions.
After figuring out the reason of the error, please follow the instructions below to get access to the file or folder on the external device again.
1. Allow Everyone in Security Tab
Step 1. Right-click on the folder to choose 'Properties'.
Step 2. On the 'Security' tab, click 'Edit'.
Step 3. Select 'Add'> type 'everyone' > click on 'Check names' > 'OK'.
Step 4. Under 'Allow' section, choose 'everyone'.
Step 5. And then, select 'Full control' > 'Apply' > 'OK'.
2. Replace Owner of the File or Folder
Also, you can try to change the ownership of the file or folder to troubleshoot 'You Don't Currently Have Permission to Access This Folder' issue on Windows 10/8/7.
Step 1. Right-click on the folder to navigate to 'Properties'.
Step 2. Go to 'group or user name' section on 'Security' tab.
Step 3. Click on 'Advanced', and then 'Change'.
Step 4. Type your account name. Click on 'Check names' > 'OK'.
Step 5. Check 'Replace owner on subcontainers and objects' > 'OK'.
3. Run TAKEOWN /F /R /D Y command
Step 1. Open Command Prompt (Admin) on Windows menu.
Step 2. Enter the command: 'TAKEOWN /F /R /D Y ', and press 'Enter' key.
Step 3. Shut down Command Prompt.
Step 4. Restart your PC.
4. Recover the Files or Folder
If all methods above are not helpful, third-party data recovery software can be taken into consideration in order to recover your data from 'You don't currently have permission to access this folder' error on Windows 10/8/7. Here we highly recommend you FonePaw Data Recovery(opens new window) which can restore lost or corrupted data from Windows PC.
Step 1. Launch FonePaw Data Recovery
Download FonePaw Data Recovery from FonePaw official website. Next, launch it. It’s compatible with Windows 10/8/7.
Step 2. Select File Types and Scanning Drive
FonePaw Data Recovery supports recovering image, video, audio, email, document and more. After selecting file types, you are able to choose the scanning drive. USB, memory card, digital camera are supported.
Step 3. Start scanning
Click on 'Scan' button and wait for a while.
Step 4. Choose Files
Choose files you want to restore by clicking on the checkbox which is next to the file name.
Step 5. Recover Files
In the final step, you just need to click on the 'Recover' button.
With FonePaw Data Recovery, you don’t need to worry about data loss. So why don’t you download it and have a try?
After that, you are able to try to open the folder on your PC to see if 'You don't currently have permission to access this folder' error is successfully fixed. If you have a better method, please share it with comments below.