Apple Computers : No More Hard Drive Access

Only the OS is sealed on a write only partition of the hard drive and it has been that way for a very long time. That is why you do not see viruses that can be embedded in the OS and why Windows has now also adopted this model to keep the system safe. You are not restricted to the Documents Folder and can add any other folder on the Hard Drive as you wish.

You also seem misinformed on iTunes as I still rip CD's and play them in Apple Music. There is no subscription needed. In fact Apple provides a Support Article that tells you exactly how to do it and there is no DRM protections involved at all:

Import songs from CDs into Music on Mac - Apple Support

Not sure how you came to those conclusions, but they are wrong.

if a Windows PC serves your needs best, by all means use the PC, and sell the Mac.

In addition to the reply above, most vendors have been shipping Universal apps that run on both Intel and Apple silicon Macs, and Apple has provided Rosetta II that works fine for many alls that haven’t been rebuilt for Apple silicon.

The signed security volume arrived with macOS 10.15, and related malware protections have also been incrementally implemented.

But again, if a PC works better for your needs, by all means use that.

MrHoffman wrote:

if a Windows PC serves your needs best, by all means use the PC, and sell the Mac.

Agreed!

No need to make up false excuses for using a PC, some people simply prefer it and that is fine. Seems like the OP was trying to rationalize their decision somehow and the reasoning just fell flat.

CurtisHawks wrote:

Ever since I bought this particular MacBook Pro back in 2023 I've been asking this question, and I've spoken with Apple Tech Support numerous times. The reply has always been - no Hard Disk access is the normal, use the Documents folder. So unfortunately for me and my machine the dye is cast.

The advent of System Integrity Protection (SIP) means users will have no access outside of /Users, and specific other paths. This means allowing access to two of the Applications paths, but not to the third, for instance.

• About System Integrity Protection on your Mac - Apple Support
• File System Basics (see the macOS system intro for paths)
• https://help.apple.com/pdf/security/en_US/apple-platform-security-guide.pdf (general info on SSV and SIP, etc)

These access prohibitions are an intentional and deliberate choice to keep updates easier, to allow detection of attempts to modify macOS itself, to allow better integrity including easier rollbacks when an update fails, and to keep malware somewhat more constrained.

Last I checked, Windows PCs didn’t have Windows itself located on a cryptographically-signed separate storage volume. Not past the now-discontinued SteadyState, or Kiosk mode, or setting up Unified Write, or an app such as Deep Freeze or a rollback to a checkpointed guest state. macOS SIP just write-locks macOS itself, even while running, always.

In a manner of consideration, macOS now operates in some ways similar to the ROMs in the Apple II from a few years ago. You could write to RAM, but the contents of ROM are not modifiable. With the expected mix of RAM and ROM, you can’t write everywhere you might want. (Yeah, you could bank switch ROMs for add-on third-party RAM on Apple II and then write where you want, not all analogies hold perfectly.) Downside of using ROMs was needing to physically ship and manually swap ROMs, if something needed to change. The macOS SIP scheme means macOS can be updated without the equivalent of shipping and installing new ROMs, but also largely remains protected against accidental and malicious writes.

Thanks for the link regarding Apple Music and iTunes. I'll give it a try. My issue is that only Apple purchased music is playable on your iPhone. The computer, no problem.

I have purchased music, subscribed music, and music I’ve ripped from my CDs loaded, and it works. Works fine, though not entirely without glitches, as an album I’ve previously downloaded and then more recently purchased from Apple is showing double tracks, and I haven’t bothered to sort that out.

Exactly how purchased, subscribed, and ripped music works (and it does work) depends on where your library is located (iCloud, or local to Mac or PC), and on whether Apple Music (Apple Music the service, not Apple Music the app), or iTunes Match service, or cable sync, is in use.

And also on whether you previously had stuff on the iPhone or iPad that wasn’t loaded into the device from your current music library, and want to keep that.

P.s. First computer Tandy 1000HL, second Mac Plus. I've been in the Apple ecosystem for quite some time. :-)

With some of the helpers around here, that makes you somewhat of a newbie. 😉

None of this makes sense to me. I've got a 2023 MBP running 15.1.1. In my home directory I've got loads of folders, including Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, ...etc., and I'm free to create and delete folders as I want. I've got smart folders to track certain types of files. I can see the top level disc in finder (Macintosh HD) and all the folders in it (except other users) and, if I want, I can delete stuff in there (I rarely do). There's also iCloud. So I'm puzzled that you only have access to the Documents folder. Are you sure? Is your Mac managed by someone else who has restricted your use.

Has someone removed all the folders from Finder's sidebar? If they have it just means you can't see them, not that they have been removed. A screenshot of an open Finder window would be helpful.

Is your user account an admin account? If not, that might (although unlikely) explain why you can't see the HD in finder.

Be careful with Apple Music and the Music app that comes as standard. They are different. I only use the latter cos all my music is ripped from my own CDs and Vinyl. I don't download or stream, which is what Apple Music is designed to do.

I've got about a dozen paid-for apps, some going back 10+ years and I haven't had to buy a single new app to run on Apple silicon because, as others have pointed out, Apple provide Rosetta to interface between Intel and Apple silicon apps.

CurtisHawks wrote:

Thanks for the link regarding Apple Music and iTunes. I'll give it a try. My issue is that only Apple purchased music is playable on your iPhone. The computer, no problem.

Not so. If you have from music from other sources (e.g., your own CDs, some other online music store that sells non-DRMed MP3s or AACs), you can manually synchronize that from a master library on a Mac or PC onto your iPhone.

Mojave or earlier: Use iTunes to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with your computer - Apple Support

Catalina or later: Use the Finder to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with your Mac - Apple Support

Windows: Sync your Windows device and iPhone, iPad, or iPod - Apple Support

You do not have to subscribe to iTunes Match or to Apple Music to load music onto your device in this way.

Apple also offers cloud-based synchronization through the iTunes Match subscription service, or the Sync Library feature of the Apple Music subscription service. One of the "features" of iTunes Match was replacing the versions of songs in people's iTunes Libraries with 256 Kbps versions from Apple's libraries (I believe the assumption being that the 256 Kbps versions were likely to have been made with a higher bitrate or a better encoder). In early days, there were reports of iTunes Match mistakenly "matching" songs against alternate versions in Apple's database – and overwriting the ones that people had imported from CDs in the process. With Apple Music / Sync Library, the synced copies may have DRM, although supposedly the copies on the original device will not be overwritten.

I subscribe to Apple Music, but I keep Sync Library turned OFF, because I do not want to take any chance that the feature might mess up my library of purchased music in some way. (Unfortunately, if you keep the feature turned off, you can't download offline listening copies of Apple Music songs.)

Zurarczurx wrote:

Be careful with Apple Music and the Music app that comes as standard. They are different. I only use the latter cos all my music is ripped from my own CDs and Vinyl. I don't download or stream, which is what Apple Music is designed to do.

On modern Macs,

• Music is a music player, and also provides access to the iTunes Store and the Apple Music streaming service. It lets you import music from audio CDs, and burn audio CDs (from non-DRMed tracks).
• Finder handles manual synchronization with, and management of, iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

On iPhones,

• Music is a music player, and also provides access to the Apple Music streaming service.
• iTunes Store provides access to the iTunes Store.

CurtisHawks wrote:

Preface:

Bought an Apple MacBook Pro in 2023 and discovered that MacOS doesn't act like the Mac OS of yester' year. Was so excited to get back to the hotel and load it up with all my software and files. And then...

Never attempt to do anything major at a hotel. Hotel WiFi's are just awful. Wait until you get home for that.

You are restricted now to a Documents Folder, which servers as your pseudo "Hard Drive". Anything outside of that and you are "Safed-Off" by Apple. My own hard drive, on my newly bought computer - true.

False.

]Solution:

There is none. That's the new OS. So, I tossed the new Mac laptop to the closet, got a PC and re-bought all those software applications that used to be on my Mac for decades.

Maybe you should've asked first. Could've saved you a bundle there.

P.s. Don't get me started on iTunes. A lot of music gone. Now it's the Apple Music App and DRM content is the only content only allowed.

Also false.

CurtisHawks wrote:

the HARD DISK

No Apple notebook released in 2013 or later has a mechanical hard disk. Since 2013, it's all been flash storage / solid-state drives (SSDs).