"custom access" of my external hard drive problem <HELP!!>
 

hi all members:

this is Gen from Hong Kong.

i am having the problem of "custom access" (no access right) of my external Lacie hard drive and i cannot change the permission.

i tried the command:

and it displayed:

then i type:

after entering the password, then i reboot my Mac.
finally, my external drive hasn't come back for access.

could anyone please kindly let me know whats wrong with my process?!

since the forum i read was entered in 2006, i do not know if the commands are already out-dated.

i am using MAC OS X 10.6.2
imac G5

thanks every hero here!

Gen

The above shows that "Gen" is the drive that your Mac is booted from.
I'm confused since you referred to "Gen" as an external drive. Are you booted from an external drive?

It also shows that there is another volume named "Gen 1". This is probably detritus from a previous session where you didn't properly unmount the "Gen" drive.

And then there is the "BOOTCAMP" drive (or partition). I assume that you have used BootCamp to install a Windows partition - is that correct?

Please explain clearly what drives (and partitions) you have and what they are named. And which drive your Mac is booted from.

hi Hayne,

let me explain clearly what my drives named.

my HD of my own imac was named "Gen" (which my MAC OS booted from)
and my external drive was also named "Gen" too.

so i think thats why it shows that there is another volume named "Gen 1"

is that correct?

i am not using the external drive for booting my MAC OS, it is only because they are having the same name. Should i change the name of my imac HD?

yes, i am also having a bootcamp drive for my window partition.

P.S# my MAC OS was unable to boot up after i change my permission last time (connected to the external drive, i think thats why my external drive get custom access), so i re-install my mac os again and all previous system was stored in my document named "previous system", will this file affect my external drive? should i delete it?


hope to hearing from you soon.
please let me know if anymore information needed!

thank you for your answer and patient.

hi Hayne,

please read my reply in blue:

i am not booted from a external drive.
it is because my imac HD was also name Gen which is the same as my external hard drive. should i change the name of my imac HD?

how can i fix this problem? please advise.

yes.

my mac osx booted from my imac HD named Gen, which is the same as my external hard drive which is not able to access right now.

thank you for your answer and patient.

Genis

Yes - that would be advisable since it is very confusing to have two drives named the same.

Start by unmounting/ejecting (via the File menu) the external drive. Then power it off and physically disconnect it.

Now you only have your internal drive in the picture - this will simplify things.
Please rename your internal drive (via Finder) and then run the following commands (in Terminal), and copy & paste the commands & their results back here so we can see:


df
ls -l /Volumes

hi Hayne,

i change the name of my imac HD and
here is the result after enter the command you given:


Last login: Mon Nov 16 08:13:53 on console
97:~ genis$ df
Filesystem 512-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2 593231872 73327960 519391912 13% /
devfs 218 218 0 100% /dev
/dev/disk0s3 31236088 8591712 22644376 28% /Volumes/BOOTCAMP
map -hosts 0 0 0 100% /net
map auto_home 0 0 0 100% /home
97:~ genis$ ls -l /Volumes

it is done when i unmounted my external hard drive.
please indicate the next step.

thank you for your time and patient.

Genis

You forgot to press Return after the last command - so the command:

ls -l Volumes

didn't get run.
Please run that command and show us the results (via copy & paste).

hi hayne,

my result after entered the command:

193:~ genis$ df
Filesystem 512-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2 593231872 73220008 519499864 13% /
devfs 218 218 0 100% /dev
/dev/disk0s3 31236088 8653064 22583024 28% /Volumes/BOOTCAMP
map -hosts 0 0 0 100% /net
map auto_home 0 0 0 100% /home
193:~ genis$ ls -l /Volumes
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 1 genis staff 4096 11 14 11:37 BOOTCAMP
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 1 11 17 2009 Genis -> /
193:~ genis$

it is done when i unmounted my external hard drive.
should i mount it?
please indicate the next step.

thank you for your time and patient.

Genis

Okay, that's good. It shows your internal drive ("Genis") and your "BOOTCAMP" drive is there and that there is no detritus like I mentioned earlier.

So we're ready to deal with the external drive. Go ahead and attach it and mount it. Then re-run the same above commands:

df
ls -l /Volumes

and show us the commands & results via copy & paste.

hi Hayne,

here is my result after i mount my external drive:

193:~ genis$ df
Filesystem 512-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2 593231872 73329304 519390568 13% /
devfs 223 223 0 100% /dev
/dev/disk0s3 31236088 8653064 22583024 28% /Volumes/BOOTCAMP
map -hosts 0 0 0 100% /net
map auto_home 0 0 0 100% /home
/dev/disk1s6 488353088 177432528 310920560 37% /Volumes/Gen
193:~ genis$ ls -l /Volumes
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 1 genis staff 4096 11 14 11:37 BOOTCAMP
drw-rw-r--@ 26 genis staff 952 10 27 21:01 Gen
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 1 11 17 2009 Genis -> /


please kindly advise.

thank you again for your time and patient.

Genis

The above results show that "execute" permission is missing for the drive "Gen". To fix this, run the following commands:

chmod +x /Volumes/Gen
ls -l /Volumes
echo "done"

and then show us the results as usual via copy & paste.

After that, check if you can access the "Gen" drive. I.e. is it back to normal?

hi Hayne,

result:

193:~ genis$ chmod +x /Volumes/Gen
chmod: Unable to change file mode on /Volumes/Gen: Operation not permitted
193:~ genis$ ls -l /Volumes
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 1 genis staff 4096 11 14 11:37 BOOTCAMP
drw-rw-r--@ 26 genis staff 952 10 27 21:01 Gen
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 1 11 17 2009 Genis -> /
193:~ genis$ echo "done"
done


please kindly indicate.

thank you

Genis

and my external drive "Gen" is mounted but unable to access.

Okay, let's get more details on what's up with the Gen drive. Please run the following command and show us the results as usual:

ls -aOle /Volumes

hi Hayne:

result:

193:~ genis$ ls -aOle /Volumes
total 8
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root admin hidden 170 11 17 00:01 .
0: group:everyone deny add_file,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit,only_inherit
drwxrwxr-t@ 30 root admin - 1088 11 10 21:05 ..
drwxr-xr-x 1 genis staff - 4096 11 14 11:37 BOOTCAMP
drw-rw-r--@ 26 genis staff uchg 952 10 27 21:01 Gen
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 1 11 17 2009 Genis -> /
193:~ genis$

thanks

I'm not too sure about the implications of the "ACLs" listed for the /Volumes folder - maybe someone else will chime in here.
But let's just try the 'chmod' command prefaced with a 'sudo':

sudo chmod +x /Volumes/Gen


You will be asked for your password and given a warning message about behaving responsibly due to the 'sudo'.

Hi Hayne,

what should i type if i do not have any password for my system or boost my imac.

193:~ genis$ sudo chmod +x /Volumes/Gen

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:
193:~ genis$


thanks

Genis

I'm not sure what you mean by not having any password. Do you mean that your password is blank? If so, you just press Return when asked for the password.
(By the way, it's a bad idea to have a blank password - or any easily guessed password. It leaves you more vulnerable to malware.)
So it looks like you just pressed Return and the command worked.
So check if your Gen drive is accessible now.

hi Hayne,

193:~ genis$ sudo chmod +x /Volumes/Gen

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:
Sorry, try again.
Password:


but i really do not have any password for my imac, what should i type or do?

my external drive is still cannot be access.

thanks

As I said above, if you mean that your password is blank, then just press Return when asked for the password.

But I assume that's what you have been doing and it is saying "Sorry, try again". That indicates that the password you are entering is not correct.

Go into the Accounts preferences panel in System Preferences and change your password to something else (something easy to remember, but not a dictionary word or anything else easy to guess).

Then supply that new password when asked by 'sudo'.

hi Hayne,

here is the result:

Last login: Tue Nov 17 08:21:40 on console
2:~ genis$ sudo chmod +x /Volumes/Gen

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:
chmod: Unable to change file mode on /Volumes/Gen: Operation not permitted
2:~ genis$

i add a password for my imac and do the sudo command again.

please advise.

thanks

You cannot use the sudo command with a blank password. You must set and Admin password.

hi Las-Vegas,

thank you for your answer.

but i already set my new password in system preference-->account.

but it seems i cannot type anything when the terminal ask me to enter my password.(just like in my result i paste here, nothing was displayed after "password")

i do not know why.
please kindly advise if anything wrong.

thank you

Genis

That's normal - nothing is shown in Terminal when you enter a password - this is for security reasons.

So it seems that the 'sudo chmod' command ran, but you still got "Operation not permitted".
I think this must be due to the ACLs that are present on the parent (/Volumes) folder.

Maybe someone who has Snow Leopard (10.6) will chime in here to tell us what the correct ACLs for the "/Volumes" folder should be.

hi Hayne,

anyother method i can try now?
i am so worry about my external drive.

kindly help. please...

thanks

Genis

Oh - I must have been tired when I looked at these results before - I didn't notice the 'uchg' flag on the Gen folder.
That is probably what is causing the problem.
So let's remove it (it is a "locked" flag).

Run the following commands as usual via copy & paste and show us the results:


sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/Gen
ls -aOle /Volumes
echo "done"

Hi Hayne,

result:

128:~ genis$ sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/Gen
Password:
128:~ genis$

the lock next to the external drive "Gen" is removed.

please indicate the next step!

thank you

Genis

Hi Hayne,

i am able to change the permission and access right after the removal of the lock beside.

everything back to normal now!
i am so excite and really really thank you for your kindly and patient help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you save my world!
welcome to email me genis.cheung@yahoo.com when you are visiting Hong Kong. i owe you a big meal!

and thank you to Las_Vegas too.
you guys are awesome!

thanks again

Genis

The next step is to try again to add "execute" permission to that folder:


sudo chmod +x /Volumes/Gen
ls -aOle /Volumes
echo "done"

hi hayne,

if my external drive is able to be accessed right now, should i keep entering the command?

thank you again!

Genis

No - I posted that (post #29) in response to your "what is the next step?" in post #27.