Why do permissions differ for the HD and the home folder? I noticed this a while ago, but I have no idea what it means, or if it even means anything.. it's pretty weird though...

When you do Cmd-I (Get Information) on the hard drive and look at the permissions at bottom, they are:


system: R&amp;W
admin: R&amp;W
everyone: Read only


On my home folder they are:


admin (Me): R&amp;W
staff: Read only
everyone: Read only


Why are these different, and should they not be?

I've repaired permissions and repaired disk and whatever in DiskUtility, but it's still the same. I've also noticed that on other folders the name is "derby" instead of "staff".
I believe this is normal behavior. Read access is granted to a wider group than the admin for many files. The more important thing is where write permission are given.

See this official document for more information:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2963