# Need help



## Jennifer Taylor (Dec 12, 2017)

Operating System: macOS High Sierra
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info): CC2015.7

I have my lightroom catalog saved on my Seagate external hard drive. Yesterday I deleted several backups but left the most recent 5. My lightroom will not open up with the recent files now. I keep getting this message:

*The Lightroom catalog cannot be used because the parent folder “/Volumes/Seagate Backup Plus Hub” does not allow files to be created within it.

I've checked my Seagate settings and they show:
Sharing & Permissions:
You can only read
system - Read and Write
wheel - Read and Write
everyone - Read only
*
Can anyone give me some guidance? I've also added Paragon NTFS for Mac 15 to my computer. I am nervous. Hoping I can recover my recent catalog.

Thanks in advance!


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 12, 2017)

Hi Jennifer

Yeah, it's a premising or formatting issue. 

For a start, is the drive NTFS or HFS formatted?

Secondly, if you're on High Sierra, at least update to 2015.13, as there were some High Sierra related fixes. See the end of this post for instructions: What’s New in Lightroom CC 2015.13 / 6.13?

The good news is your catalog is fine, I'm sure. Simply copying it to your internal drive would allow you to open it if it's just a permissions issue. But let's get your permissions fixed too.

Your Seagate settings you listed - is that from the Get Info window? If so, you just need to change that "you can only read" to "you can read and write"


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## Jennifer Taylor (Dec 12, 2017)

Hi Victoria,
Thank you for helping me!
Can you tell me how to find whether is it NTFS or HFS formatted?
I will work on the lightroom update now.
I listed my Seagate settings from the Get Info window. How can I change the "you can only read" to "you can read and write"?


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 12, 2017)

Applications folder > Utilities > Disk Utility would tell you how it's formatted. Let's start with that.


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## Jennifer Taylor (Dec 12, 2017)

Went to the disk Utility. What am I looking for?


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## clee01l (Dec 12, 2017)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Applications folder > Utilities > Disk Utility would tell you how it's formatted. Let's start with that.


GetInfo also indicates the filesystem format.


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## camner (Dec 12, 2017)

To follow up on what Cletus said, select (click once) on the drive icon on the desktop, and either hit Cmd-I or from the File menu choose Get Info.  Notice that in the screenshot there is a line that says "Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"....if it says that, then the drive is formatted HFS (Mac OS default).  NTFS is a Windows format (which an external drive may come pre formatted in), and, unless things have changed recently, the Mac OS can read, but not write NTFS volumes "out of the box" (there are 3rd-party utilities than allow Macs to read AND write NTFS volumes).


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## Johan Elzenga (Dec 12, 2017)

The OP already mentioned that she has Paragon NTFS for Mac (which is one of those utilities that let a Mac write to NTFS formatted disks), so the formatting should not be an issue.


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