Written by
Vain RoweSummary: This article guides you to fully know the LaCie hard drive with a brief introduction and analysis of why the LaCie hard disk is read-only on Mac. Also, efficient ways to fix the LaCie read-only on Mac problem are also covered, and iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is the most helpful one in dealing with the hard drive being read-only state.
By rule, you have full read & write access to the LaCie hard drive that you inserted into your Mac unless the Mac doesn't recognize the external hard drive. However, sometimes you discover that you cannot write to your LaCie hard drive unexpectedly.
Don't worry, this article will lead you to figure out why you cannot write to the LaCie drive on Mac and how to fix LaCie read-only on Mac. Besides that, you can get a brief introduction to the LaCie hard drive in this post.
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Why is LaCie drive read-only on Mac?
Generally speaking, you can perform read & write actions to your LaCie hard drive on Mac. But sometimes an accident happens unexpectedly that you can only read the external hard drive on Mac.
Don't worry, let's have a rough overview of the potential reasons that cause the accident first:
- The LaCie hard drive is formatted as a Microsoft NTFS file system.
- You don't have permission to write to the LaCie hard drive with read-only permission.
- The LaCie hard drive has tiny disk errors.
Do not be frightened by the listed reasons, you can fix the LaCie read-only issue without effort by following the approaches.
Case 1: The LaCie hard drive is NTFS formatted
The Microsoft NTFS file system is unsupported by Mac due to copyright issues. You are able to read the NTFS hard drive, but you cannot write to it. Thus, if you can only read a LaCie hard drive, you can check its file system first.
How to check the file system of a hard drive?
Follow the steps to check the file system of your LaCie hard drive:
- Connect your LaCie drive to your Mac, and then run the Disk Utility app.
- Choose your LaCie drive in the left bar of the Disk Utility window.
- Then you can see the file system of your LaCie hard drive.
- Click the Info tab on the upper right corner to see if the LaCie drive is writable on Mac.
If your LaCie hard drive is NTFS formatted, try the following approaches to solve the LaCie read-only on Mac issue.
Fix 1: Apply NTFS software for Mac fix LaCie read-only on Mac
Methods to convert the NTFS to APFS, HFS+, HFS, and FAT are really bothering and time-wasting, because you need to make a full backup of your LaCie drive first, or the data stored on the hard drive will be wiped completely.
Alternatively, you can apply NTFS software for Mac to gain the write support to your LaCie drive. You're highly recommended to apply iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on your device, which enables you to read and write to the NTFS formatted hard drive on Mac seamlessly.
Follow the steps below to know how to write to the LaCie NTFS drive on Mac:
- Download and install iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on your device.
- Connect your LaCie drive to Mac and launch iBoysoft NTFS for Mac.
- Write to NTFS external hard drive after the external hard drive is mounted in read-write mode successfully.
Note: If you can't write to your NTFS drive after installing the software, you need to install an NTFS driver by iBoysoft and enable System Extensions as the pop-up indicates. Then, the NTFS disk will be mounted in read-write mode.
Fix 2: Apply Terminal to fix LaCie read-only on Mac
You can also run Terminal to have the read & write support on your Mac, thus you need not format the NTFS LaCie drive for Mac use. Note that this approach is risky if you input the wrong command line, it will cause unexpected damage to your drive and Mac.
- Launch Terminal via Spotlight Search.
- Connect the NTFS drive and enter the following command line: sudo nano /etc/fstab
- Enter your password.
- Type the following command line in the Terminal window. Be sure to change the word DISK NAME to the name of your drive.LABEL=DISKNAME none NTFS rw, auto, browse
- Press Control + O to save the file, followed by Control + C, and then Control + X to exit.
- Unmount your NTFS drive and attach it again, then write to the hard drive.
Case 2: You cannot write to the LaCie hard drive with read-only permission
Permission settings determine who can view and alter files on your device. Read this part to obtain two fixes to change the read-only permission of your LaCie hard drive.
Fix 1: Change read-only permission of hard drive on Mac with admin privilege
Follow the instructions to change permissions on Mac with your admin account privilege.
- Right-click your drive and then select the Get Info option.
- Find the Sharing & Permission tab, and click the triangle icon to open it.
- Click the padlock icon and enter your account password.
- Click the Read only option right of the account user to change it to Read & Write.
- Click the up & down arrows to tick the Apply to enclosed items, and then click OK to save your changes.
After these actions, you can try to check if you can write to your LaCie drive. If not, try the following approaches.
Fix 2: Ignore Permissions on an external hard drive
macOS has a feature that allows users to ignore permission on the external drive, so you can fully write the files and data to the drive regardless of permission settings.
- Right-click your LaCie drive on the Mac desktop, then select the Get Info option.
- Scroll down to find the Sharing & Permission tab, and then click the padlock and enter the user password.
- Check the Ignore ownership on this volume option.
- Click the Lock icon to save changes.
Case 3: The LaCie hard drive has tiny disk errors
If the listed reasons do not cause your LaCie read-only on Mac issue, then your LaCie drive may have tiny disk errors. Usually, this case happens with a sign that the LaCie is mounted in read-only mode in Disk Utility.
Facing this, you can run First Aid to repair disk on Mac or only format your LaCie drive for later use.
Fix 1: Run First Aid to fix LaCie read-only on Mac
macOS Disk Utility includes a feature called First Aid, which can check and repair some minor disk errors. Follow the steps below to run First Aid:
- Launch Disk Utility on your Mac.
- Select the read-only LaCie external hard drive on the left bar.
- Click First Aid and choose Run to repair this disk.
After the Disk Utility runs the First Aid, head to check if you can write to LaCie drive on Mac. If not, the only way is to format your LaCie drive to Mac compatible file system.
Fix 2: Format your LaCie drive for later use
Before formatting, please be sure you have made a full backup of everything on the drive because formatting will wipe out all data on the drive.
- Connect the NTFS drive to the Mac.
- Go to the Home Folder for Mac, locate the Applications > Utilities, and open the Disk Utility.
- Select the NTFS drive in the Disk Utility window.
- Click "Erase" on the toolbar.
- Input a name for your drive.
- Choose "APFS" as the format and choose "GUID Partition Map" as the Scheme. You can also choose "ExFAT" if you want to use this drive both on Mac and Windows.
- Click on the "Erase" button.
When the reformatting process is completed, you will have an APFS-formatted drive, and then you can write to the LaCie hard drive for free.
Things you should know about LaCie hard drive
Born in 1989, LaCie is a premium hard disk brand in France. Although purchased by Seagate Inc. in 2014, LaCie hard drive still performs excellently in the hard drive market. It endeavors to provide world-class storage solutions for photographers, videographers, audio professionals, and other power users. Read further to know the LaCie hard disk fully.
Top-ranking design
With fluid lines and industrial feels, the all-metal LaCie disk is much more like a work of art. Meanwhile, its mental appearance makes it harder and stronger, so the LaCie hard disk is less likely to get physical damage. Due to this, the engineers, photographers, and designers who always perform outdoor work, really have the unique flavor to the LaCie hard disk.
Read & Write speed
When talking about a hard disk, the write & read speed is of much concern for the disk users. According to the Benchmark, the read & write speed of the LaCie hard drive is really outstanding, which reads with a speed of 130.9MB/s and writes with a speed of 133.6MB/s via a USB 3. o port, higher than the speed of 130MB/s that is emblazed on the hard disk and faster than other hard disks.
Durable but expensive
With a solid appearance and stable read & write speed, the LaCie hard drive is durable. However, the price of LaCie is high. We find that with the same 1TB storage space, Seagate Fast SSD only costs $311, while the LaCie Portable SSD costs $371. But you can still experience the benefits of the LaCie hard disk -- if you indeed have that requirement.
Let more people know about Lacie's hard drive comprehensively!
Wrap up
The hard drive read-only issue is really a headache and frustrating thing. For example, some people suffer the WD My passport read-only on Mac issue, while others have no idea how to fix Seagate external hard drive read-only on Mac. However, the reasons that cause you cannot write to your hard drive are similar.
Don't worry, you can fix the LaCie hard drive read-only issue with the detailed approaches provided by this article!
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