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Time Machine permissions problems after Mac OS X 10.5.6

After updating to Mac OS X 10.5.6, many users are experiencing problems with Time Machine backups, wherein the system will show an error stating the users does not have sufficient privileges on required files for the backups.

CNET staff
2 min read

After updating to Mac OS X 10.5.6, many users are experiencing problems with Time Machine backups, wherein the system will show an error stating the users does not have sufficient privileges on required files for the backups.

Apple Discussions poster GreggSymington writes:

"After the 10.5.6 update today my backup is no longer recognized, and when trying to reselect the drive i get this error: You do not have appropriate access privileges to save the files '.001b6397c156' in folder 'Backup'."

Time Machine associates backups to the computer based on the computer's MAC address, which is a unique identifier number associated with the ethernet card. The computer stores this information in an invisible file that has the computer's MAC address as it's name. This file is stored at the root of the Time Machine drive, enabling the drive to be used with multiple computers. For some reason, the latest OS update has altered either the file or how permissions are read from the file. Basically, this file has become corrupted, and users should be able to manually reset ownership and permissions on the file with the terminal.

Fix: Change ownership and permissions on the file In the "Terminal" application, perform the following steps to figure out what the file is called, and then change the permissions on it accordingly.

1. Type "cd" followed by a single space, and then drag the Time Machine drive to the Terminal window. The command should then look something like this:

  • cd /Volumes/Backup

2. Press enter to submit that command, and then enter the following command:

  • ls -la

3. Note the name of the file that begins with a period and has 12 characters in the name, such as ".001b6397c156" mentioned in the quote above.

4. Now enter the following commands, substituting "FILENAME" in the commands with the file name exactly as it's shown both in the error as well as in the output of the command in step 2, including the period before it (ie: ".001b6397c156"):

  • sudo chown `id -un` FILENAME
  • sudo chmod 400 FILENAME

After each of these commands are entered, users will need to supply their passwords (which will not be shown) and the Time Machine backups should work again.

Resources

  • GreggSymington
  • More from Late-Breakers