[SOLVED] Unable to remove Read-Only attribute from External Hard Drive - Mac Laptop

[Karmella]

I plug in my external hard drive, I can see everything, open everything, but cannot delete and cannot drag new files to save.

Eek! help?

 

[Ijack]

What format is the external drive? FAT, NTFS, ...?

 

[Karmella]

Windows NT File System (NTFS)

this is so frustrating! lol

 

[Ijack]

OS X doesn't support writing to NTFS volumes by default. This link tells you how to change it. Whether it is a good idea to enable something that Apple chose to disable is another matter.

 

[Karmella]

Karmella:~ karmella$ sudo nano/etc/fstab

WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

Password:

***will not let me type a password or carry on to these steps:

In the editor, type UUID=, then paste the UUID number you copied from the clipboard. Type a Space, then type none ntfs rw. The final line should look like this: UUID=123-456-789 none ntfs rw, where 123-456-789 is the UUID you copied in the first step.

Repeat the above steps for any other NTFS drives/partitions you have.

Save the file and quit nano (Control-X, Y, Enter), then restart your system

Mod Edit: Edited for personally identifying information

 

[Ijack]

If your OS X account is an Administrator account (and, I believe, by default they are unless you change them) then sudo should work. Have a look at this support article from Apple to see if it applies.

 

[hairystuff]

Enabling ntfs in OSX is fine, unless the disk you are trying to access is a windows system boot hard disk put in to a caddy from a system, some times OSX can scramble the permissions up, but normally with an external hard drive its ok.

 

[yauyau]

it can be either FAT or NTFS file....>>> depend on the file formatting choice..
for eg: Loading XP file.

choice to format in FAT or NFTS
if u open you r external hard drive and rebot in XP operatong system

...from skyland yauyau