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qnc · Feb 1, 2008, 07:20 AM

the disk I chose for time machine was doing really well then it's gone to read only all of a sudden.

Any one got a solution?

macfantn · Feb 2, 2008, 12:44 AM

try going back in time before it went read only

TETENAL · Feb 2, 2008, 01:02 AM

Originally Posted by macfantn

try going back in time before it went read only

The backup volume is exempt from Time Machine. So you can't go back in time for it.

JustinHorne · Feb 2, 2008, 01:14 AM

Right click on the disc, Get info, Sharing & Permissions, choose your username, select access to be read/write? Just a thought.

qnc · Feb 4, 2008, 04:19 AM

On get info it says read and write under me but read only under everything else buit I can't get to change that as that area is completely grayed out even the little padlock is grayed out!!

Any solutions

?

seanc · Feb 4, 2008, 02:31 PM

How full is the disk?
Have you tried repairing permission on the drive?

slm135 · Feb 13, 2008, 06:22 PM

I had the identical symptoms as the OP. Disk utility doesn't give the option to repair permissions; it's grayed out. I tried verifying the disk. It said everything was fine and Time Machine seems to be working again.

frdmfghtr · Feb 13, 2008, 06:28 PM

I had the exact same problem happen to my Time Machine volume, going into a read-only mode and DU not being able to repair it.

Two days later, the drive went into the infinite "click of death."

I suggest getting a second drive and restoring the new drive from the Time Machine drive immediately. I lost two months of backups fiddling around with drive facing imminent death, so learn from my pain

qnc · Feb 14, 2008, 06:33 AM

it was a brand new drive

Not funny so reformat it or get a new one is that is the only suggestion.

As for size Capacity 465GB, available 329GB used 136GB so I can't see that being a problem.

Sorry but its just frustrating.

oztexan · May 3, 2008, 05:53 PM

I had seemingly identical symptoms with a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent USB drive after moving my Macmini, unplugging & replugging in everything.

Time Machine suddenly started reporting the drive as read only. Get info showed I had R&W permissions but text above the user permission list saying the drive was read only.

Disk utility offered nothing other than "Verify Disk", all other first aid functionality disabled.

So, I clicked verify, it started taking forever, last estimate was 45 minutes to completion during "Checking Catalog FIle" step. I stopped the verification process, went back to the drive in finder, get info and noticed "You can read and write" was now displayed.

Seems to have fixed the issue...

Inexplicable but got there in the end...

P.S. Seagate format "Max OS Extended (Journaled)"

CharlesS · May 3, 2008, 07:08 PM

DiskWarrior might be able to remedy this situation, if it's able to load the directories.

Unfortunately, DiskWarrior reads the entire directory into RAM, and it's a 32-bit app. So, if the disk directories get larger than 4 GB, DiskWarrior will fail. And due to the insane number of hard links that Time Machine creates, it's definitely plausible for the directories to get that big.

Might be worth a try, though.

Hal Itosis · May 4, 2008, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by qnc

On get info it says read and write under me but read only under everything else buit I can't get to change that as that area is completely grayed out even the little padlock is grayed out!!

I'm sorry but, Finder 'Get Info' windows can't properly communicate conditions on the ground.

Posting results of these two Terminal commands will go a long way in demystifying the problem:

ls -liedO /Volumes/{,"name of backup volume"}
diskutil info /Volumes/"name of backup volume"

qnc · May 7, 2008, 04:16 AM

verifying the drive with disk utility seems to work thanks guys...

Originally Posted by oztexan

I had seemingly identical symptoms with a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent USB drive after moving my Macmini, unplugging & replugging in everything.

Time Machine suddenly started reporting the drive as read only. Get info showed I had R&W permissions but text above the user permission list saying the drive was read only.

Disk utility offered nothing other than "Verify Disk", all other first aid functionality disabled.

So, I clicked verify, it started taking forever, last estimate was 45 minutes to completion during "Checking Catalog FIle" step. I stopped the verification process, went back to the drive in finder, get info and noticed "You can read and write" was now displayed.

Seems to have fixed the issue...

Inexplicable but got there in the end...

P.S. Seagate format "Max OS Extended (Journaled)"

qnc · May 7, 2008, 04:19 AM

Originally Posted by Hal Itosis

ls -liedO /Volumes/{,"name of backup volume"}
diskutil info /Volumes/"name of backup volume"

[/tt]

I am ignorant about terminal, do I jusy type in what you have up there?

In name of backup volume is that {Time Machine Backups} or {"Time Machine Backups"}?

JellyBeen · May 7, 2008, 10:34 AM

Leave the quotes out.

qnc · May 7, 2008, 11:02 AM

~ qncwork$ ls -liedO /Volumes/{Time Machine Backups}
ls: /Volumes/{Time: No such file or directory
ls: Backups}: No such file or directory
ls: Machine: No such file or directory

I hate terminal... what am I doing wrong

CharlesS · 11:50 AM

Hal's just trying to show off that he knows how to use the bash shell, because he thinks it's impressive. Just do the command twice, the first time with "/Volumes" and once with "/Volumes/Time Machine Backups", and have the path in quotes. A little more typing, but easier for you to type. I'm also not sure why he's asking you to list the inode numbers for the directories, but hey.

ls -liedO "/Volumes"
ls -liedO "/Volumes/Time Machine Backups"

Those commands will do what Hal wanted - list the permissions, ACLs, file flags, and... inode number for some reason. The diskutil command just looks like this:

diskutil info "/Volumes/Time Machine Backups"

That will show whether the drive is mounted read-only or not.

A few posts up you said that verifying the drive worked, though - did Disk Utility come up saying the disk needed repairs, or did it say the drive was OK? I've found that sometimes a disk will be mounted read-only if it has directory damage. If you click "Repair Disk", and then wait the inordinate amount of time that it takes to scan Time Machine backup drives (over an hour on my system), does that clear the problem up at all?

Hal Itosis · May 7, 2008, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Hal's just trying to show off that he knows how to use the bash shell, because he thinks it's impressive.

Actually... that's all in your mind.
Why make waves?
I'm just trying to get some info to help out here.
[like you *never* show off... right?

]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Just do the command twice

Why oh WHY?

Hal Itosis · May 7, 2008, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by qnc

I am ignorant about terminal, do I jusy type in what you have up there?
In name of backup volume is that {Time Machine Backups} or {"Time Machine Backups"}?

• If the name has spaces, then the quotes are needed. (Else\ escape\ them\ with\ backslashes).
• If the name doesn't have spaces, then it doesn't matter.

[one can only hope the name itself doesn't contain quotes. ]

CharlesS · May 7, 2008, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by Hal Itosis

Why oh WHY?

Because, your brace expansion makes the syntax of the command more complicated, and the OP is clearly having trouble with it.

The point of this thread isn't to teach the guy how to use the bash shell.

Hal Itosis · 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Because, your brace expansion makes the syntax of the command more complicated, and the OP is clearly having trouble with it.

if all Terminal syntax is complicated to a CLI virgin, then braces are just another part of the maze.
Their presence wasn't adding any additional burdon. [all that was needed was a bit of copy/paste,
and some minor text substitution.]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

The point of this thread isn't to teach the guy how to use the bash shell.

Strange... judging from your last few posts, that seems to be the trend.

It also seems you have a need to call attention to inode numbers, as if there
is something "wrong" with that. This is also childish B.S. and adds more fuel
to a non-existent fire. There is zero harm with showing inode numbers, and
if the inode number for the volume is other than "2", that might be a problem.

--

REDOING MY COMMANDS FOR CLARITY:

ls -liedO /Volumes/{,"name of backup volume"}
diskutil info /Volumes/"name of backup volume"

Replace red text with name of disk. [run commands one line at a time]