Permission denied for Hard Drive

[Deralikt]

Hi,
I recently upgraded to High Sierra and for some reason it has revoked permissions for the main hard drive.
It seems to have only given write permission to "system".
I am the administrator and I log in to my profile. I then click on the lock, then on the + symbol and click to add my, but it says I do not have permission to do that!
Means I can't download anything or write to hard drive, very frustrating.
Anyone know how to get around this?
Thanks

 

[honestone]

There are quite a few issues with High Sierra, and I myself am still waiting on some events to happen before I upgrade. Some more information would be helpful:

1. What exact Mac model do you have?

2. Have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, from a software perspective? You can actually do quite a lot of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent products available (both free and commercial) that can help you with that.

3. Are you making backups to an external device? That is so, so critical! If you (hopefully) are did you make a backup right before you "moved"/upgraded to High Sierra?

4. How did you "move"/upgrade to High Sierra? Did you just upgrade "in place"? Along with that, what OS were you previously using?

5. Do you have a Fusion Drive setup in your Mac? That would definitely be am issue, as there are problems with High Sierra and Fusion Drives.

6. Finally, what third party software do you have? Did you insure each one was compatible with High Sierra?

 

[Deralikt]

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry, not super techie, haven't done any cleanup etc myself.
Unfortunately did not make a backup, I just upgraded in place from whatever the last OS update was.
Don't know what a fusion drive is, so guessing I'm not using one.

 

[honestone]

If you tell me the exact Mac model you have, then can determine whether there is a Fusion Drive inside.

One other question, can you use your machine at all? In fact, how are you making posts here?

Be that as it may, this will take some effort on your part, but it will be beneficial. The first thing you will need to do is to purchase an external drive. Given that you have a 1 TB drive inside your machine, and you are using about 670 gig, it is best if you purchase a 2 TB drive. They come in various configurations/connectivity, and those attributes will determine how much they will cost.

Once you get such a drive, the first thing you will need to do is to make a backup. Your Mac comes with Time Machine, which can make backups. But I prefer SuperDuper!, as it makes a bootable backup/clone of your system. You can use it in demo mode.

You will also need to obtain some software. It might be best if you go back to Sierra, OS 10.12.6. As long as you can get it, it will be free. Next, you will download the excellent freeware program Onyx. Then, you'll need to purchase a robust disk cleanup/maintenance/repair program. Two of the best are Tech Tool Pro (costs $99), and Disk Warrior (costs $120).

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

If you click  > About This Mac then click Storage, it will tell you what kind of drive. Fusion Drive's are listed as either Fusion Drive or Hard Drive + Flash Storage, depending on the version of OS X and the way it was partitioned/formatted.

C

 

[honestone]

Thanks, Cory, for that. I feel like such an idiot for not suggesting something so simple!

 

[Cory Cooper]

honestone - No worries.

Deralikt - Those permissions are actually correct for Hard Drive. The reason you can't save anything, is because the permissions on your Home folder are not set correctly. Don't try to change the permissions on Hard Drive or any of the other folders on your Mac - Applications, Library, System Folder, or you could totally lock yourself out and prevent your Mac from starting up/operating normally/at all.

Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder

As honestone eluded to, it is VERY important to have some form of Time Machine or other backup process in place so that you don't lose your data when issues arise.

C

 

[honestone]

Once again, Cory comes to the rescue!

And yes, you really need to start doing the following tasks:

1. Perform frequent disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, from a software perspective. I already mentioned two excellent products (Onyx and Tech Tool Pro) that can help you with that. You also can do a good amount of disk cleanup on your own.

2. As Cory stated (and I'll say it again), backups are so, so critical!