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Freeflyer · Dec 4, 2003, 03:32 PM

I have an external hard drive for my powerbook. When I want to move somewhere I eject the drive but it asks for my password. It didn't do that in Jaguar. I have admin priveleges.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

J.

Uncle Skeleton · Dec 4, 2003, 03:38 PM

yeah, in Jaguar it just wouldn't let you eject

Usually this means the Finder (which is a piece of poo) is still saying it's using the drive (I say this because force quitting the Finder in Jag usually lets me eject the disk, but not always). I think it's a feature (although the real feature would be to fix the Finder in the first place)

gorickey · Dec 4, 2003, 03:50 PM

Originally posted by Freeflyer:
I have an external hard drive for my powerbook. When I want to move somewhere I eject the drive but it asks for my password. It didn't do that in Jaguar. I have admin priveleges.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

J.

Just for giggles, do you have an Open Firmware password enabled?

Freeflyer · Dec 4, 2003, 09:25 PM

Originally posted by gorickey:
Just for giggles, do you have an Open Firmware password enabled?

Not as far as I'm aware. I've never played with open firmware (don't know much about it). Unless it comes with one set in Panther, then the answer's no. I have set up just a single account on this machine.

Cheers,

J.

mark9939 · Dec 4, 2003, 09:37 PM

Originally posted by gorickey:
Just for giggles, do you have an Open Firmware password enabled?

This is off topic, but how would one go about setting an OF password? Seems like a nice security feature.

-M

Toyin · Dec 4, 2003, 09:48 PM

Originally posted by mark9939:
This is off topic, but how would one go about setting an OF password? Seems like a nice security feature.

-M

Open Firmware Password application found in the utility folder

I've got a 12" PB and never need a password to eject my 120gb FW drive. Look in the Security system preferences, maybe you checked something there?

fisherKing · Dec 4, 2003, 10:26 PM

i have the same thing; never happened in jaguar.
in panther, asks for my password to eject my fw drive...
odd!

Chris Grande · Dec 4, 2003, 10:38 PM

I had this also...and have finally found what its connected to. Under Security in System Preferences there is a check box for 'Require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver' if you uncheck that it will no longer ask you for a password to unmount a firewire drive. I think there should be three options instead of one; Sleep, Screen Saver, System Events i.e. Un-Mount Drive.

fisherKing · Dec 4, 2003, 11:31 PM

Originally posted by Chris Grande:
I had this also...and have finally found what its connected to. Under Security in System Preferences there is a check box for 'Require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver' if you uncheck that it will no longer ask you for a password to unmount a firewire drive. I think there should be three options instead of one; Sleep, Screen Saver, System Events i.e. Un-Mount Drive.

hmmm...i have never had that checked, and panther asks for a password when i go to eject my fw drive...
so...??

Chris Grande · Dec 5, 2003, 12:18 AM

Check it then uncheck it? Every machine I've tried it on controls it.

Appleman · Dec 5, 2003, 05:43 AM

Doesn't matter if I uncheck it or not: it keeps asking for my password.
Silly.
The other wat around it can be interesting: asking for a password when turning on the external harddisk.

JKT · Dec 5, 2003, 06:57 AM

This was a bug that was meant to have been fixed with 10.3.1, I believe. Are you fully up-to-date?

MacFixIt had several articles about this as well - try searching there.

Appleman · Dec 5, 2003, 06:58 AM

Originally posted by JKT:
Are you fully up-to-date?

Yep

SMacTech · Dec 5, 2003, 07:31 AM

i think it has to do with the privileges set on the drive itself. None of my drives request a password. In the Get Info panel for that drive, check the button which says Ignore ownership of this volume.

cambro · Dec 5, 2003, 07:46 AM

I've found that sometimes ejecting the same drive requires a password entry and sometimes it does not. Most of the time the external drives I use do not require a password to eject them.

I would bet that Uncle Skeleton is right.

JB72 · Dec 5, 2003, 11:49 AM

I've had this issue too. In my case it only seems to happen with one particular drive, and I think it actually happened in 10.2.8 as well. I've since given the drive to my dad, and it does the same thing with him under 10.3.1. It's odd.

Detrius · Dec 5, 2003, 11:06 PM

Originally posted by mark9939:
This is off topic, but how would one go about setting an OF password? Seems like a nice security feature.

-M

It's not. Not only does it not protect your data, but it doesn't keep your machine from being bootable on another drive either. If you pull a RAM stick out and boot the machine, the OF Password is gone.

It's better than nothing. If you are worried about if your machine is stolen, it will do nothing. If you are worried about a machine in a lab, you had better be locking your machines shut (which you should be doing anyway). If you are worried about a machine in a lab, Netbooting is relatively good. The Startup Disk control panel also circumvents the OF Password.

turboSPE · Dec 5, 2003, 11:38 PM

Originally posted by Freeflyer:
I have an external hard drive for my powerbook. When I want to move somewhere I eject the drive but it asks for my password. It didn't do that in Jaguar. I have admin priveleges.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

J.

Weird...I never thought about this with my internal back up drive. I just recently started regularly unmounting the drive because it's much noiser than my new drive. But I ejected it via the Finder, and Panther asked for my password. So I guess it's not just external drives.

turboSPE

JKT · Dec 6, 2003, 07:43 AM

Originally posted by Detrius:
It's not. Not only does it not protect your data, but it doesn't keep your machine from being bootable on another drive either. If you pull a RAM stick out and boot the machine, the OF Password is gone.

It's better than nothing. If you are worried about if your machine is stolen, it will do nothing. If you are worried about a machine in a lab, you had better be locking your machines shut (which you should be doing anyway). If you are worried about a machine in a lab, Netbooting is relatively good. The Startup Disk control panel also circumvents the OF Password.

It is a good level of protection if you can prevent physical access to your Mac. Laptop users are obviously better off using FileVault or encrypted disk images for sensitive files.

Yes, the Startup Disk control panel can be circumvented by the Startup Disk control panel, but don't forget that you need Admin level access to be able to use that CP.

FWIW, the application to set an OF password can be downloaded from apple.com.

Mike Pither · Dec 6, 2003, 06:36 PM

I am in the sometimes it does and so sometimes it doesn't ask for the password. I cannot see a patern in when it does and when it doesn't either.