# greyed-out files in NTFS mounted hdd



## alfredtan (Dec 7, 2010)

Hi
i have an MBP running OS X 10.6.5 and i have a 500GB external HDD with 2 partitions (NTFS & FAT32), which i mounted to my MBP using FSTAB

SOME of the files in the NTFS partitions are greyed-out, and i can't copy/open them on my MBP.

1. Copying the file returns this error:
"one or more items in {file} can't be changed because they are in use"

2. double-clicking the file does nothing
3. Right-click > Open With, returns this error
"Item {file} is used by mac os x and can't be opened"

i've used Terminal to move the file to FAT 32 drive and my MBP Desktop, but steps #1, #2, #3 still don't work

i realized the files that are greyed out are those that i copied from my MBP to the NTFS drive. Existing files in the drive can be opened. 

any idea what can be done? been searching the whole morning but can't seem to find someone with the same issue.


THanks


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Dec 8, 2010)

What add-on or "hack" are you using to enable NTFS writing on your MacBook Pro?  Mac OS X does not natively write to NTFS drives (only read), unless you use 3rd party software (like NTFS-3G drivers) or use the Terminal to enable NTFS write capabilities.


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## alfredtan (Dec 13, 2010)

Hi,
sorry, i just came back from travelling.

i edited the FSTAB file to enable NTFS support. i followed the instructions here:

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090913140023382


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## henin (Jul 19, 2012)

I was having trouble copying some files, getting the "One or more items in... can't be changed because they are in use" error.  The files were grayed out in the Finder.  Did a lot of Googling and found out about Extended file attributes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_file_attributes) and xattr (http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/xattr.1.html).  Upshot: If you ls a file in Terminal and the permissions list ends with "@", the file has extended attributes. If you ls the file again with the "-l@" flag, you will see the names and values of the extended attributes.  In my case, it was the com.apple.FinderInfo attribute that was causing the problem.  Deleted the attribute with "xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo [filename]" on each file and everything was hunky dory.  NB: Extended attributes can also store resources or essential metadata, so don't delete them willy nilly.  It's always safe to delete com.apple.FinderInfo.

Posting this to my top few hits so others won't have to spend as much time on this as I have.


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## nickweb (Nov 19, 2015)

Just to update - that command worked perfectly. I had over 200 files however, and didn't want to run through each one. This command, when run in the directory of the offending files, will find all files and fix them.


```
for f in *.*; do xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo "$f"; done
```

I know this is an old thread, but I just stumbled across it tonight whilst having the same issue in El Cap. Hope this helps someone!

Nick


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## Bossalicious (Jan 22, 2017)

nickweb said:


> Just to update - that command worked perfectly. I had over 200 files however, and didn't want to run through each one. This command, when run in the directory of the offending files, will find all files and fix them.
> 
> 
> ```
> ...


Thank you so much for this solution. Pasting this command in terminal fixed all the files for me. I used my external hard drive to store all my old files and pictures, and when they were greyed out I thought it was the end of it. I thought it was a problem with the drive. This solution saved everything!


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