Copying to External Drive

Hi
I've searched and cannot find my problem elsewhere.
When I try to copy a large folder of photo's to an external drive, it copies a couple of subfolders, then comes up with an error message saying it cannot continue, a folder with name XXXXX already exists. I'm not sure what is causing this, as it only exists because it has just created it. The folder is approximately 4.5gb, with maybe a thousand sub folders. They are photo's on the whole.
Any help gratefully received.
Cheer
Cerdo

Exactly how is your external driver partitioned and formatted? If it's partitioned and formatted for a PC then you may get such an error. I suggest you prep the drive properly for use on a Mac:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

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Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, or by a peripheral device.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
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The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin. Test while in safe mode. Same problem? After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

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Hello,
Just a quick one...
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You can hide the Applications folder, but it isn't a total solution. Open Terminal and type:
cd /
sudo chflags hidden /Applications

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Hello!
I have repeatedly had the same problem with my computer and external drives. I have 2 hard drives (150 gig Western Digital in an external USB 2.0 enclosure, and a 160 gig Maxtor in an external Firewire and USB 2.0 enclosure) from which I often cannot copy. I've never had problems writing to the drives, but sometimes copying from them freezes.
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I'm really frustrated because I've found a situation where my XP box performs better than my Mac, and I'm a little shaken up about it.
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Yes, it's from a camera.
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This question has not been answered. Please help!

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del Name: MacBook Air M
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[email protected]

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on some Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
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AFAIK, there isn't. BTW, why is the TM disk case-sensitive? For TM things, peruse Pondini's TM FAQs.

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Unfortunately, as you now know, that was not the best way to try and move the files. So sounds like we might be able to fix it. Exit iTunes.
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Patrick

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Well that's the thing. I can't put my external drive into target mode and my fresh ly installed system on my machine does not see the external drive as a "bootable system" when I run the upgrade assistant (which starts after a fresh install). I have been able to clone the backup back to the internal drive but I always worry that is a system file gets corrupted and then cloned to my external drive, when I clone it back, I end up with another problem.
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Windows 7 64-bit Corrupting (Altering) Large Files Copied to External NTFS Drives

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproperf/thread/13a7426e-1a5d-41b0-9e16-19437697f62b/
continue to this thread, I have the same problems, the corrupted files only archives, zip or 7z ... and exe, there are no problems copying larg files like movies for example, no problem when copying via linux in the same laptop, it is a windows issue, I
have all updates installed, nothing missing

Ok, lets be brief.
This problem is annoying me for years. It is totally reproducible although random. It happens when copying to external drives (mainly USB) when they are configured for "safe removal". I have had issues copying to NTFS and FAT32 partitions. I have had issues
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drives optimization for "safe removal". Installing Teracopy reduces the chances of data corrpution, but does not eliminate them completely. The only real workaround (tested for 2 years) is activating the write cache in the device manager properties of the
drive. In that way, windows uses the same transfer mechanisms as for the internal drives, and everything is OK.
MICROSOFT guys, there is a BIG BUG in windows 7 x64 external drives data transfer mechanism. There is a bug in the cache handling mechanism of the safe removal function. Nobody hears, I've been years talking about this in forums. It is a very dangerous bug
because it is silent, and many non professional people is experiencing random errors in their backup data. PLEASE, INVESTIGATE THIS. YOU NEED TO FIX SUCH IMPORTANT BUG. IT IS UNBELIEVABLE THAT IT IS STILL THERE SINCE 2009!!!
Hope this helps.

Transferring music to new mac air using external drive: next steps after copying iTunes file to music folder?

I've followed instructions to consolidate, copy to external drive, then copy iTunes folder to Music folder on new mac air. so...
1. what do I do with original iTunes folder?
2. how do I get iTunes to read/ingest playlist and songs?

Exactly what steps did you follow?
1. what do I do with original iTunes folder?
It's on your old computer.
What do you want to do with it?
2. how do I get iTunes to read/ingest playlist and songs?
If you copied the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from old computer to /Music/ on new computer then you simply need to open iTunes.
Since it is the exact same library, everything will be there as it was on old computer.

I am having trouble keeping the quality of my video when exporting to my external drive. I change the kind to "original" but when I view the video from the external drive once exported, the sound and picture are distorted.

I am having trouble keeping the quality of my video when exporting to my external hard drive. I have tried to export from iphoto with changing kind to "original" but when I open the video from the external drive the quality is effected. I have also tried copying the video to my desktop and then dragging and dropping onto the drive...same problem. Any suggestions? I would like to save everything to my external drive so that I can delete all of iphoto library and then reimport to correct a few things.

The file sizes are identical. In the finder I did a search for all .mov files. Then when they came up, I went through them and named each one so that they would be easier to find. I am a new mac user and am used to windows. I realized later that I should not have done this....with a mac files should be named within iphoto app...not finder....When I went to open the videos in iphoto, it wouldn't allow me. I had to go into finder, copy to desktop and reimport into iphoto. Then the videos worked again. However, I had the problem with the poor video quality when copied to external drive before that. Actually the first problem I had was when I copied to ext drive...videos were copying as an image...so I learned that you have to change "kind" to original before exporting....then that problem was solved...now they are videos, not images but not of a great quality. Skips, sound and images are not in sync...etc...

How to Recover Playlists when Transferring iTunes Library from External Drive to New Computer

iTunes library copied to external drive and then loaded to new computer. All songs are there but all of the playlists that I had set up do not appear. I cannot figure out how to retrieve/recover them. The back-up was not done by me so I'm not sure of the steps that were followed. Is there something special that needs to be done when backing up to external drive in terms of saving playlists? Help!

Hello TNCGRCT,
It sounds like the library was successfully transferred to the new computer, but the songs were imported into a new iTunes library. If you still have access to the external drive, or better yet the previous computer, we will want to transfer the iTunesLibrary.itl file and open it with iTunes:
iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
More helpful information...
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1391
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Thanks,
Matt M.

1 itunes library and 2 external drives?

My goal is to be able to copy an external drive (64,000 songs) to another external that I can leave at home.. I want to be able to plug in both places without having to carry the external with me..
Is is possible to have one library and 2 externals with identical music folders? Any help would be appreciated.

I only add music to the external I have at work... So all the music goes into that drive.. The only problem is that eventually I will have to recopy all the music to my home drive.... I don't think there is any way to sync the 2 drives..

Copying to External Drive

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