permission problem on external HD

[shawnmoreton]

Hi there I am having a new issue suddenly with access to my external HD.
Specifically, when I try to import or export files with Adobe Lightroom, it won't do it. Seems like a permission issue.

I wonder if there is a way to fix this in Terminal? I have seen other threads with similar issues, but wanted to be sure I use the right fix...

I entered this into Terminal:
s -alOe /Volumes
id
echo "done"

and got this:

drwxrwxrwt@  8 root                  admin  hidden  272  1 Nov 13:55 .
 0: group:everyone deny add_file,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit,only_inherit
drwxr-xr-x@ 65 root                  wheel  -      2278 31 Oct 23:44 ..
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root                  admin  -         1 31 Oct 23:43 Macintosh HD -> /
drwxrwxrwx   1 shawnmoreton macbook  staff  -       432  1 Nov 16:52 Public
drwxrwxr-x  16 shawnmoreton macbook  staff  -       612 16 Sep 23:46 Time Machine
drwxr-xrwx+ 23 shawnmoreton macbook  staff  -       850 31 Oct 20:33 WD Backup
 0: group:everyone deny add_file,delete,add_subdirectory,delete_child,writeattr,writeextattr,chown
 1: user:root allow list,add_file,search,add_subdirectory,delete_child,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwx------   1 shawnmoreton macbook  staff  -       534 14 Sep 22:53 X2 - Archives
drwxr-xr-x@ 26 shawnmoreton macbook  staff  -       952 25 Sep 12:57 eDrive
SSMiMac-3:~ shawnmoreton macbook$ id
uid=503(shawnmoreton macbook) gid=20(staff) groups=20(staff),402(com.apple.sharepoint.group.1),407(com.apple.sharepoint.group.6),405(com.apple.sharepoint.group.4),411(com.apple.sharepoint.group.10),403(com.apple.sharepoint.group.2),406(com.apple.sharepoint.group.5),409(com.apple.sharepoint.group.8),404(com.apple.sharepoint.group.3),412(com.apple.sharepoint.group.11),12(everyone),33(_appstore),61(localaccounts),79(_appserverusr),80(admin),81(_appserveradm),98(_lpadmin),100(_lpoperator),204(_developer),410(com.apple.sharepoint.group.9),408(com.apple.sharepoint.group.7),401(com.apple.access_screensharing)
SSMiMac-3:~ shawnmoreton macbook$ echo "done"

[shawnmoreton]

quick note:
the drive I have write issues with is WD Backup

[ganbustein]

How did you manage to get a space in your short user name, which is now apparently "shawnmoreton macbook"? The short user name is only permitted to contain letters (ASCII uppercase/lowercase), digits, and the "honorary letter", underscore. (Hyphen may also be allowed.)

Lightroom is probably using your username in a script somewhere, and not bothering to quote it because it shouldn't contain any characters that need quoting.

However you got that space in there, take it back out.

The ACLs on "WD Backup" are a little odd, but shouldn't affect your ability to import items from the disk into Lightroom. They will prevent you from exporting anything to the disk (or at least to the top level of it). You'll have to look at the ACLs on subfolders to see what restrictions they may be enforcing.

(Note: ACL=Access Control List. Those are the lines like " 0: group everyone ..." and " 1: user:root ...".) The -e flag to the ls command (as in ls -alOe /Volumes) is what causes ACLs to be shown. You can look a little deeper into the volume with something like:

ls -alOe /Volumes/"WD Backup"

[shawnmoreton]

I originally imported files from my macbook when initially setting up this (iMac) computer, & I am assuming it imported the name from there somehow, as is.

Any advice on how I would go about changing the ACLs to allow import & export?

[soulartist]

Do you have WD security on?

Can you move files onto the drive?

I'm having issues too—see my post above yours.

[shawnmoreton]

sounds like a different issue that you are having. I am not using WD security.
I am able to manually transfer files over to the external HD, only I have to enter my admin password.
My issue is when using Lightroom I can no longer import or copy anything to that drive.

[shawnmoreton]

ganbustien... I'm wondering if you know how I could change the ACL to allow me to export to this disc...

[ganbustein]

I can't tell you what to change until I know more about the problem.

One big unknown is: why do you have those ACLs? Were they put there for a reason? What reason? By whom?

Another is: you've only shown us the ACLs on the top level of the volume. What ACLs are on the subordinate folders?

More generally: what is your intended use for this disk volume? I can't tell you which way to go until I know where you want to get to.

Are you using the disk volume as a huge shoebox, sort of like a big floppy? Does security matter on these files? Should all users on your computer be able to access them freely, or should access be restricted to a single user? Or is it more complicated than that, with different users needing access to different files?

Alternatively, are you running some sort of backup system to back up files to the disk? If so, you probably want to leave security in the hands of that backup system.

Do you have a copy of the OS installed on the volume? If so, the answer to the "does security matter?" question is: most decidedly yes!

IF it's just a big floppy and you want security disabled, then:
1: Enter the following command to remove all ACLs from the disk:
sudo chmod -RN /Volumes/"WD Backup"
(That command may take a while, depending on how many files you have.)
2: Tell it that all users are the same, by doing Get Info on the volume, and at the very bottom of the Get Info window put a check mark next to "Ignore ownership on this volume"

But you very definitely do not want to go that route if there's a Time Machine backup on the volume, or an install of the OS.

IF you want only one user to be able to access the disk volume, but it's a big scratch folder for that user, then (with the same caveats as before) enter the first command as before, then enter the following:

sudo chown -R theoneuser /Volumes/"WD Backup"
(which will again take a long time), and make sure "Ignore ownership on this volume" is unchecked.

If theoneuser has a space in it, surround it with quotes. For now. But you really want to get rid of that space. Open System Preferences, and go to either "Accounts" or "Users & Groups" (you really should be telling us important things like OS version), right click on the user and select "Advanced" from the contextual menu. That'll take you to a place where you can rename the user. You should do this while logged in as a different admin user. (You can create the other admin user just for this purpose if you want, and delete it afterwards, after verifying that you can still log in as the user whose name you changed.) Be sure you have a backup first. (I notice you have a Time Machine volume. That'll do, if it's current.)

[shawnmoreton]

ok thanks for the reply.
the disc is used as a photo backup. it is a 2TB dual drive (mirror raid) that I import raw photos to, and work from with lightroom. I export the final edits onto the same disc drive.
Security is not an issue. no OS on there, no backup happening there either. I'm not concerned with other users, as I am the only active user...though there are a couple others created.
I wish I could explain the ACLs...I certainly did not (consciously) put them there!
Is there any possible adverse effect to removing all ACLs?

Thanks again for your help thus far...
My Mac OS is 10.8.2

[ganbustein]

Quote: Originally Posted by shawnmoreton the disc is used as a photo backup. it is a 2TB dual drive (mirror raid) that I import raw photos to, and work from with lightroom. I export the final edits onto the same disc drive. Security is not an issue. no OS on there, no backup happening there either. I'm not concerned with other users, as I am the only active user...though there are a couple others created. I wish I could explain the ACLs...I certainly did not (consciously) put them there! Is there any possible adverse effect to removing all ACLs?

In the circumstances you describe, no.

[shawnmoreton]

worked perfectly. I can now use the drive as I had been previously! Thanks SO much.