3 Tested Ways to Fix External Hard Drive Read-Only Error on Mac

When your external hard drive shows up as read-only on Mac, don't worry. This page offers 3 reliable methods to help you remove the "read-only" error from your external hard drive and make it readable again. Choose any of the following methods to fix the read-only error on Mac external hard drive.

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External hard drive showing up as “read-only” on Mac – Fix!

"Hello, do you know how to access an external hard drive that appears as 'read-only' on a Mac? I've encountered an issue where my Seagate hard drive suddenly switched to read-only mode after connecting it to my Mac this morning. I can only read and view the data saved on the drive, but I'm unable to modify or use it. Any clues on how to resolve this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much."

Right-click on your external drive and select “Get Info.” If you see “Read Only” listed at the bottom, then you're dealing with one of the most common issues that can affect an external hard drive or other storage device on a Mac. When your external hard drive or other storage device appears as “read only” on a Mac, try these fixes.

You can.

• Open and view files on the drive
• Copy files from an external storage drive

You cannot.

Copy a file to the device Delete a file from a removable drive

Why is my external hard drive read-only on Mac?

There are three reasons why you might be able to read but not write to an external hard drive connected to your Mac.

The file system is NTFS.

Right-click your hard drive and select "Get Info." If you see that the external hard drive is formatted as NTFS, that's likely the issue. Incompatibility with the file system is usually the main culprit. NTFS is a file system best suited for Windows-based computers. While macOS allows you to read files from an external hard drive formatted with NTFS, it's incompatible with how NTFS writes data to the device, which prevents you from writing to it. (Go to the solutions¹)

Permission settings are not being ignored.

External hard drives can be restricted by the permissions that OS X sets for all files and folders on your system. When you use the drive with another computer running a different operating system, those permissions may not be recognized or could prevent access to files on the drive. (Skip to the solution.)

There is a formatting error on the hard drive.

Another common reason behind the “read-only” issue on a Mac external hard drive is a formatting error with the storage device itself. If you see a warning when connecting that the drive is mounted in read-only mode, your disk has a formatting issue that's preventing you from writing files to it. That's why. (Go to the fix)

Identify the cause of the “Read Only” error on your Mac from the information above, and easily resolve the issue with the corresponding solution.

How to Fix the "Read-Only" Issue with an External Hard Drive on macOS

There are three solutions to this, for different reasons. However, some of them might result in data loss. Therefore, we highly recommend backing up your data to an external hard drive first to prevent any possible data loss.

First things first: Rescue your data before trying to fix the problem.

Normally, when a storage device appears as read-only, you can still copy files from it. If you can't view or see all the data saved on the drive, don't worry. You can use professional Mac hard drive recovery software – tools Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to get back lost data from the drive with just a few clicks.

Step 1: Search for the Missing File

On macOS Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, and the latest Sonoma, choose the disk location where you lost the file (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device). Then click on the “Search Lost Files” button.

Note: Before data recovery, it's recommended that you click “Disk Backup” from the left sidebar to back up your Mac so as to prevent further data loss. After the backup, the software can recover data from the Mac backup and your computer can write new data again.

Step 2: Check the scan results

Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will scan the disk volume you select immediately and display the scanning results.

Step 3: Select the files and recover them.

In the scan results, select the files you want to preview and then click the “Recover” button to get them back.

After exporting and backing up important files, try the following solutions to address the issue.

Solution 1: Reformat External Hard Drive to Fix Read-Only Error

If your external hard drive is read-only on your Mac due to its NTFS file system, you can use the Mac's Disk Utility to reformat it to a format that's compatible with your Mac. Make sure to back up your external hard drive to another drive first, as formatting will erase all files from the device.

Step 1: Open Disk Utility.

Go to "Applications" > "Utilities." Or, press "Command + Space," then type Disk Utility.

Step 2. In the list of available disks on the left, select the problematic external drive. Then, click “Erase” from the main window.

Step 3: Choose an appropriate file system and give your drive a name. (APFS and Mac OS Extended are specific to Apple, so if you want the drive to be compatible with both Macs and PCs, choose MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT instead.)

Step 4: Click "Erase" to reformat the external hard drive.

Wait for the formatting to complete, then go back to the “About This Mac” window. You should now see “Read Only” changed to “Read & Write,” meaning you can now read and write to the disk on your Mac.

How to Directly Access & Open Read-Only NTFS External Hard Drive on Mac

A more direct solution is to use a reliable Mac NTFS driver software to resolve the issue of an external hard drive being read-only without formatting. The tool NTFS for Mac is a reliable and efficient software that can help you configure an NTFS drive for read and write on your Mac with just a few simple steps.

Fix 2: Ignore Permissions to Fix Read-Only External Hard Drive

If you're certain that permissions are causing the issue, you'll need to ignore them to fix the read-only external hard drive issue on your Mac.

Step 1: Control-click the external drive on your Mac and choose Get Info.

Step 2: Tap “Sharing & Permissions” to expand that section, then tap the lock icon to authenticate.

Step 3: Click on “Ignore ownership on this drive.”

Fix 3: Check and repair hard drive errors to resolve the macOS external drive read-only issue

If the formatting of the external hard drive goes wrong, making the device read-only, you can use Disk Utility to check for errors and repair the external storage device.

1. Open Disk Utility.

Go to "Applications" > "Utilities." Or press "Command + Space," then type **Disk Utility.**

Step 2: Select the read-only external drive and click “First Aid” in the center of the top menu bar, then click “Run.”

If the issue persists, watch this video to fix the read-only external drive error on your Mac.

• 0:01 Introduction
• 0:39 macOS External Hard Drive Read-Only Issue
• 0:53 Resolving macOS Read-Only Hard Drive Problem

Resolved: External Hard Drive Read-Only Issue on Mac

 

Conclusions

When you encounter the hard drive read-only issue, you can try to reformat external hard drive on Mac, ignore permissions, or fix drive errors. In the process, run Mac data recovery software to retrieve deleted files from macOS 13/12/11/10.13/10.9.

External Hard Drive Read-Only Mac: FAQ

For more assistance, please refer to the frequently asked questions and answers below.

Here are some reasons why a hard drive may appear as read-only on a Mac:

• Your disk is empty
• File system error
• Permissions are being ignored

2. How do I unlock my hard drive on a Mac?

Unlock Hard Drive:

Connect the hard drive to your Mac.

Please enter the password you created earlier.

3. How do I change a read-only hard drive to read-write mode?

How to Change a Hard Drive from Read-Only to Read/Write and Format It

• Use Diskpart to Remove the Read-Only Attribute
• Remove Read-Only Attribute with Software
• Change Read-Only Permissions in Properties
• Fix Read-Only Disk Issue in the Registry
• Format the Read-Only Drive to a Recognizable File System