Copy files to iPod: Some data could not be read or written (-36)

I am trying to copy some of my Mac files to a folder on my iPod.
It seems to work fine for smaller files, but not for larger ones such as applications.
I get the -36 error message.
Anyone know what's wrong?
=================
UPDATE: Copying from CD-ROM via bad DVD-ROM drive.
Tried different drive, all okay now.
Sorry.

Well, Apple Care solved my issue. I'm posting for anyone else that may encounter this problem... perhaps this'll help you because I didn't find any answers in the Discussions...
They had me unplug everything from my computer. EVERYTHING, including power cord. They had me wait at least 2 minutes. We then zapped the PRAM by holding down the Opt + Cmd + P + R keys until after the third gong.
Then they told me to plug back in just the keyboard, mouse and monitor and start up. Once up they had me run Disk Utilities and repair the disk permissions for the hard drive.
All fixed.
I had repaired the disk permissions multiple times, but the key step apparently was the unplugging everything and waiting... apparently that resets some part of the computer when you do that.
Best of luck,
Rolyn

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Error Code -36 Some data could not be read or written.

When trying to copy some files from external firewire drives I am getting errors that say "The Finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "LatestCollection.mov" could not be read or written (Error code -36).
I have some Lacie 250G Extreme drives that are not having a problem, but I've now tried THREE different Lacie Pocket Drives and they all come up with this error when I've tried copying files that are of all different kinds, for Quicktime files to Quark files to a disk image.... I've tried hooking up to different firewire ports, I've tried three different firewire cords, same problem. BUT, I am able to copy some files without a problem... Just various random files won't copy because of this error. ALSO, I've used these drives on other computers and been able to copy the exact same files off without any problem.
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Well, Apple Care solved my issue. I'm posting for anyone else that may encounter this problem... perhaps this'll help you because I didn't find any answers in the Discussions...
They had me unplug everything from my computer. EVERYTHING, including power cord. They had me wait at least 2 minutes. We then zapped the PRAM by holding down the Opt + Cmd + P + R keys until after the third gong.
Then they told me to plug back in just the keyboard, mouse and monitor and start up. Once up they had me run Disk Utilities and repair the disk permissions for the hard drive.
All fixed.
I had repaired the disk permissions multiple times, but the key step apparently was the unplugging everything and waiting... apparently that resets some part of the computer when you do that.
Best of luck,
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Moving library to external hard drive and get the error "Copying files failed. The disk could not be read from or written to"

Hello,
I'm moving my library to an external hard drive.
I've made sure to use the 'Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized' option when pointing to the new library location.
I select 'File'->'Library'->'Organize Library', I select to 'Consolidate Files', click 'OK' and get ther error message "Copying files failed. The disk could not be read from or written to".
I've read elsewhere that there may be a corrupted file that I need to sequester somehow and perhaps add it back however I'm not certain how I can locate that file because the status window doesn't indicate which file it's attempting to transfer when the error appears.
Any tips?
Thank you,
Greg H
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OK I figured it out!
It was a dodgy file....I sorted the file folders by date, and as it turned out within the "compilations" folder there was a CD where only about half the tracks seemed to have been copied over. Could not have identified this simply from the time indicated on the finder folder sort, because there were several CDs copied over in the that same minute.
I went back to the original itunes folder, deleted all the files from that CD in itunes, then also deleted all those files from the original disk and the target disk.
Tried the "consolidate library" again, and it completed nicely. 200megs of music and videos.
Very happy to solve this problem after 3 weeks.

HT1449 Help! This all runs quite smoothly until i get to 'consolidate library'. Then, tracks start copying, then stop followed by a pop up saying 'Copying files failed. The disc could not be read from or written to.' Any suggestions? Thank you!

Help! This all runs quite smoothly until I get to 'consolidate library'. Then, tracks start copying, then stop followed by a pop up saying 'Copying files failed. The disc could not be read from or written to.' Any suggestions? Thank you!

I had similar problems, it was a nightmare and on a 3 month ipod too!. I use a Powerbook G4 at home and a G5 at work - both were returning the same problems. so I sent it off to apple, they quickly sent it back saying there was nothing wrong with and it didn't need to be repaired. I tried it again and the same problems occurred "disc cannot be written to or read from." I could copy 20 songs onto it at the very most. A couple of guys at my work suggested updating it on a PC, then adding tunes via my mac as normal - guess what!? it works a treat!?. How ridiculous is that!? an Apple product works best on a PC. these generations of ipods are obviously designed to work best on Intel based Macs. What is wrong Apple? are you abandoning the G-generation!? still, atleast my ipod works for now - it will prove a problem when I have to update the iPod's software since I don't own a PC or an intel-based Mac.

Mac mini cannot open cd because data could not be read or written -

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Try:
Apple Computers: Troubleshooting the slot-loading SuperDrive
Does it work with DVDs?
When is the last time it worked with CDs?
Have you tried cleaning/blowing out the drive?

Itunes says copying the disk "my iphone" failed. could not be read or written to, help!

Hi, so i have never had issues with my iphone before (3gs), i have up to date software, both on phone and itunes, and all of the sudden my phone will not update my music and itunes says copying the disk "jess sweeney" iphone failed. could not be read or written. I am not sure what to do, if anyone has any insight i would truly appreciate.

Read through this support article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1207

Solved "Attempting to copy to disk "ipod" failed. Could not be read from or

Finally found a solution that worked for me when getting this error message on an 2nd Gen. iPod Nano.
There is a lot of discussion on this topic with no real answers coming back other than to read this article/topic. So, I wanted to share a solution that worked on mine.
The background: Computer running Windows XP Pro. Up-to-date iTunes and iPod software. I downloaded several CDs into iTunes and synced with no problem. I made a few purchases from iTunes Store and would get to one song that when I tried to sync, the following error message appeared; "Attempting to copy to the disk "ipod" failed. The disk could not be read from or written to." When I deleted the song, then I could sync without receiving the error message, but the purchased song would not be included. I restored my iPod, my iTunes was up-to-date, ran chk dsk, emailed support, searched the forums, followed instructions, re-downloaded the problem song from iTunes Store, BUT as long as that problem song was included, I could not sync without getting the error message.
The solution (this worked in my situation): After doing all of the above and not getting rid of this problem, I set the iPod to manually manage my music and synced the iPod (without the problem song, which was already deleted from iTunes). When I deleted the song from the iTunes library, I would always click the button to keep the song in the files instead of sending it to trash. I then went into the iTunes music folder where my songs were kept and opened the file for the problem song. I dragged the song back into my purchases folder in iTunes. From the purchases folder, I dragged the song over to my iPod in iTunes. Then synced. The problem song synced without any problems and the error message did not appear. Thinking that something was still not right, I went back and clicked on the button to NOT manually manage my music and then re-synced. Same good result. No error message. The problem song sings along just fine now with no more error message.
I haven't tried to download another song just yet, so this may not hold, but at least this worked and resolved this problem song. There may be some other factors through all of the work that I did above in trying to resolve this problem that contributed, but it wasn't until I set the iPod to manually manage the music and brought back in the problem song that the error message disappeared. Hopefully this might help. It worked for me so I'm happy now.
Windows XP Pro

I see you've stumbled upon the catch-all article for this incredibly generic error message. Note the phrasing of it: "DISK cannot be READ FROM or written to." Notice that the error doesn't specifically state that it's the iPod disk that cannot be read or written. I used to get this error all the time when I had my library stored on a remote server. The issue being that my machine couldn't access my songs fast enough to copy them to the iPod w/o timing out, and so the disk, in this case my file server, could not be read from. Since you mentioned previously that you're having some anomalies with your library, I would say concentrate on correcting that, rather than worrying that your iPod is kaput.
regards,
-c.

"the finder cannot complete the operation because some data in [name of iMovie file] could not be read or written (Error Code 26)

Hi all,
I have an iMovie project in iMovie HD 6.0.3. (Mac OS 10.5.8)
It plays, but I cannot copy the file (including saving it to a flash drive). I get either a message
"the finder cannot complete the operation because some data in [name of
iMovie file] could not be read or written (Error Code 26)" or the
message "A project file is missing. The file [name of the QuickTime
movie inside the project.dv] couldn't be opened and is being skipped."
This happened suddenly, I was able to save a backup version numerous
times while working on the project.
I followed some of Karl Petersen's advise on apple discussions. I opened
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(original QuickTime movie) is there and can be opened and played. I
replaced the current project file with the backup in the package
contents, but that did not change anything. I was able to export the
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A -36 error is a read/write error.
All you did with the power is reset the SMC. Does nothing to reset everything to factory settings.
Do you have your original 10.4 installer discs for the MacBook?
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I have a 20gb iPod that needs music from ITunes. On my new computer I am trying to sync but I get error message "could not copy to iPod because file could not be read or written. Attempting to copy to the disk failed. The disk could not be read from or written to." I have tried several times and have reset to factory settings.

Is the new PC running XP as well, Chalotte?
If so, I might start with the following document (your error message is a possible symptom of the issue too):
iTunes displays -50 error message when syncing iPod on Windows XP

Some data in ... could not be read or written. (Error code -36).

Hello.
I just got a Lacie 512mb disk, and thought it would be ideal for running my iTunes library off of. Got the disk, ran it through its paces, hooked it up to my Mac mini, and I can't seem to copy hardly any files over. Here's one error (but you can replace "iTunes Library" with any song and it's the same thing)...
'The Finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "iTunes Library" could not be read or written. (Error code -36).'
So, I think there's disk or file damage, etc. I boot off an external and run Disk Utility, DiskWarrior and TechToolPro against it - everything checks out fine.
But I can't copy files from the mini's internal to my external Repair Boot disk or the Lacie 512. Always that same -36.
So, at first I think it's the mini, then I think it's the Lacie, because it's new, so I reformat it: same issue. And that coupled with it won't copy to my Repair Boot, makes me think the mini again.
But, I've got a g1 iPod mini hooked up (formatted in hfsj+), and I can copy this file to the iPod mini, but no where else. I not sure what this makes me think.
And, I can duplicate the file on the Mac mini. In fact, if it's a song file that won't copy (none of them will), I can play it just fine.
Thanks.
Mac mini Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I experienced a problem in a familiar way.
After a recording session I tried to copy the complete folder with session and sound files to another disk (original and target disk both LaCie d2 250 FW800).
Somehow the proces stopped prompting an -36 error over some files.
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Any-one a solution?
Almost seems like some kind of copy protection, like implied earlier in this thread. I hope it's not. These are the originals...

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"file could not be read or written" files grey.

Trying to re-sync iPhone to mac, iTunes is up to date and so is iPhone but 80% of the songs on iPhone are grey and are unplayable.
When trying to sync, anywhere from the 1st song up to the 14th (there are lots more songs but it doesn't ever load past 14) iTunes freezes for about 5 minutes and the message "iTunes could not copy "song" to the iPhone because the file could not be read or written" appears.
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Copy files to iPod: Some data could not be read or written (-36)

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