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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Access FAT32 external USB drive
unkey monkey - Feb 9, 2006 - 12:22 am
I have an external USB drive that came from my PC. I seem to be able to read and write to it just fine and when I get info on it I am told that it is in FAT32 format. Unlike the info panel that I get when I "get info" for a file or folder, the one that comes up for this drive is very limited in the "Ownership & Permissions" section only saying "You can read and write".
I am trying to backup some files on this drive using Retrospect. Retrospect complains that "Ignore ownership on this volume" setting is enabled. Retrospect says this prevents a full backup.
The message from Retrospect says that if I expand the ownership and permissions view, I should see a checkbox labled "Ignore Ownership". I see no such checkbox on this drive's "get info" and I see no such checkbox on other files and volumes on my computer.
Is this checkbox from previous versions of the OS? Is there a new way to set the "Ignore Ownership" property?
I am running an iMAC G5 OSX 10.4.4.
Thanks for your help.
I am trying to backup some files on this drive using Retrospect. Retrospect complains that "Ignore ownership on this volume" setting is enabled. Retrospect says this prevents a full backup.
The message from Retrospect says that if I expand the ownership and permissions view, I should see a checkbox labled "Ignore Ownership". I see no such checkbox on this drive's "get info" and I see no such checkbox on other files and volumes on my computer.
Is this checkbox from previous versions of the OS? Is there a new way to set the "Ignore Ownership" property?
I am running an iMAC G5 OSX 10.4.4.
Thanks for your help.
skapp - Feb 9, 2006 - 1:10 am
Retrospect is complaining because you are obviously trying to do a full bootable backup. You cannot do a full bootable backup to a FAT32 formatted drive. Because you cannot implement permissions on a FAT32 drive Retrospect wants you to change the drive's setting, but you cannot on a FAT32 drive. You would need to reformat the drive Mac OS Extended. Of course if you did that you would no longer be able to use the drive on a PC.
If you backup files with Retrospect to this drive you will lose all permissions assigned to any files and folders. However, if all you are backing up are personal documents and such, then that shouldn't be a major problem.
If you wish to use this drive to maintain a complete backup of your Mac OS X installation, then you need to repartition the drive and format it Mac OS Extended. This will assure that all file permissions will be retained in the backup.
If you backup files with Retrospect to this drive you will lose all permissions assigned to any files and folders. However, if all you are backing up are personal documents and such, then that shouldn't be a major problem.
If you wish to use this drive to maintain a complete backup of your Mac OS X installation, then you need to repartition the drive and format it Mac OS Extended. This will assure that all file permissions will be retained in the backup.
unkey monkey - Feb 9, 2006 - 11:53 pm
Thanks. This helped me understand what I was seeing.
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