Hello. This is my first post. I am a new Mac user & very experienced PC user. I successfully copied my data to a mac-formatted external drive, but often when I try to move or delete files, I get permission errors.
I have noticed that repair permissions is not available for non-boot drives (not sure why). Can someone give me a Bash shell command for "make me the owner of this current directory, and all files and directories contained therein."? Perhaps there is another way to own all my files.
I appreciate any assistance and look forward to seeing some of you at the next meeting.
-Ron
Hey, new guy, welcome to Mac! Repair permissions only repairs incorrect permissions on Apple-supplied files, which, usually, only appear on the boot volume. The permissions you want to fix aren't broken, they're just wrong for what you want to do with them.
You need to use the following commands to do what you want to do - chmod, chown, and maybe chgrp. You will also need to use the sudo command to change files you don't own yet. You can find out all about these commands using the man command, i.e., type man chown in the terminal to learn all about "chANGEownER", or man XXX, where XXX is any command you want to learn about.
A more universal solution, if you are changing files/dirs on a non-boot volume, is to choose to simply "ignore permissions on this volume" - available from the Get Info window for the volume you want to change, under the Sharing & Permissions section. Files and directories retain the info when copied elsewhere, so you may still need the terminal!
Happy Mac'ing!
Dan
Thanks, Dan.
I am also trying to set up some extra storage for time machine, but I cannot format drives. I get errors every time (right now "resource busy"). Seems very weird.
Re: formatting drives this link may be useful.
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20090111225651243
Quote from: MacMoore on January 13, 2009, 11:12:46 AM
Re: formatting drives this link may be useful.
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20090111225651243
Informative, but not reassuring or helpful <g>. Thanks.
It is helpful if you look a little closer at the link MacMoore sent you.... the link from happyhints says...
QuoteExtended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive."
Now that's helpful and it works! You may not be able to format a disk if the OS is using it - hence the "resource busy" signal. Boot from a Installer CD/DVD and you should have no problems... but we all know what "should" means in this case - it "may" work. Let us know and...
Happy Mac'ing
Dan
Oops. I guess I should learn to scroll. Thanks. I will try this as soon as I get my mac back. It's in for an optical drive issue.
Quote from: Dan Millar on January 13, 2009, 03:31:39 PM
It is helpful if you look a little closer at the link MacMoore sent you.... the link from happyhints says...
QuoteExtended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive."
Now that's helpful and it works! You may not be able to format a disk if the OS is using it - hence the "resource busy" signal. Boot from a Installer CD/DVD and you should have no problems... but we all know what "should" means in this case - it "may" work. Let us know and...
Happy Mac'ing
Dan
I get to step 3, but there is no partition button (maybe it means partition tab, but I am already there), so I click "Apply," then it fails. Same error messages whether I've booted from DVD or HD. If I try to format one volume and the error message is "resource busy." If I try to do a RAID set, the message is "could not add a RAID disc to a RAID."
The service tech said he tested the MBP and could format discs fine, though he did say he found the happyhints bit useful. I must be missing something, but I welcome any input.
-Ron
Quote from: neuron132 on January 12, 2009, 03:52:29 PM
I have noticed that repair permissions is not available for non-boot drives (not sure why). Can someone give me a Bash shell command for "make me the owner of this current directory, and all files and directories contained therein."? Perhaps there is another way to own all my files.
Hi Ron,
External drives are mounted under /Volumes
If the external drive is called, say drive2, and if all that's on it are your PC datafiles, and your userid is say, ron, then I think this command line entry should give you ownership of all files:
cd /Volumes/drive2
sudo chown -R ron .Assuming you haven't changed directories, this commandline entry will give you read-write-execute
sudo chmod -R u+rwx .The period in each of the commands above means 'this directory'. As Dan suggested, the complete syntax of chown and chmod are accessible by entering:
man chown
man chmodgood luck,
...b