External hard drives are important storage media for both Mac and Windows users. Usually, you can read and write to files on an external hard drive on your Mac. But there are chances that this external hard drive shows read-only on Mac. For example, many people have reported that their WD My Passport external hard drives are read-only on Mac. When you check its disk information, you will find you can only read the external hard drive on Mac. Moreover, users who use USB flash drives and SD cards on Mac also encounter this read-only problem.
By Katrina | Posted to NTFS for Mac, updated on May 25th, 2020 |
Dec 29, 2015 These will format the drive in OS X's HFS+ filetype so it will be compatible with Time Machine. Click Erase and OS X will format the drive. With the drive selected in Disk Utility, click. Jan 04, 2012 How to Format an External Drive for Mac Compatibility. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they USB, Firewire, or Thunderbolt. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk: Connect the hard drive or USB key to the Mac. Jun 25, 2020 This is a great external hard drive for your Mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure. Western Digital My Passport Ultra features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption. Feb 08, 2020 How to Partition an External Hard Drive on Mac. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive (in fact, you should for better file organization), here’s a step-by-step guide: Step 1: Highlight your drive and click “Partition” in Disk Utility. Open the Disk Utility app and highlight your external hard drive.
You may be wondering why you can't write to this external hard drive even though you are the owner of this disk, and more importantly, if you can fix this read-only problem without formatting or not?
Installing macOS Sierra on the external drive 1. Preparing the hard drive for the installation Before you install macOS Sierra on the hard drive, you will need to clean the external device. Ensure that there is no important data on your hard drive. Then plug it into your Mac, go to Finder and select Applications.
Thus, this post will analyze three external hard drive read-only cases so that you can find a relevant and feasible solution to your problem.
Case 1: The read-only external hard drive is NTFS file system
A file system controls how data is stored and retrieved on a disk. There are many different kinds of file systems, and each one has different structure and logic, properties of speed, flexibility, security, size, etc. By default, Windows uses Microsoft NTFS file system while Macs use HFS+ and APFS for OS volume. FAT32 and exFAT are usable for both Windows and Mac operating systems.
That's to say, you are unable to write to NTFS drives on macOS Catalina, Mojave, and any earlier Mac operating systems . If you try to copy or drag files on an NTFS-formatted external hard drive on Mac, you'll be unable to but see the greyed-out no symbol as below. And when you open files on this external hard drive, you will find your documents being read-only. For an NTFS file system SD card on Mac, files like photos are locked as you can only read them.
Therefore, if you find your external hard drive read-only, for example, a Seagate external hard drive shows read-only on Mac, the first thing that comes to your mind should be to check if this drive is NTFS file system.
How to check if an external hard drive is NTFS file system on Mac?
Simply, you can check this by viewing its disk information either in Disk Utility or in the Finder, and here is how.
Method 1: Check if an external hard drive is NTFS file system in Disk Utility
Step 1: Click on Launchpad at the dock of your Mac and choose Other in the menu.
Step 2: Choose Disk Utility Recover files structure hard drive mac os x. among these utilities and open it.
Step 3: When it is launched, click on the external hard drive you have problem with in the left sidebar. You will see an obvious 'Windows NT File System' in the right column.
Method 2: Check if an external hard drive is NTFS file system in the Finder
You can also check this in the Finder with a few clicks.
Step 1: Open the Finder and right-click on this external hard drive.
Step 2: Choose Get info in the context menu.
Step 3: You will see 'Windows NT File System (NTFS)s' after File system if the read-only drive is formatted with Microsoft NTFS file system.
Then, after making sure that it is the Windows NTFS file system that makes your external hard drive read-only on Mac, you can go head to fix this problem. Try to repair the read-only external hard drive with or without formatting.
Solution 1: Format this external hard drive to exFAT/FAT32
It is possible that you just recently bought a new hard drive and found it is formatted as NTFS. In this case, if you don't have anything important on this drive or you have a copy of a data backup, you can simply format this external hard drive without worrying about data loss. To formatting this read-only hard drive, you can just go to Disk Utility and Erase it.
There are several formats you can choose, and erasing this disk into which file system depends on how you intend to use the drive.
Solution 2: Run NTFS for Mac software on Mac
However, if you have several important files on this external hard drive, and you frequently swap your work between Windows and Mac computers, formatting this drive definitely is the last solution you would resort to. The reason is, as you may know, formatting a hard disk will wipe your data out of this drive and cause data loss.
Then when external drive is NTFS-formatted, how can you fix the read-only drive without formatting?
An NTFS driver for Mac should be the most convenient tool for people who want to fix this issue without formatting, because you can work natively and seamlessly on NTFS file system external hard drives on your Mac in a few clicks. The NTFS for Mac software you can try is iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to make the NTFS drives writable on Mac.
About iBoysoft NTFS for Mac
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac can mount NTFS external hard drives in read-write mode on your Mac, granting people full access to read, write, edit, copy, and delete files on NTFS-formatted drives.
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac- Best NTFS Disk Management for Mac
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is also a wonderful tool to manage NTFS external drives on Mac. It's a menu bar app, from which users can mount, repair, erase NTFS hard drives, external hard drives, SD cards, USB flash drives, etc. with a simple click.
Tutorial to write to NTFS-formatted external hard drive on Mac with iBoysoft NTFS for Mac
Step 1: Free download, install and launch iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on your computers.
Step 2: Connect NTFS external hard drive to Mac.
Step 3: Write to NTFS external hard drive after the external hard drive is mounted successfully.
Solution 3: Fix read-only NTFS external hard drives with the command line (not recommend)
You can also try the experimental method to enable NTFS read-write support with command prompt on your Mac. My big sister download game. However, it is not recommended as it is not stable and could result in data loss if it goes wrong. So, use the command line with caution!
Warning: Do not use this method as a long-term solution to write to NTFS drives that contain important files. Meanwhile, do not use this method if you are not familiar with the command line, in case that you input a wrong command and cause unexpected damage to your Mac and drives.
Well, if you insist…here is how to do this:
Step 1: Click Go at the upper right of your desktop and go to the Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
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Step 2: Input 'sudo nano /etc/fstab' to edit the fstab file (supply your password when prompted).
Step 3: Type 'LABEL=NAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse' in the editor window for the fstab file. (Be sure to change the word NAME to the name of your drive)
Step 4: Press Control + O to save the file, followed byControl + X to exit.
Step 5: Unmount your NTFS drive and attach it again.
Case 2: Disk permissions are changed as read-onlyToshiba External Hard Drive Software Mac
The Sharing and Permissions option is set up to determine who can delete or modify a file or program copied to the drive. Thus, if the permissions are changed by you or others, a message will pop up and inform you that the file is read-only or you don't have permission to save when you save changes to this disk.
In this case, if you right-click on the icon of your disk and choose 'Get info' to check the disk information, you will find you can only read this external hard drive or SD card even though it is not NTFS file system. That's to say, you can't write to this drive.
If this is the cause for your external hard drive being read-only, you can try the following solutions and fix this issue without formatting your drive.
Solution 1: Change the permission of this external hard drive
If your files on this external hard drive show as read-only or locked, or if you try to move some files to the Trash but get no response, you can try to change the permission of this disk.
Step 1: Open the Finder and find your external hard drive in the left sidebar.
Step 2: Right-click on this drive or volume and choose Get info, and then scroll down to Sharing & Permissions.
Step 3: Extend this column by clicking on the triangle symbol, and then click on the Lock icon.
Step 4: Input the password of your Mac, and click on Read only, then change your privilege as Read & Write in the right column.
Step 5: Click the gear button (Action menu) at the bottom of the window, choose Apply to enclosed items, and then click OK to confirm the action.
Solution 2: Ignore Permissions on external hard drive in the Finder
To prevent such errors from happening, Mac operating system includes a setting to ignore Permissions on external drives, so all files on the drive should be fully accessible regardless of their Permissions settings. Here below are steps to ignore the permission on external hard drives:
Step 1: Select the external hard drive on your desktop or in the Finder sidebar, and then press Command + I to get information on the drive.
Step 2: Click on the arrow that is on the left side of the Sharing & Permissions tab near the bottom of the window.
Step 3: Check the box to Ignore ownership on this volume, or toggle it off and then on if it's already enabled. (Provide the password of your Mac if it is required.)
Case 3: Can't write to external hard drives on Mac due to disk errors
Some internal errors will cause a drive to be read-only as well. When this happens, your drive will be only mounted in read-only mode to prevent the data on it from corruption.
Solution: Repair read-only external hard drive with Disk Utility
Fortunately, you can take some actions to repair these minor disk errors with Disk Utility on your Mac. You can use the following guide to fix read-only external hard drive in Disk Utility without formatting.
Step 1: Click Go at the upper right of your desktop and go to Utilities, and then open Disk Utility.
Step 2: Select the read-only external hard drive on the left window.
Step 3: Click First Aid in the and choose Run.
However, it is possible that an NTFS format is not the culprit of your disk being read-only. On the contrary, some other reasons make your disk not writable. For instance, if your disk becomes read-only after a macOS update, you may be facing one of the rare glitches of a macOS. Under this circumstance, if the solutions above are unable to fix this read-only external hard drive, you may need to format this drive, and then recover your important data from the formatted external hard drive instead.
Bonus part: Fix SD card read-only on Mac
Except for external hard drives, memory cards like micro SD cards and SDHC cards could be read-only on Mac as well. It could occur whether you access the SD card via a card slot or connect the camera to the Mac. If you have tried the solutions mentioned above and none of them work for you, here is a bonus tip.
Solution 1: For most cases, you need to make sure that you slide the write protection switch to the unlocked positition. It's possible that some USB SD card adapters don't honor that switch, but the card reader on Mac definitely does.
https://silentclever161.weebly.com/blog/data-recovery-mac-download-free. Solution 2: If the SD card is read-only on Mac still, you may want to slide the read-write lock to the middle neutral position and retry. Strange though, sliding the 'lock' switch on the card halfway does help mount SD cards in read-write mode.
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Conclusion
Generally speaking, external hard drives being read-only on Mac appears when they are not formatted correctly and the solutions above should be helpful. Nevertheless, if you failed to repair this hard disk even with Disk Utility, it could be a failed external hard drive which needs to be replaced, or you can try your luck by sending it to a local disk repair service.
https://newmove503.weebly.com/blog/download-istat-menu-for-mac. Jun 08, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions Driver canon lide 110 download.
The macOS Sierra is a wonderful operating system - and easily the best for all Apple computers and laptops. If you have a Mac, then you probably cannot wait to get your hands on the Sierra - provided your system supports it. However, even if your Mac does support Sierra, there may be a few reasons as to why you may not be able to install it on your hard disk.
For starters, it takes around 8GB of storage space. While that is the minimum recommended by Apple, you will probably need a bit more to make use of it. In addition to that, if you are using an older Mac, then you will still face a few issues while running Sierra. You also have to backup the entire system before installing macOS Sierra, which is a must-do step in any update. For those who have a lot of data on their Macs, this can be a very lengthy procedure.
However, there is a solution to all of that. You can simply go ahead and install the macOS Sierra on an external hard drive, and then boot your Mac from that!
The Prerequisites
There is no doubt about the fact that you will save a lot of trouble and hassle if you install the macOS Sierra on an external drive. It will even let you use the same hard drive with multiple Macs, without updating to Sierra on each of those. However, to begin with this, you will need an external hard drive. Since Apple only requires you to have a little over 8 GB of free space, any hard drive, even one with 128 GB, will do just fine. For better performance, it is recommended that it be an SSD.
It must be better if you can format the external hard drive beforehand to make it compatible with your Mac.
You will also have to download macOS Sierra from the Mac App Store. To do that, just open the App Store on your Mac, and search for macOS Sierra. You can also download macOS Sierra by directly clicking on the link from your Mac. If your Mac is compatible, then the download option will appear. Click on it, and the download will begin.
The download size is around 5GB, and the total time may vary depending on your internet connection as well as Apple’s servers.
Once you have a hard drive, you can go ahead and follow the simple steps to install and use macOS Sierra from your external drive.
Part 1. Installing macOS Sierra on the external drive1. Preparing the hard drive for the installationToshiba External Hard Drive Not Recognized
Before you install macOS Sierra on the hard drive, you will need to clean the external device. Ensure that there is no important data on your hard drive. Then plug it into your Mac, go to Finder and select Applications.
From Applications, go to Utilities and from there, find and double click on Disk Utility. In the Disk Utility tab, select the external hard drive that is connected to the Mac, and then click on Erase at the top.
Now rename it to something like sierra that you will remember, choose 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' in the format and then click on Erase. Once the process completes, click on Done, and you are ready to begin installation.
2. Creating the bootable drive
Once your hard drive is formatted, you will need to turn it into a bootable drive. Before you begin this, you will require the Administrator access on your Mac.
Related: Wanna access Mac data without reinstalling it? Go there and boot Mac up to recover data easily.
Step 1 Integrate google drive to mac os. Go to Finder to open the window, and from the left side, select Applications.
Step 2 From the applications Window, find and click Utilities, and from there, go to Terminal.
Toshiba External Hard Drive Setup For Mac
Screencap app for mac. Step 3 Now, remember the name that you set for formatting your external drive (i.e. sierra). In case you named it something other than sierra, then make the appropriate changes in the following text. Once you are in the terminal, enter the following text, ensuring to use your drive’s name wherever Volumes/sierra is written.
sudo /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/sierra --applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app –nointeraction
Step 4 When you tap enter, you will be asked the password for the administrator account. As you type the password, no text will be there in the terminal window. Depending on the drive, this process could take a while. Once the window reports ‘Done’, you can close the drive.
Part 2. Using macOS Sierra with the Bootable Hard Drive
Once the above step completes, your external hard drive will be ready to run macOS sierra on any compatible Mac. First, you have to turn off the Mac on which you want to run Sierra from the bootable drive. Then, before switching it on, connect the drive through the Mac’s USB Port.
Then turn on your Mac, and as soon as you hear the startup sound, press the Option key and keep it pressed. Within a few seconds, you will get a screen that asks you to select the appropriate hard drive for booting from. In this screen, select the one on which you have installed macOS Sierra, and you will soon have your Mac running Sierra!
Thus, as you follow these simple steps, you will have configured the macOS Sierra to run from an external hard drive. You do not have to worry about how much free space there is in your Mac, or anything else of the sort. Through this approach, you can run macOS Sierra on any compatible Mac without having to separately download and install it on either one. In addition to that, since there are no backups of the mac’s hard disk required, the process will involve comparatively less hassle.
Any changes or files that you make can be stored on your Mac as well, so you do not have to worry about where your data is. This can be a great way to have the same OS on your personal as well as work Macs. Thus, now, you do not have to bother about freeing up your Mac’s drives or separately downloading it for every PC in the house- just configure it once on an external hard drive, and everything else is taken care of!
Whenever and however you lost your data, keep it in mind that you're able to retrieve data back from Mac by the means of data recovery software like Recoverit. It is the data recovery tool to help you retireve all kinds of data from various devices.
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