Mac OS: Turn Off Drive Ownership

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Larry

This article was suggested by Robert Bagley, who was having problems storing files on a newly-acquired hard drive. Fixing his problem was simple – but not obvious. If this setting is incorrect on a new hard drive you just installed, you’ll have problems accessing files on that drive.

NOTE: This technique applies to, and works the same on, all versions of the Mac OS from 10.6 through 10.9.

Applications, and the boot disk, require permissions and ownership to be accurate and enabled to function properly. (A permission allows one application to “talk” with another application.) This is what we are repairing when we use Disk Utility to “Repair Permissions.”

NOTE: File servers, also, require permissions to keep track of which user has access to which file.

Drives that store data don’t use permissions and ownership. In fact, they shouldn’t use permissions. However, especially for new drives, permissions get turned on by accident for a data drive, which then prevents it from working properly.

Here’s how to turn off permissions on a hard drive or RAID.

BIG NOTE: This should NOT be done for the boot disk or server volumes. This SHOULD be done for all direct-connected drives that only store data.

Select a drive. (Remember, leave the boot disk alone.)

Type Command+I (or choose File > Get Info). This displays a wide variety of statistics about that hard disk. (My favorite is “Available,” which is always seems to disappear almost immediately.)

If it is closed, twirl open the Sharing and Permissions triangle and look toward the bottom. If “Ignore ownership on this volume” is checked, everything is fine.

However, if this is NOT checked, we need to change the setting.

Click the lock and enter an administrator’s password to allow changes to this setting.

Then, check “Ignore Ownership on this volume” and close the window.

You only need to do this once for each of your data drives. Most of the time, this will be set correctly. But, for those instances where it isn’t, now you know how to fix it.

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79 Responses to Mac OS: Turn Off Drive Ownership

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Hamish Finnie says:

June 11, 2014 at 8:49 pm

I am using the HD of my old macbook via sata enclosure to use as an external for my new macbook. How can I make changes to the HD i.e. adding removing files etc without requiring a password to do so?
LarryJ says:

June 12, 2014 at 1:31 am

Hamish:

It should work fine – once you turn off drive permissions, as outlined in this article.

Larry
Removing password - Mac-Forums Discussions for Apple Products & Services says:

June 25, 2014 at 11:02 am

[…] PM And use the Mac's OS Get Info to "Ignore ownership on this volume." For how, see: Final Cut Pro Training | Mac OS: Turn Off Drive Ownership | Final Cut Pro Training & Classes Macintosh Reference Guide | Ignoring Ownership | Peachpit Or google search for more with 'mac […]
Mike says:

September 8, 2014 at 8:49 pm

I am trying to copy a backup from an external drive to my Drobo 5d. The exact error message I get is: “The backup can’t be copied because the backup volume does not have ownership enabled”. At “get info” on my Drobo the “Ignore ownership on this volume” is check marked and grayed. I’m pretty sure once I unlock it will be accessible. I am worried that the Drobo will be affected. Do you know if this will affect the Drobo and how it functions with the Drobo Dashboard software? I’m thinking not but just a little worried. Don’t want to loose 7th of home video. I called Drobo tech support but they were not familiar with this copy issue or the check box for ownership.
I am able to copy other files. Does this have something to do with it being a backup file? the file is called “Backups.backupdb” if it matters. Under get info it does not have the “locked” or “Shared folder” checked. It is about 420gb. I’m on 10.9.4. and just updated the firmware on the Drobo.
Thanks
LarryJ says:

September 8, 2014 at 9:21 pm

Mike:

Changing the ownership setting of a hard disk will not affect the data stored on the drive. It may affect your ability to save or play back data, in which case, change the setting back to where it was.

Drobo Dashboard is not affected by this switch.

What most likely happened is that this was set incorrectly at some point, during which you copied files to the drive. The only time ownership of a drive should be turned ON is when the drive is used on a server. The rest of the time, ownership should be disabled.

Larry
Hamish Finnie says:

September 17, 2014 at 11:22 pm

Hi, my external hard drive is no longer being recognised by my laptop upon plugging in. Why is this happening and how can I make it work?
LarryJ says:

September 18, 2014 at 7:55 am

Hamish:

Hmmm… Time to call Apple Support. This is a hardware issue.

Larry
Bee says:

October 13, 2014 at 8:14 pm

Hi there, in 10.9.5 the check box is not an option (does not exist on the Get Info window). Is there another route to enabling ownership? I am trying to relocate my back up files to a different drive.

Thanks!
Larry Jordan says:

October 13, 2014 at 9:41 pm

Bee:

The checkbox does not exist on the boot drive or server volumes. However, and I’m running 10.9.5, it does exist on external drives.

Larry
Bee says:

October 14, 2014 at 10:15 pm

Hi Larry thanks for your reply. I double checked that I opened the “Get Info” window for my external Seagate back up and the check box is not there. I took a screen shot but can’t seem to find a way to attach/insert here.