My Mac, that young’un gave me, it’s a right pain sometimes. See, I got this here external hard drive, you know, one of them little boxes you plug in to save your stuff. Well, the darn thing, my Mac, it can only read it. Can’t put nothing new on it. Just read only! Like a book you can’t write in. Makes no sense.
I wanted to put some pictures on it, pictures of the grandkids, you know. But nope. Mac says no. It’s like that external hard drive is locked up tighter than a drum. I can see the old pictures I put on it from my old computer, but I sure as sugar can’t add no new ones. It’s this whole read only thing on the external hard drive.
Now, I ain’t no computer whiz. My grandson, he tried to explain it to me. Something about “permissions” and “formatting.” Sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me. He clicked around on that Mac, clicked that little apple picture, poked at some menus. He messed with some settings, I reckon. Said something about “sharing and permissions” on the external hard drive being read only. He clicked on a lock, typed in some secret code. Looked like he was breakin’ into Fort Knox!
- He clicked that little apple up top.
- Then he clicked on that “Finder” thing.
- He found my external hard drive there, that little box picture.
- He pressed some buttons, I think it was “Command” and “I”.
He said something about my name, my “username,” needing to be able to “read and write.” Read and write, like it’s a school lesson! He changed something there, I saw him do it. Clicked on a little menu, changed it from just “read” to “read and write.” Like givin’ me permission to use my own darn stuff. Imagine that! He said the problem was my external hard drive was read only on Mac.
But it still didn’t work. Darn thing still just lets me look, not touch. Like a museum exhibit, that external hard drive. Just read only. Can’t add, can’t change, can’t do nothin’.
That boy, he tried another thing. Said maybe the way the thing was set up, the “file system” he called it, maybe that was wrong. Said it might be messed up somehow, maybe ’cause I pulled it out of the old computer without doin’ somethin’ right. Said that’s why the external hard drive is read only on my Mac, maybe. Said it was the computer being careful, protectin’ my stuff. Like a mama hen watchin’ her chicks. But what good is protectin’ if I can’t even get to my own babies, huh?
He said to fix that, you gotta do somethin’ called “formatting.” Sounds like somethin’ you do to your hair, not a computer box. And he said it’d wipe it clean. Erase everythin’. Like startin’ over with a fresh slate. Well, I got pictures on there from years ago. Pictures of my old dog, bless his heart. Pictures of my garden when it was all in bloom. I ain’t losin’ those. No sir, not for all the tea in China.
So, I told him, “Hold your horses!” I ain’t “formatting” nothin’. I don’t need that drive to be blank. It’s got my memories on it! My external hard drive on my Mac being read only doesn’t mean I want it empty. There’s gotta be another way, right? Gotta be a way to make this Mac let me put stuff on my own darn drive without cleanin’ it out like an empty cupboard. Change it from read only, make it do both. Read and write.
I don’t know what else to do. Maybe one of you folks out there knows. Maybe you’ve had this same trouble with your external hard drive only letting your Mac read it. This whole read only thing. Maybe you found a way to fix it without losing all your precious stuff.
I’m all ears. ‘Cause this old lady ain’t givin’ up. I got pictures to save, and by golly, I’m gonna save ’em. I just need to figure out how to make my Mac play nice with my little picture box. It’s mighty frustrating, this read only business on my external hard drive. I just want it to work like it’s supposed to!
