Change read-only permission on Mac external hard drive with admin privilege Is no second computer available? Try to change permissions on Mac for the external storage media. You can either use another Mac or use this external disk on Windows to bypass the issue. If it shows read-only, you don't have permission to write to the external hard drive on this Mac. You can right-click on the icon of your disk and choose 'Get info', and scroll down to check the disk privilege you have. Thus, there is no surprise to see a message informing you that Mac external storage device is read-only when saving changes given that you don't have permission to write to the external hard drive on Mac. Users can set up file permissions to determine who can delete or modify a file or program copied to a certain drive. Mac can't write to external hard drive with read-only disk permission IBoysoft NTFS for Mac can mount NTFS external hard drives in read-write mode on your Mac, granting people full access to read NTFS drive on Mac and write files on NTFS-formatted drives.Ĭase 2. This easy-to-operate NTFS for Mac software can change the hard drive from read-only Mac without erasing, and help you use NTFS drive on Mac. If you want to use Windows hard drive on Mac without formatting, using a cross-platform NTFS driver for Mac is the best choice. That's because reformatting the disk will delete all files. If you have important files on this external drive, and you frequently swap your work between Windows and Mac, reformatting is the last solution you would resort to. How to fix NTFS external hard drive read-only on Mac:Īfter confirming that it is the Windows NTFS that makes your Mac external hard drive read-only, you can go ahead to fix this problem by either reformating the external hard drive for Mac or using an NTFS for Mac third party app to enable NFTS write on Mac.

You will see 'Windows NT File System (NTFS)' in the File system and the state of “Writable” is No.

Choose to Get info in the context menu.

Open the Finder and right-click on this external storage device.

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