Ubuntu – How to read and write HFS+ journaled external HDD in Ubuntu without access to OS X

hfs+mount

I have a HFS+ journaled external hard-drive and need to be able to write to it on Ubuntu. I don't have access to my Mac, it's thousands of miles away and I won't have access to it for three months.

Can anything be done without losing the data on the HDD?

Best Answer

  • See How to mount a HFS partition in Ubuntu as Read/Write? - Super User

    To quote from the second/third answer down:

    First, make sure that you have hfsprogs installed. Example installation command:

    sudo apt-get install hfsprogs

    Next, mount or remount the HFS+ drive; commands need to be as follows:

    sudo mount -t hfsplus -o force,rw /dev/sdXY /media/mntpoint

    or

    sudo mount -t hfsplus -o remount,force,rw /mount/point

    ...

    Finally, if the drive was improperly unmounted or has otherwise become partially corrupted run fsck.hfsplus ... as such:

    sudo fsck.hfsplus -f /dev/sdXY

    There is a goldmine of other information there regarding the mounting of HFS+ filesystems.

    • Related Question