Raspberry Pi fileserver permissions

Question

I am using owncloud on the Raspberry Pi for file sharing and I use a HDD to save the files. I use my HDD for more then just the Raspberry and I had to change the permission of the HDD, so now when I open a file, I get every file in READ ONLY. I don't want this. Is there a solution for this? If not, I am thinking about just making my own php script which uploads to a map(in my HDD).

So:

1. Can I make my files not just read only when I want to use my HDD normally and at the same time just use it for owncloud? (You need to set permissions to read only for owncloud to work)
2. Can I just make my own php script which uploads it to my hdd which doesn't need read only?

Answer 1

You shouldn't need to set the entirty of the HDD as read only for owncloud to work (I didn't).

My main suggestions would be to

1. Put owncloud in a subfolder at the root of the drive and set its permissions accordingly. Owncloud doesn't care about the rest of the drive.
2. Partition the HDD and use a dedicated partition for Owncloud.

Both have their tradeoffs, so you'll have to see which you prefer.