OS 10.5.6 MacBook Permissions problems

Kalense · #1 January 10th, 2009, 08:21 AM

I'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.

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?

Kalense · #2 January 10th, 2009, 08:27 AM

'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?

Satcomer · #3 January 10th, 2009, 08:43 AM

How is the external formatted? I ask because if it is formatted NTFS that is held closely by Microsoft and they will not license it to OS X or Linux to write to it, just read from it. Plus how are you connecting to this drive (ie. firewire, usb, etc.)?

Kalense · #4 January 10th, 2009, 01:51 PM

No idea how it the drive is formatted. On the box it claims to be usable by OS 10 and also by Windows XP and Vista. There are no instructions with it. I can see, from my Mac, that it's full of Packard Bell files that I have no idea about. Finder lets me follow down from folder to folder to see the various files and to read them.

I'm connecting by USB2, which is all that the MacBook has.

Satcomer · #5 January 10th, 2009, 05:14 PM

Do a Get Info (command button+i) on the drive and it will show you the format.

Doctor X · #6 January 10th, 2009, 06:04 PM

Most likely it is not formatted as Satcomer suggests.

Kalense · #7 January 11th, 2009, 02:23 PM

You're right. NTFS. I had no idea before today that Unix couldn't handle that file system. I discovered the Disk Utility and used that to erase the drive back to the stone age.

Thanks everyone. That case closed.

I'm still in the dark about how to delete files that don't want to be removed from the trash, though.

Doctor X · #8 January 11th, 2009, 03:13 PM

If you are running Windoz off of Bootcamp or something like that . . . go to that section, because it seems to be a common problem.

Otherwise, check the permissions of the file in the trash--"Get Info"="

i" Make sure you have "Read and Write" permission. Otherwise, you are like a user trying to delete another user's file.

--J.D.