I can't access old user contents on my external hard drive

[Disheartened]

I sold my old mac computer so cleared the computer and deleted my user. On my new desktop which I have created a new user for - I connect my external hard drive but can't access the old content (photos etc) from the old computer because it says I do not have permission. What can I do to access it? I am mortified that my careful back up seems no good whatsoever.
Would appreciate some advice if anyone has some. Thanks

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

With the external hard drive connected & mounted, click to highlight it's icon in Finder & Ctrl-click or right-click & choose Get Info. Look right down the bottom of the Get Info window for "Ignore ownership on this volume". You need to check this box. If the padlock to the right of it is locked, click it, provide your Admin name + password then when the lock opens just tick that box & close the window. You should now be able to access your files on the drive.

 

[Disheartened]

Hi Spawn_Dooley, thank you for your reply - just tried it but my 'get info' window doesn't say 'Ignore ownership on this volume' it only says 'Sharing permissions: you can read and write' - with names and privileges. There is a list admin, my user account name, staff and Everyone. These are all set to say read and write. I think I set it that way before when I was trying to fix this problem. Any more suggestions please? My external hard drive is an Iomega_HDD.

 

[Cory Cooper]

In the Get Info window, what does it say in the General > Format section?

C

 

[Disheartened]

Hi - it says Volume and format = Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - it tells me how much space I've used - and then it says Shared Folder with an unchecked box.

 

[Disheartened]

It also says - created 2009

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK...thanks.

What version of OS X are you running?

C

 

[Disheartened]

OSX 10.9.5

 

[Cory Cooper]

Here's a few things to check:

-Does the account you are logged into have Admin privileges? Your account needs to be an Admin to change this setting.
-Is the Mac started up fro the external you are trying to change? If so, the Ignore ownership on this volume checkbox will not show. You can tell by doing a Get Info on both the internal and external drives...the startup drive will not have the option.

C

 

[Disheartened]

Hi - yes I have admin privileges. I unplugged the external - closed down the mac - restarted it and then plugged the external back in. I still do not get 'Ignore ownership' to show. Thanks for your help though - what can I do next please?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Maybe the partition type is Master Boot Record (Windows) instead of GUID (Intel Mac), even though it was formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). It shouldn't allow this, but we might as well check to make sure.

Use Disk Utility to check - but DO NOT click Format or Erase!
1. Open the Disk Utility app located in Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
2. In the left side, click on the external drive - the part that has the size, not where it has the name of the drive on the Desktop
3. In the lower right of the window, you will see Partition Map Scheme:

It should say GUID Partition Table and not Master Boot Record.

Let us know what that says,

C

 

[Disheartened]

Hi there - it says Apple partition Map

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, that will work on any Mac as a storage drive.

I am not sure why this issue is happening.

-Was that drive ever used for Time Machine backups?
-Can you see any of the files on the drive, other than the user you want to get into?
-Is the user home folder name the same on the external as the one you are logged into now?

C

 

[Disheartened]

Hi Cory
Yes I used the drive for time machine backups.
I can see files that I backed up since i got my new computer with the new user account.
But any of the backups that were made before Nov 2014 - from my old computer with my old user account - I cannot see everything. Most of them have the little red icon meaning I don't have permission. I can see iTunes and some files in Pictures - but when opening iPhoto I get this message 'The iPhoto library is on a locked volume. Reopen iPhoto when you have read/write access, or reopen iPhoto with the Option key held down to choose another library.' The locked volume appears to be my old user dmg - when I 'get info' on it it says I can only read it. It is all greyed out and I can see that I have previously checked the 'ignore ownership on this volume'. I am stumped!
The user home folder name - on the external - I assume you mean my old user account name - is not the one I am logged into - as I have created a new user account - the old one was deleted for security when I sold the old computer.
It's very confusing and beyond me. I fear I will never get to see my old photos.
Any ideas?

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

You should be able to access this drive via Time Machine … have you tried this?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Since it was used as a Time Machine drive, that is why the Ignore ownership on this volume checkbox doesn't appear.

One thing you could try, is to create a user with the same name you had previously, login to it, then you should be able to access the files because the username is the same. You could then drag them to the Users > Shared folder, login to your current user, and drag them from there to wherever you want them.

C

 

[Disheartened]

Spawn_Dooley - yes I have been doing that. Cory - that sounds hopeful - I will try that and let you know!

 

[Disheartened]

ok - created the user with same name - and logged in - where do I find the Users Shared Folder?

 

[Disheartened]

I found the shared folder and think I moved it - then logged out and back into my current user account. Then when I try to move the prohibited files into the shared folder it says it needs authentication which I give it by ticking the box - but then it says The operation can’t be completed because backup items can’t be modified. Sigh

 

[Cory Cooper]

-Are you trying to browse the Time Machine backup itself to recover the files?
-When logged in with the user of the same name, can you see the files, or do they still have the prohibitive sign on the folders?
-If you can see them, you would drag them to the Users > Shared folder on your internal HD, not the external Time Machine HD. It probably gave you that error because you were trying to drag them to the Time Machine backup Shared folder, which cannot be modified by anyone other than Time Machine itself.

C