"Ownership Enabled" error making backup transfer impossible

[p_rod]

I have a small MacBook Air but after doing diligent backups for almost two years, my Western Digital 0.5TB drive (partitioned) is nearly full.

I wanted to copy my backup file to another WD drive that has extra room, re-partition the original Time Machine WD drive, and move on.

Every time I try to drag and drop the local backup file from the Time Machine WD drive, I get this annoying error "The backup can’t be copied because the backup volume doesn’t have ownership enabled."

So I " " enabled" " ownership, a process that took over 4 hours, tried to drag and drop the backup file from the original Time Machine external HD to my other external HD but no luck. I've done the enabling ownership drill twice now, but it still is not working. *** am I doing wrong?

I've been a Mac user now for just over 4 years, but I still get flummoxed by some of their crap when it comes to simple things like copying files.

Sorry my irritability is showing through right now, but I need to get this done and it's just not happening.

Any suggestions?

I am also planning on reformatting the WD HD (the original Time Machine drive) and I don't intend to partition it. Any suggestions on how to do that without getting flummoxed again? Journaled? Not Journaled?

Thank you in advance!

Cheers!

Pat

 

[dtravis7]

I had never before I read your post tried to copy a backup file to another drive. I get that same message. Going to check and see what I can find. Keep checking back. There has to be a way.

 

[dtravis7]

Got it. Select the volume containing the backup, CMD+I, and uncheck Ignore ownership on this volume. In other words on the drive containing the backup you want to copy, right click and click on Get Info. Look at the very bottom. It will be grayed out, but will say ignore ownership of this Volume. You have to click the Lock and put in your Password. then check that. Did it here and it works. I had to provide the OSX password to copy to my other external but after that it works!

 

[p_rod]

Hi, Dennis!

Thank you very much for tackling this problem for me. I just tried to do what you suggested and when I use the Get Info, I do not have anything at the bottom of the box that alows me to check or uncheck Ignore Ownership. Did I screw up something earlier when I clicked on the little asterisk at the bottom and then clicked on "Are you sure you want to apply the selected owner, group, and permissions to all the enclosed items?" I did that earlier (that's what took so many hours to complete). I thought I was OK'ing ownership to the files I wanted to copy over...but it seems to me now that the pooch is scrood. ;-( THat action I did is not reversible, or so says the little box that popped up.

Worse case scenario is I just go buy another drive and start over with a new backup and keep this older drive on hand just in case.

One other question for you. I only have half the drive partitioned for Time Machine...so the next time I back up can I just direct Time Machine to back up to that other partition, thereby leaving the older backup alone? I don't want TM to cast away my older backups when it backs up to the TM directory as it just did yesterday.

Again, thank you for your assistance!

Cheers!

Pat

 

[p_rod]

Dennis:

I just entered TM, told it to back up to the "Spare Disk Space" (that's what I named that other partition on the ext HD), and it appears to be working just fine....so I won't have to buy another drive for awhile.

I think I jacked myself when I allowed the machine to OK the ownership of the files, and that's why I don't have that option available anymore as you explained in your earlier post.

Again, I appreciate the help.

Cheers!
Pat

 

[dtravis7]

Oops! Let me see if there is a way around that. Will get back to you ASAP. I think that action made the option go away. Now that I clicked it and it works I can't go back. The option is no longer visible!

 

[p_rod]

Dennis:

Yeah, I think I did it to myself, thinking that if I gave the 'ownership' permission, then I'd be able to transfer the files. The action itself took several hours, and when I tried to copy the backup to another drive, I received the annoying message again. That's when I came here.

I did start backing up to the other partition on the external drive and everything is fine now. I should have thought of that before, but I thought I'd come here for some insight.

I really appreciate the way you jumped in, duplicated what I had done and came back with a possible solution.

All's well, for now, anyway!

Thanks a lot!

Cheers!

Pat