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Can't change permissions to copy to external drive on Mac

After upgrading to macOS Monterey, I can't copy files or folders to a portable drive. I can read all its files fine but can't write to it. Get Info shows three users under "Sharing and Permissions, " which are system (Read+Write), wheel (Read only), and everyone (Read only). When I try to change the permision, it says "You don't have the necessary permissions." I also tried to create a root user to allow this permission, but it didn't have the necesssary permissions as well.

Best Answered by

Jenny Zeng

Answered on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Your external portable drive is probably formatted with NTFS.

To check it, open Disk Utility, then select your disk to view the information beneath the disk name.

If it says NTFS, you'll need a tool like iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to enable read/write access to it.

NTFS is a Windows file system that's read-only on Mac. It has permissions but you can't change the permission to Read & Write in Get Info because no user has such privileges. The only way to gain read/write access to an NTFS drive on Mac is by using a NTFS for Mac driver.

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iBoysoft NTFS for Mac

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If it reads another format, it's advisable to reformat your external hard drive on Mac.