HELP: Kindle PW read only on MacOS Mojave

astrodad · 12-29-2018, 07:54 PM

Hi there,

Been a while since I posted here, but you guys are all geniuses, so if anyone can solve this, you can. I have an old Paperwhite (2012 I think) that is visible in the Finder on Mac, but is apparently mounted read only since I cannot copy anything via drag and drop (I get the circle with a line through it) or through Calibre (which reports that the /Volumes/Kindle volume is mounted read-only).

I have tried running fsck_msdos on it and it doesn't report any issues. I've reset it to factory and am getting the same results on two different PW's.

Any thoughts?

I'm running macOS 10.14.2, kindle version 5.6.1.1.

sydmalicious · 01-02-2019, 01:50 AM

I am not having this issue on Mojave currently. It may be that your Kindle is too old for the new APFS file system. In fact, that is what I think is happening.

The only thing I can tell you is to download Calibre and see if that helps you get things onto your Kindle.

astrodad · 01-02-2019, 09:48 AM

Thanks for the reply. Calibre still needs to be able to write to the Kindle and it does that by writing through the OS. So if the OS sees it as read-only, it also will fail to write in Calibre. I was able to get it to read on an old iMac running High Sierra, but then it also worked from an old Mac mini using Mojave, so I'm at a loss.

HarryT · 01-02-2019, 10:27 AM

A read-only mount on a *nix operating system generally indicates a corrupt file system - ie the Mac has detected something wrong with the Kindle's FS. I'd guess that one of the things you did has fixed the corruption. Have you tried again to re-mount it on the machine that originally gave the error?

astrodad · 01-02-2019, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

A read-only mount on a *nix operating system generally indicates a corrupt file system - ie the Mac has detected something wrong with the Kindle's FS.

Fair point. I ran fsck on it but it didn't complain, and then I also reset to factory, although now that I think about it, that might not actually reformat the file system.

NiLuJe · 01-02-2019, 01:52 PM

A factory reset will indeed reformat the userstore partition, which is what gets exported over USBMS, and what appears to have been wonky on your device

And it's handled in a manner tricky enough, that, yes, you should trust the Kindle to do it, and *never* fsck it manually, as the only thing that's likely to do is b0rk it. (And don't even try *formatting* it yourself, as that will *definitely* not work).

astrodad · 01-02-2019, 02:30 PM

Update: Problem identified

My company in their infinite wisdom rolled out a new security policy that affects all PCs and Macs preventing writing to external USB drives. Apparently we are all supposed to use the cloud now. It's ridiculous, but now I understand why this is failing. Thanks to those that responded.

12-29-2018, 07:54 PM	#1
astrodad Guru Posts: 962 Karma: 568242 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kindle Paperwhite 1, iPad, iPhone	HELP: Kindle PW read only on MacOS Mojave Hi there, Been a while since I posted here, but you guys are all geniuses, so if anyone can solve this, you can. I have an old Paperwhite (2012 I think) that is visible in the Finder on Mac, but is apparently mounted read only since I cannot copy anything via drag and drop (I get the circle with a line through it) or through Calibre (which reports that the /Volumes/Kindle volume is mounted read-only). I have tried running fsck_msdos on it and it doesn't report any issues. I've reset it to factory and am getting the same results on two different PW's. Any thoughts? I'm running macOS 10.14.2, kindle version 5.6.1.1.

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01-02-2019, 01:50 AM	#2
sydmalicious Cantankerous Contrarian Posts: 113 Karma: 506950 Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Swatara, PA US Device: MapleRead, iPad Pro 12.9" 2018, iPhone 12 Pro, Kobo Forma 32gb	I am not having this issue on Mojave currently. It may be that your Kindle is too old for the new APFS file system. In fact, that is what I think is happening. The only thing I can tell you is to download Calibre and see if that helps you get things onto your Kindle.

01-02-2019, 09:48 AM	#3
astrodad Guru Posts: 962 Karma: 568242 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kindle Paperwhite 1, iPad, iPhone	Thanks for the reply. Calibre still needs to be able to write to the Kindle and it does that by writing through the OS. So if the OS sees it as read-only, it also will fail to write in Calibre. I was able to get it to read on an old iMac running High Sierra, but then it also worked from an old Mac mini using Mojave, so I'm at a loss.

01-02-2019, 10:27 AM	#4
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	A read-only mount on a *nix operating system generally indicates a corrupt file system - ie the Mac has detected something wrong with the Kindle's FS. I'd guess that one of the things you did has fixed the corruption. Have you tried again to re-mount it on the machine that originally gave the error?

01-02-2019, 01:52 PM	#6
NiLuJe BLAM! Posts: 13,477 Karma: 26012494 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Paris, France Device: Kindle 2i, 3g, 4, 5w, PW, PW2, PW5; Kobo H2O, Forma, Elipsa, Sage, C2E	A factory reset will indeed reformat the userstore partition, which is what gets exported over USBMS, and what appears to have been wonky on your device And it's handled in a manner tricky enough, that, yes, you should trust the Kindle to do it, and never fsck it manually, as the only thing that's likely to do is b0rk it. (And don't even try formatting it yourself, as that will definitely not work).

01-02-2019, 02:30 PM	#7
astrodad Guru Posts: 962 Karma: 568242 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kindle Paperwhite 1, iPad, iPhone	Update: Problem identified My company in their infinite wisdom rolled out a new security policy that affects all PCs and Macs preventing writing to external USB drives. Apparently we are all supposed to use the cloud now. It's ridiculous, but now I understand why this is failing. Thanks to those that responded.