external hard drive locked with custom access

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by JanS I also have messed up access privileges after doing an archive and install, however, the drive I have lost permissions to is an internal drive installed in the lower bay of my G5 PowerPC. I am using Leopard (version 10.5.4). It looks like I should take the same action as Agent GGD. When I enter the commands described I get the following: drw-rw-r-T 18 JanS staff uchg 680 Aug 14 21:57 HD-2

Hi Jan,

I'm assuming that the volume you are referring to is the one named HD-2?

Quote: Originally Posted by JanS Is it appropriate for me to fix the problem using the commands described, namely: chflags nouchg /Volumes/Media\ Drive sudo chmod 1775 /Volumes/Media\ Drive echo "done"

For your case, the commands would be

chflags nouchg /Volumes/HD-2
sudo chmod 1775 /Volumes/HD-2
echo "done"

Trevor

[JanS]

Thank you. I pasted that in, got the WARNING: Improper use of the sudo...To proceed, enter your password...

I entered my administrator password but it didn't show up in the window. I thought perhaps I did it wrong so I clicked the Close window button and go the message: "Closing this window will terminate the running processes: login, tcsh, sudo." with Cancel or Close buttons. I clicked cancel, so I assume something is happening. How long should I expect it to take?

Sorry if this is downright basic. I've not tried doing anything like this before.
Jan

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by JanS Thank you. I pasted that in, got the WARNING: Improper use of the sudo...To proceed, enter your password...

Yes. The very first time a user uses sudo on a computer, they will get a warning about the dangers of sudo. After the first time, you will no longer see that warning. So, in other words, it is normal for first-time sudo users.

Quote: Originally Posted by JanS I entered my administrator password but it didn't show up in the window.

When entering any password in the Terminal, nothing is reflected back to the screen. This is also normal. Just type the password blind, then hit Return.

Quote: Originally Posted by JanS I thought perhaps I did it wrong so I clicked the Close window button and go the message: "Closing this window will terminate the running processes: login, tcsh, sudo." with Cancel or Close buttons. I clicked cancel, so I assume something is happening. How long should I expect it to take?

The command will take a fraction of a second. You need to hit Return after entering the password to start the command.

To properly exit the Terminal, type
exit
and hit Return.

Quote: Originally Posted by JanS Sorry if this is downright basic. I've not tried doing anything like this before. Jan

No worries. I would say that any command that you don't understand that begins with sudo can have dangerous consequences, and it would be a very good idea to make sure that you trust the person telling you to do it, and think about whether or not it is worthwhile.

But you don't have to apologize for not being familiar with the Terminal and it's idiosyncrasies. We were all there at some point in time. Even the old Unix longbeards.

Trevor

[JanS]

Absolutely wonderful. After restarting I have my second HD permissions back. The other day I spent an hour on the phone with AppleCare tech and they couldn't help me. They never even suggested using the Terminal. Basically they said that since the second HD wasn't made by Apple they couldn't help. That confuses me since the HD in the top bay (installed by Apple) is the same brand as the second (Western Digital). Oh well. Now I know where to come to solve my problems.
Thanks a million!

[sanderr2]

Hi Trevor et al. I've had a similar problem with uchg being set on two of my volumes. Following this thread resolved the first problem with my external HD. However I recently created a RAID (striped) array using two 1TB internal HDs and uchg is set on this volume too. I tried using chflags but the command just returns a ">" as though it hasn't executed and just returns another ">" if I try any other command. Can anyone out there help me. Rob's RAID is the problem volume...

The results of the ls command are:
rob-sanders1s-mac-pro:~ robsanders1$ ls -alO /Volumes
total 16
drwxrwxrwt@ 7 root admin hidden 238 7 Sep 07:57 .
drwxrwxr-x+ 41 root admin - 1462 6 Sep 15:31 ..
drwxrwxr-t+ 25 robsanders1 staff - 918 5 Sep 14:24 External 1TB
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 1 7 Sep 07:56 Macintosh HD -> /
drw-rw-r--+ 29 robsanders1 staff uchg 1054 5 Sep 15:57 Rob's RAID
lrwxr-xr-x 1 robsanders1 admin - 20 7 Sep 07:57 iDisk -> /Volumes/rob_sanders
drwx------ 13 robsanders1 staff - 816 7 Sep 07:57 rob_sanders
rob-sanders1s-mac-pro:~ robsanders1$

Thanks in anticipation!
Rob

[hayne]

Please copy & paste the text from your Terminal window showing us the commands you entered and the results (or not) - i.e. try the 'chflags' command again but show us this time.

[edit]
Oh - I realized what the problem must be - it is due to the quote in the name of that drive.
You can probably fix the problem by putting the whole name inside double quotes, but it would be easier if you just renamed the drive to remove the quote in the name. But I'm guessing that the 'uchg' will prevent the renaming. If so, try it like this:
"Rob's RAID"
[/edit]

[sanderr2]

Thanks - I just tried your suggestion and got "Permission Denied".
I'm logged in as an admin username but will try in single user mode to see if that makes any difference... Rob

[sanderr2]

Tried it in single user mode but got the message "chflags: /Volume/Rob's RAID: Read-only file system

Any ideas?

[sanderr2]

This is what I typed and what came back in Terminal from ls...


rob-sanders1s-mac-pro:/ robsanders$ ls -alO /Volumes
total 8
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root admin hidden 170 7 Sep 17:03 .
drwxrwxr-x+ 41 root admin - 1462 6 Sep 15:31 ..
drwxrwxr-t+ 26 robsanders robsanders - 952 7 Sep 17:11 External 1TB
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 1 7 Sep 17:01 Macintosh HD -> /
drw-rw-r--+ 29 504 staff uchg 1054 5 Sep 15:57 Rob's RAID
rob-sanders1s-mac-pro:/ robsanders$

[hayne]

Quote: Originally Posted by sanderr2 Thanks - I just tried your suggestion and got "Permission Denied".

You need to preface the command with 'sudo'

[sanderr2]

Thanks "Hayne" - I tried your suggestion - should have realised that myself.

The system came back with

sudo: can't open /private/etc/sudoers: Operation timed out
:/ root sendmail: warning: valid_hostname: empty hostname
sendmail: fatal: unable to use my own hostname

I'm beginning to think that a clean install and reformatting the various drives may be the only way forward. I transferred my user data from my iMac onto my pristine new Mac Pro - the iMac had originally run on Tiger and been upgraded to Leopard. Maybe starting from "scratch" would be the best way forward given the threads on permissions getting well and truly screwed up by the transfer from Tiger?

What do you think?
Sincere thanks for all the help so far - I can't believe what a great community Mac users benefit from!

Rob

[hayne]

Well you could try an "archive & install" first - be sure to check the box to preserve user and it will be less hassle than an "erase & install".

[sanderr2]

Have gone for the big clean install, have reformatted the RAID and am copying the backup files manually. The Mac Pro is purring, drives are churning and it all just "feels" happier already. The response from the Mac is pin sharp - I have a load of transfers running and it's just eating it all up with no latency and no signs of trouble.

Thank you for all the help - it just seems to me that starting with a clean sheet of canvas allows the Mac Pro to really shine...

Over and out from London,
Rob

[Alvinus]

Hi tech guys!

Same problem here. Custom access to an external HD (with all my Time Machine stuff...). And I NEVER touched the acces privileges. Any idea why things went wrong then?
This is my terminal:

Last login: Wed Sep 10 14:38:59 on ttys001
Macbook:~ macbook$ ls -alO /Volumes
total 8
drwxrwxrwt@ 4 root admin hidden 136 10 sep 13:19 .
drwxrwxr-t 36 root admin - 1292 10 sep 11:08 ..
drw-rw-r--+ 16 macbook macbook uchg 612 7 sep 10:17 HD 470 Jacques
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 1 10 sep 10:53 Macintosh HD -> /

And from reading the other posts I understand that the

drw-rw-r--+ 16 macbook macbook uchg 612 7 sep 10:17 HD 470 Jacques

part shows that things are wrong.
I can't copy the command line in one of the other posts to set things right, since my HD has a different name, of course (HD 470 Jacques)
I can't seem to figure out how to name the particular drive in the command line so it is identified. One of the guys here has a drive called Media Drive and Trevor suggests to regain acces privileges by typing:

chflags nouchg /Volumes/Media\ Drive
sudo chmod 1775 /Volumes/Media\ Drive
echo "done"

I'm sorry for being such a newbie, but to me there is no logic in the translation of the HD name 'Media Drive' into something like /Media\Drive! I tried everything with my HD name: /HD\470\Jacques in all variations with and without slashes in all possible directions and to no success, so the command line will never work this way. What command line should I use?

And then: If I connect the external HD to another computer with different users after I changed the acces privileges, will I be able to restore the ownership there just by going to Get Info etc.?

Thanks a million everyone for helping me.

(apart from the external HD also one of my internal ones got the lock. This all happened after I changed the access privileges of a third HD to 'apply to enclosed items'. The machine doesn't continue starting up after the dark grey Apple sign appears. Has this starting problem anything to do with messed up access privileges???)

[fjordmann]

I had to archive and reinstall and in the process lost the privileges to my firewire drives. I followed this great thread and managed to get two of the drives back.

Those were both single-word named drives. I'm having a devil of a time with the drive named The Vault. Here is what happens...

[Amadeus:~] jeffersonporter% sudo chflags -R nouchg /Volumes/TheVault
chflags: /Volumes/TheVault: No such file or directory

now when i run the ls -alO /Volumes command, The Vault shows up just fine

/dev/disk3
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_partition_scheme *74.5 Gi disk3
1: Apple_partition_map 31.5 Ki disk3s1
2: Apple_Driver43 28.0 Ki disk3s2
3: Apple_Driver43 28.0 Ki disk3s3
4: Apple_Driver_ATA 28.0 Ki disk3s4
5: Apple_Driver_ATA 28.0 Ki disk3s5
6: Apple_FWDriver 256.0 Ki disk3s6
7: Apple_Driver_IOKit 256.0 Ki disk3s7
8: Apple_Patches 256.0 Ki disk3s8
9: Apple_HFS The Vault 74.5 Gi disk3s9


I'm wondering if i need to type the name in differently because there are two words, separated by a space? I tried The_Vault and various permutations but they didn't work.

[fjordmann]

OK, fixed that. In case anyone else has this issue...I changed the name in the Get Info from The Vault to TheVault, i.e., no space. That made the command lines run fine.

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by Alvinus drw-rw-r--+ 16 macbook macbook uchg 612 7 sep 10:17 HD 470 Jacques <snip> I can't copy the command line in one of the other posts to set things right, since my HD has a different name, of course (HD 470 Jacques) I can't seem to figure out how to name the particular drive in the command line so it is identified. One of the guys here has a drive called Media Drive and Trevor suggests to regain acces privileges by typing: chflags nouchg /Volumes/Media\ Drive sudo chmod 1775 /Volumes/Media\ Drive echo "done" I'm sorry for being such a newbie, but to me there is no logic in the translation of the HD name 'Media Drive' into something like /Media\Drive!

The logic is as follows: the command line uses a space as a delineator from one part of a command to another. As "Media Drive" is not two different parts of the command, but in fact the same part of the command (a name of a file in this case), you place a \ before the space to indicate that it needs to be taken literally, and not as a delineator.

So it's not Media\Drive, it's Media\ Drive, with a space, and a "\" placed before the space to indicate that it should be taken literally.

So, you can type "HD 470 Jacques" as HD\ 470\ Jacques. Or, in fact, you can use quotes around it and just type it as "HD 470 Jacques" as well. But you need to include the spaces. If the name is HD 470 Jacques, then HD\470\Jacques makes no sense--it's telling the command line to take the 4 and the J literally, which it would do anyway, so it's looking for something called HD470Jacques.

Quote: Originally Posted by Alvinus I tried everything with my HD name: /HD\470\Jacques in all variations with and without slashes in all possible directions and to no success, so the command line will never work this way. What command line should I use?

chflags nouchg /Volumes/HD\ 470\ Jacques
sudo chmod 1775 /Volumes/HD\ 470\ Jacques
echo "done"

People who use the command line often tend to not use spaces in their hard drive names for just this reason. It's certainly not an insurmountable problem--it's easy to get around, but if you use spaces in your hard drive names, you do have to do a little bit of extra work.

Quote: Originally Posted by Alvinus And then: If I connect the external HD to another computer with different users after I changed the acces privileges, will I be able to restore the ownership there just by going to Get Info etc.?

I don't particularly like the Finder's Get Info ownership and permissions section. It seems to have problems doing what you tell it to, and it doesn't show you some important stuff. I'd advise the command line, if you can.

But that said, yes, you can use Get Info to change ownership, kinda. There's also an "Ignore ownership on this volume" checkbox in the Get Info dialog, which might be more useful than trying to change ownership in the Finder.

Trevor

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by fjordmann [Amadeus:~] jeffersonporter% sudo chflags -R nouchg /Volumes/TheVault chflags: /Volumes/TheVault: No such file or directory

Should be
sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/The\ Vault
or
sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/"The Vault"

You have a space between "The" and "Vault", so you need to deal with that space in one of the two ways shown above. An underscore "_" is a different character than a space, so you can't use that. And TheVault isn't what you've named it either. It's either The\ Vault or "The Vault".

Trevor

[Dean Thomas]

Hello Trevor (and all)

I found this specific forum through a Google search. I'm totally new to using forums, but I'm really stuck. I'm in the same boat. I actually have a total of 5 (yes FIVE) external and 3 internal drives that all came up with the "custom" privileges lock out after I did an "archive and install" without preserving permissions.

Can you try to help me? The really critical drives are 2 of the externals and all of the internals. The other 3 externals were actually my Time Machine's. So I'm out of backups.

I'm really on the brink of desperation. I've spoken with Apple and Western Digital (they made most of the drives).

It looks like you knew what to do to help some other people here.

Thank you all for your time and expertise.

Feel free to email me directly (I think I opened up that option) or through this forum (obviously)

Thanks Again,

Hopefully,
Dean Thomas

[trevor]

Hi Dean,

Can you open up your Terminal (it's an app found in /Applications/Utilities) and copy/paste the commands below into it? Then copy/paste the entire text from your Terminal, including commands and the responses, here for us to see?

ls -alO /Volumes
id
echo "done"

I'm assuming that you are using Leopard, since you mention Time Machine. One command is slightly different in Tiger and previous.

Once we see the results, we can give you the commands to fix the problem.

Trevor