I used Carbon Copy Cloner to back up my iMac hard drive to a partition (one of eight!) on an external hard drive. Trying to check that the back-up has gone well I get the message that I can't open the drive as I don't have permission to view its contents! Unlike a file or folder there seems no way to change the permissions. What can be done to allow me back in?
The only real way to see if a clone backup has worked is to boot your Mac from it. Connect the drive then restart whilst holding the option key down. You should then be presented with a selection of bootable partitions, including your new clone. selecti it using the arrow keys and press return. Good luck!
Starting up with the Alt key depressed I get the full range of start-up drives available EXCEPT the one to which I cloned the Mac hard drive. In its'place a drive shows, with the name EF1. Selecting this does not produce a start-up despite being shownas a drive from which one could boot.
I don't know how to change permissions to allow me access to the drive to which I cloned my Mac. Doong that might be the answer - I am not asked for a password to access it, just presented with a flat refusal.
I'm guessing that the new volume is called EFI (letter I), not EF1 (digit 1). EFI is the low-level boot code in the computer itself (like a BIOS) and EFI seems also to be a default name.
This probably means you're seeing a normally hidden volume related to the boot process; if you can see its size, it's probably quite small (200MB, give or take). In the absence of any more knowledgeable input, I think I'd regard that as a sign that the back-up was unreliable and redo it. [BTW, I'm assuming it's the partition that you're locked out of, not the whole drive].
Yes, it is the partition that I am locked out of. I've now found how to get info on the partition and this shows that 188Gb of the 250Gb partition have been used - and that it has reverted to its' previous name. However, Permissions are greyed out - they are shown as:
system: Read and Write
everyone: No Access
and the "No Entry" sign is shown as a badge on the folder.
Running "Repair Disk" in Disk Utility gets the report that the volume appears to be OK but the permissions remain greyed out and there are no Owners enabled. I have not yet attempted to Erase the data on the partition, but unless there is a way of restoring my Permissions to access the partition will have to do so.
Should this be necessary I have the choice of doing it through Disk Utility, Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Advice on which would be the best option would be much appreciated!
In the Info window, have you tried clicking the padlock and authenticating (as administrator) to access the permissions? I can't see why otherwise that they'd be unavailable.
Where is it that you're seeing the no-entry sign (you said a folder)?
Should you need to wipe the partition, I would use Disk Utility (I treat it as the default tool since it's the most likely to be up-to-date with any tweaks Apple has made to HFS plus it can do most things). You should be able to erase (format) it (using Mac OS Extended, Journaled, not case sensitive, of course).
Didn't think of clicking the padlock. I changed the Permissions to allow Everybody to read & write, but that made no difference. I then added me as a User and that did the trick. I still wonder why CCC changed the permissions on cloning the Mac hard drive, but if it does it again, I shall know what to do!
Michael Corgan 