As such, Mac OS offers limited support for hard drives formatted in NTFS (FAT read/write support is already present in OS X). When you plug in a USB drive or a hard disk to your Mac that’s pre-formatted in NTFS, Mac OS will mount it as a read-only drive. You can reformat a hard drive on Mac OS X by using Disk Utility. In the left-hand side inside of Disk Utility you will see a list of all the connected hard drives. Each physical drive is shown with the partitions of that drive nested below. Highlight the physical drive you wish to reformat and on the menu at the top to the right select erase.
“A friend of mine sold his external hard drive to me last week but one. I can access and view all the files on the hard drive. The issue is that I cannot write anything into the hard drive. I can’t even delete the files present on the drive. My friend owns a Windows PC. I am using his hard drive on my Mac. Is there a way to fix this problem? Thank you, guys.” – Jimmy, discussions.apple.com
An external hard drive will only be 100% useful to its owner if reading and writing into the hard drive are possible. If you are currently dealing with this external hard drive read only error on Mac, this article is for you. We will be showing you how to get rid of the error.
1Why is Your External Hard Drive Read-Only on Mac?
The external hard drive read only error has 3 major causes. We have outlined the causes below:
NTFS File System
You can determine whether the NTFS file system is the reason you cannot write into your hard drive by right-clicking the hard drive and then choosing Get Info. The NTFS file system is compatible with Windows PC but incompatible with Mac computers. While the Mac can allow you to read the files in the NTFS file system, it won’t allow you to write into the drive.
Permission Settings Aren’t Ignored
If the hard drive had been used on a different Mac computer, OS X could have set up access permission for the folders and files available on the hard drive. These settings could be preventing full access to the hard drive.
Formatting Errors
If formatting errors do exist in your hard drive, there is a chance that this is the reason you are experiencing the Mac external hard drive read only issue
2 Fix External Hard Drive Read-Only Without Losing DataStep 1: Recover Data on the Hard Drive
If the hard drive has important files, you will need to recover these files before proceeding to fix the external hard drive read only Mac problem. This will ensure that you do not lose the data during the fixing process.
Recovering data from a read only hard drive on Mac is extremely easy. All you will need is a third-party tool called iMyFone AnyRecover. AnyRecover supports more than 1000 file types. This means that it is capable of recovering all the file types on the hard drive. The tool is not just easy to use. It also does its job quickly. You won’t need tech knowledge to recover your files.
The main features offered AnyRecover include:
To recover data from your external hard drive before fixing the external hard drive read only issue, you will just need to follow the steps below:
Step 1: After opening AnyRecover, tap External Device Recovery.
Step 2: Connect your external hard drive to the computer. Select the hard drive and then click Next.
Step 3: Choose the file types you intend to recover and then click Scan.
Step 4: After the scan, preview the files and select the ones you intend to recover. Next, click Recover.
Step 2: Reformat the External Hard Drive
After recovering the data on the external hard drive, you can fix the error by reformatting it. Use the steps below to reformat the drive:
Step 1: With the hard drive connected to the computer, open Disk Utility by doing one of the following:
• Open Applications > Utilities.
• Press Command + Space and then type Disk Utility.
Step 2: Select the external hard drive on the left and then click Erase on the main window.
Step 3: Select the ideal file system and then give the hard drive a new name. Choose either MS-DOS or ExFAT if you would like to use the drive on both Windows PC and Mac. Select APFS or Mac OS Extended if you want the drive to be compatible with only your Mac.
Step 4: Hit Erase to complete the process.
3 Other Solutions to the External Hard Drive Read Only Problem on Mac1. Ignore Permissions
If the external hard drive read only issue is a result of permission settings, the steps below could help you get rid of the problem:
• Right-click the hard drive and then select Get Info.
• Expand “Sharing & Permissions”. Tap the Lock to authenticate.
• Check “Ignore ownership on this volume”.
2. Check and Repair Hard Drive Errors
To implement this solution, follow the steps outlined below:
• Open Applications > Utilities.
• Press Command + Space and then type Disk Utility.
• Select the Read-Only external hard drive and then tap First Aid at the top of the Disk Utility screen. Next, click Run.
Conclusion:
If you have an external hard drive that you cannot write into, this article can help you fix the issue. There is no guarantee that ignoring the permissions or scanning the drive for formatting errors can help you get rid of the read-only issue. However, changing the file system configuration has a higher chance of helping you get rid of your issue. Before attempting to fix the issue by changing the file system to one that is compatible with the Mac OS X, make sure that you have recovered the files in the hard drive. The process of changing the file system will involve erasing the files in the hard drive. Downloading AnyRecover and try recovering your data for free.
There are plenty of annoying things that can happen while using your Macbook, one of which is plugging in a USB hard drive and finding out that you cannot write to it, or copy to and from the external drive.
There isn’t a single solution to all these woes, but here’s a quick guide to addressing these bugbears that involve external hard drive performance and connection to Mac.
File systems: An overview
A file system is a handy tool that allows an OS to read data on any USB drive or hard drive. There are quite a few file systems out there, and the reality is that not every operating system works fine with each one of those systems.
Apple computers use HFS+ file system by default. Windows, on the other hand, uses New Technology File System (NTFS).
Mac users are likely to find FAT32 and exFAT as their best options, and for a good reason. If you’ve ever tried to format a hard drive as NTFS, you have probably come across a handful of trouble in getting it to work with your Mac or Linux. macOS is able to recognize as well as read NTFS drives, but it cannot write to them. NTFS works flawlessly with Windows, but leaves much to be desired with everything else.
Meanwhile, FAT32 and exFAT work with all operating systems just fine. File Allocation Table (FAT) is the oldest of the file systems, hence it can be recognized by every OS out there. Personal computers have seen its evolution from FAT12 to FAT16 to the current FAT32, and then the arrival of exFAT, created with USB drives and external drives in mind.
Your operating system’s primary hard drive should be the best match for that OS, while USB drives and external hard drives should use either FAT32 or exFAT.
Best External Hard Drive For Macbook ProFAT32 vs. exFAT
Here are some points of comparison to help you decide on which one to go with:
You can easily format a USB drive or external hard drive as exFAT instead of FAT32. macOS users can follow these steps:
External hard drive ‘read only’ issue? Here’s a quick fix
Once you plug in your drive and open Disk Utility, highlight your drive in the sidebar and click Erase, as shown in the instructions above. Your next step, however, can vary depending on what you want to do with the blank drive:
Now, let’s get to a one-time fix of enabling macOS built in experimental NTFS support. Take note: this method can have serious consequences and result in loss of data on target drive, so skip this fix if you’re writing to important volumes or eyeing a long-term solution.
This fix is based on the fact that sometimes we need to write some files to a drive once, in which case nothing needs to be installed. Mac has built-in support for reading NTFS by default, with the write capability hiding behind a Terminal hack.
Follow these steps:
nano etc/fstab
LABEL=DRIVENAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse
fstab is a hidden file setting preferences for disks, and can be useful for preventing disk partitions from mounting. In this particular case, it allows you to read-write on a disk that is not writable on default.
Seagate Read Only Mac
If you’re hardly comfortable with Terminal, you can choose a paid option for a pain-free way of working with files. A paid option likely entails less work and, as we mentioned earlier, experimental support isn’t reliable in the long term.
Conclusion
To summarize, a Mac can read from an NTFS disk, but it cannot write to it without a little work and help from third-party software. You need to format the drive for use on a Mac.
exFat outperforms Fat32 in most aspects. NTFS is better in nearly all aspects compared to exFAT, but only if you are using a USB drive on Windows computers. If you’re a Mac user, NTFS isn’t good news for you.
Once you’ve solved “read only” external hard drive problems on your Mac, get into the habit of cleaning and optimizing your Mac for top performance using a reliable tool such as Tweakbit MacRepair.
Mac users, tell us about your own experience!
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