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PCforever?

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 21, 2010
44
1
Brisbane, Australia
Hi, I cant move files from a USB to my HD on my Mac Studio 2TB. I am an administrator but I dont have permissions and I cant add myself in the permissions info window in Finder. There is a lot of disk activity as its brand new... please help!.... Thanks
 

PCforever?

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 21, 2010
44
1
Brisbane, Australia
Screen Shot 2022-04-11 at 18.19.37.png
 

eddie_ducking

Suspended
Oct 18, 2021
95
118
Are you trying to move the files into the root folder of "Macintosh HD" ?

In which case, the message is correct, you don't have permission.

you'll be best off copying them into either your user folder or the shared user folder
 
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PCforever?

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 21, 2010
44
1
Brisbane, Australia
Are you trying to move the files into the root folder of "Macintosh HD" ?

In which case, the message is correct, you don't have permission.

you'll be best off copying them into either your user folder or the shared user folder
ok that seems to work, on my older imac i have folders in my root directory? Is it different now or was I wrong all along?.... thanks for your time
 

eddie_ducking

Suspended
Oct 18, 2021
95
118
ok that seems to work, on my older imac i have folders in my root directory? Is it different now or was I wrong all along?.... thanks for your time

cool. Depends on how old your older iMac is. High Sierra introduced APFS back in 2017 and I don't think APFS has ever allowed you write access to the boot disk root folder. If your iMac had been running Sierra or older, the older HFS+ file system did allow write access to the root folder and (I think, it was a long time ago) when the file system was converted to APFS those folders would have been left in the root folder.
 

PCforever?

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 21, 2010
44
1
Brisbane, Australia
cool. Depends on how old your older iMac is. High Sierra introduced APFS back in 2017 and I don't think APFS has ever allowed you write access to the boot disk root folder. If your iMac had been running Sierra or older, the older HFS+ file system did allow write access to the root folder and (I think, it was a long time ago) when the file system was converted to APFS those folders would have been left in the root folder.
last question i promise! how do i prevent the need to enter a password everytime i move a file?... thank you!
 

eddie_ducking

Suspended
Oct 18, 2021
95
118
last question i promise! how do i prevent the need to enter a password everytime i move a file?... thank you!

lol, you're fine, no worries.

bit more tricky to answer that one. The password will be due to either the destination folder having permissions you need to elevate yourself to write to or the source folder needing them to delete the original. If you try a test of copying a file instead of moving it, and no password is required, then it's the source you need to look at. If it still prompts, it's the destination folder.

If you're moving into your home area, you shouldn't be getting prompted for the writing onto the Studios SSD, which suggests it's the permissions on the source USB disk that are causing it. That could be quite likely if the disk was created on your old iMac, it's permissions could be tied into the old user account which won't be seen as the same account on your Studio (even if the usernames are the same). Have a look at the info for the USB disk, you may need to tweak the permissions to grant yourself write access.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,175
13,225
OP:
"I cant move files from a USB to my HD on my Mac Studio 2TB"

By "USB", do you mean a USB flash drive, or a USB hard drive or SSD?

Try this.
Takes only a moment.

1. Mount the USB device on the desktop. DO NOT double click the icon to open it.
2. Click ONE TIME on the icon for the device to select it
3. Bring up the "get info" box for it (command-i)
4. At the bottom of get info you'll see a "lock" icon
5. Click the lock icon and enter your administrative password
6. Put a checkmark into "ignore ownership on this volume" (sharing and permissions)
7. Close get info.

NOW try copying the files.
Any better?
 
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