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Linux Linux now cannot delete files

Discussion in 'Tech Support' started by Phil Rhodes, 18 Jun 2015.

  1. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    So I have this 'ere flash card, formatted HFS+

    On it are a bunch of quicktime movies.

    I want to delete them.

    Group select, hit delete key. Nothing. No error message, no change in the filesystem.

    Er, OK, this is linux. Fire up a terminal. Figure out where this particular card is mounted. It's a thursday and I'm wearing black socks, so let's cast the bones:

    cd /media/graphiteuser/001

    (001 is not the name of the card and in my day we mounted things in /mnt but hey, standards are great, let's have lots of different ones!)

    rm *.mov

    rm: cannot remove 'filename.mov': Read-only filesystem.

    Well, that's not the case, it's a flash card, but OK. Maybe this is one of those linux things where it makes you type extra stuff for no good reason.

    sudo rm *.mov

    rm: cannot remove 'filename.mov': Read-only filesystem.

    Right-click on the mount point for the thing. Click on "permissions".

    "You are not the owner, so you cannot change these permissions."

    Do I need a personal letter from Linus to use hardware I actually physically own, now?

    How is any of this even remotely helpful to anyone?
     
    Last edited: 18 Jun 2015
  2. Flibblebot

    Flibblebot Smile with me

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    There's your problem, right there. You're expecting a proprietary Apple file system to be useable by other systems.

    Take a look here - apparently the only way to get Linux to work with HFS is to turn off journalling - but I don't think you can do it on anything other than a Mac...:(

    EDIT: This might help as well.
     
  3. sandys

    sandys Multimodder

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    Ah the joy of journal-ling files systems, right pain in the back side. I remember spending an age on copying stuff from a JFS disk just to get some prerecorded stuff off of my TV, managed to delete the journal file superblock or something and the disk no longer worked in the TV despite having loads of MPEG files on it that were originally recorded there, arrgh.
     
  4. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    Actually I wasn't expecting it to work, and was rather surprised when I was able to read the device.

    I also found both those pages, but I'm using Mint, not Ubuntu. The latest information I can find for Mint is from 2011, but I probably haven't looked at every website on the subject.

    P
     
  5. wolfticket

    wolfticket Downwind from the bloodhounds

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    Try it on Windows? (spoiler alert: you wont even be able to read it without 3rd party software)

    It's just a propriety file system that, other than on Mac systems, will generally require additional tools and generally be a bit awkward to read, and even more so to write.

    Fibblebot's links above may work, but if you can read the drive already and if you wish you be able you use it across multiple OSs I'd be tempted to make a copy (or 2) of the files you wish to keep, then format the drive to a more versatile file system.

    That or just give up and buy a Mac :)
     
  6. jinq-sea

    jinq-sea 'write that down in your copy book' Super Moderator

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    Connect it up to a Windaz machine and install MacDrive. :thumb:
     
  7. phuzz

    phuzz This is a title

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    Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, it's just got a different gui, but pretty much anything command line is identical.
     
  8. bionicgeekgrrl

    bionicgeekgrrl Minimodder

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    iirc installing hfs utils on linux should allow turning off of journalling, then you can mount it r/w. Quickest way is usually to disable it with Disk Utility on a Mac.
     
  9. scimmy

    scimmy Minimodder

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    HFSExplorer has worked for me in the past on a windows machine
     

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