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'm a recent pilgrim in the land of the Mac. It seems rocky and arid here.
Problem class: permissions.
Specifics: unable to delete certain files from the trash, or unable to write to a new external hard drive.
How I've tried to resolve it:
1. Help: says
To check your permissions for an item:
Select the item and choose File: Get Info. OK, done that
In the item’s Info box, click the triangle next to Sharing & Permissions to expand the section. done that, too
Open the pop-up menu next to your user name I don't see my user name anywhere and can't find any pop-up menus
... to see the permission settings. You may need to click the lock icon What lock icon? There isn't one that I can see
... and type your password. I'd willingly do that if there were anywhere to type
2. Hunted high and low on various Mac fora on the internet. Nobody else seems to have this problem.
3. Discovered Terminal in the course of my wanderings and delved (after heavy sighing) into Unix. Tried to find how Unix does what DOS does with the command d: (i.e. changes from whatever drive you are on to drive d and found that Linux doesn't use drive names. So what does it use? I have a Packard Bell drive that calls itself "Data" in Finder, but have no idea how to find out what permissions it thinks I have, except in File Info, where it blandly tells me I have read permission. Great.
Question: How do I get round the fact that I can't follow the Help instructions because I can't see my user name or the lock icon?
Question: how do I change permissions on the drive so that I can actually use it?
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