how to change its read-only status? urgent! pls

[Evita]

Hi there wise people!

I don't know why but I cannot add any more files to my external drive.  In Sharing & Permissions, it says: "You can only read".  How can I change this?  I still have 831 GB available.

Thanks so much!

[Wizer]

This info will be handy on this case. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308419

[Joe_S]

What OS are you using? Vista and Windows 7 can be quite a pain on the sharing/permissions. I ran into it after upgrading Windows 7 to SP1. I fumbled through it. Right click on the drive and select properties then share and advanced sharing then click on permissions and make sure they are set to full. Hopefullythat will fix things with out going deeper it's not simple going deeper.

Joe

[Evita]

sorry, I forgot to mention I have a MacBook Pro.
thank you!

[Wizer]

If you have a Mac , then it could be the drive is formatted for a different OS. Have you check the file system on the drive?

If is NTFS you will need to partition the drive or you can use NTFS 3G to read the drive. 

More info about permissions on MAC

[flexiej]

I have this problem on my mac too and maddeningly, the  bottom of the info box does not include the lock where you can re-type your password. The triangle stripes where you extend the box does not go lower than the sharing and permission read only. How can I extend the box to where the lock is? Or find a way to open my external hard drive to read and write again? I too have about 300 GB available and it is very frustrating.

[Evita]

Thank you very much and sorry for the late reply.  I thought I had replied.  It seems I have to pay to download the NTFS 3G, which **bleep**.  Any suggestions?

Thanks again!

[Evita]

I have EXACTLY the same problem you have.  Have you managed to solve it?

Thank you!

[RoofingGuy]

NTFS-3G is a free download.

Other NTFS drivers, such as Tuxera are paid downloads.

And going the other way (if the drive were empty and not already in use) is just as problematic -- Windoze won't see HFS+ formatted drives at all... you'd then need to find a driver for your Windoze machines so they could even read the Mac-formatted drive.

[Trancer]

Thread moved to WD External Drives: External Drives for Mac.