(Error code -36) Can't delete files from external hard drive

So as I was copying files to my hard drive (Seagate Backup Plus Drive) my Macbook Pro went flat, and so the files obviously didn't get to finish copying. Now they're greyed out in my folder and when I try to move the files to the trash it comes up with this message:
"The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “-----” can’t be read or written.
(Error code -36)"
Does anyone know how I can fix this? I've tried a couple of different things and nothing has worked, and I don't wanna stuff around too much in case I lose everything.

Presumably you are using the Seagate as an external HD.
"my Macbook Pro went flat" means the MBP shut down or powered off suddenly for some reason?
If your Seagate was not properly ejected that would cause problems. You should run Disk Utility and Verify and Repair the Seagate, if needed. Then you should be able to deal with the uncompleted files.

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Can't delete file from external hard drive

Hi,
There is a permition problem with my external hard drive (no time mashine on it!) - can't delete certain files.
I copied my documents on my external hard drive from previous computer with windows and later with linux system on it and there had been changed icons at certain folders previously. I mention this, becouse what linux did was that it locked the changed icon files and I couldn't delete them until I unlocked them manually. But at least it showed me that i don't have permition and i could change it. Well, now I mounted the disk on my new macbook and wanted to delete some files and it seems that there is the same problem with permition, at least it seems to happen with the same files. When I want to delete them, the system asks me for admin password, I give it allright, it makes the sound as if the folder was moved to trash but that's all. the folder is still there even after dismounting and restarting. I already checked the permitions and it says in the info that i can read and write with the file so it looks as if my rights were ok...
Please help, I desperatly need more space for new backup and can't get rid of the files I don't need any more...
Thank you for any sort of simple-ish advice
Message was edited by: brevon

Thanx for such qucik reply!!! The pages were great, it had an answer for my problem, but unfortunately it also involved me dealing with it only on the MacIntosh HD itself, not on mounted external drive I suppose... So it didn't work they say that there is an icon in the left corner indicating locked folder - I don't see any icon on it. It says you can untick the box to unlock the folder - there is no tick to be unticked. Finally, they say that if I don't have permition or rights I cannot delete it. But how do i change permittion which already says that i can read and write in it? So everything appears to be normal only I cannot delete it. there is not even any warnig telling me I don't have enough rights, it just requires the password and after me typing it in it makes the sound of scraping paper but does nothing more. I aslo had some problems with emptying Trash after being seemingly succesful with one file and had got so far to have them appear in the Trash (no clue how this one actully got there though..) I followd the advice and emptied the Trash with Terminal. The Folder is still there but it shows 0 Kb... So far so good BUT: It is still on the external drive, so I obviously only managed to copy it into the Trash!!! Phew, innit a bit too tight to poor owners, this macbook?? I want my rights back!

Can't delete files from external hard drive

So here's an interesting problem that I've never run across. I have a Western Digital hard drive plugged in and I was deleting some files off it today when suddenly it started saying that there were some files in use and it couldn't delete those. I hit "Continue" which usually does the trick but it just deleted everything else and left a bunch of folders with these weird empty files in them. So I quit all programs and tried again. Same thing, "Cannot delete, file in use." Tried rebooting both my computer and the external, again "Files in use." Did a google search, followed numerous suggestions, terminal sudo rm -r +file name, a force delete app, secure delete, holding down the option button while deleting... No dice. When I try the sudo rm thing in terminal it tells me that the folder doesn't exist AND that it isn't empty and won't delete it. (I love computers) When I do a right click->Get info on it, it says that I have read-write permissions but that the files are locked but won't let me unlock them (I'm the system administrator). When I look at the files in finder, it says they're actually aliases. What's really weird is that the file names are all messed up and have asian characters and stuff in them. I didn't create these aliases or have files with those characters in them. Soooo... Any suggestions? Cause I've read the threads and tried just about everything. I'm concerned this drive is headed for a crash or maybe just needs to be wiped and then put my stuff back on cause it's gotten errors over time. I don't know, I've never had this happen before and I'm pretty good with computers. If it was a windows computer I'd be doing a scan disk and defrag on it but I don't know how to do that on a mac to an external hard drive. I honestly don't know if this is a hardware or software problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Oh... well this is interesting... disk utility is say that it IS formatted MS-DOS (FAT32). Is that what's causing these errors? This thing has been running with my mac beautifully for years. So do I pull my stuff off, wipe it and reformat it for a mac? Or since it is FAT 32 can I hook it up to a windows computer and fix the problem? Since I had the wrong format, I can delete the files but if I don't fix the format this will keep happening?
Volume repair reported:
Verify and Repair volume “750GBEXT”
** /dev/disk1s1
** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT
** Phase 2 - Checking Directories
/.../SpryAssets/_NOTES has entries after end of directory
Truncate? yes
/..../My Work has entries after end of directory
Truncate? yes
** Phase 3 - Checking for Orphan Clusters
95906 files, 181003968 KiB free (5656374 clusters)
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
And thanks!

Can't delete file from eternal hard drive

I am trying to erase files on my external hard drive (I replaced it with a Time
Capsule which is working fine) and am having difficulty erasing one file. All of the other files deleted just fine. When I went to delete the offending file, a new file called "Icon“ appeared which is defined as a unix executable file with zero kB, and the terminal screen automatically opens. Is there any way to delete this file using a terminal command. I have not used terminal before. Any help would be appreciated.

If you don't want any of the files on that disk, I suggest that you run Disk Utility and erase the volume.
I wonder if Time Machine still thinks that it is a useable backup volume and is doing that. I bet the volume still has a Time Machine icon on the desktop instead of a generic disk.

Troubles deleting files from external hard drive!!

I had my external hard drive plugged into my Macbook but i cannot delete any folder or file in it! There is not 'Move to Trash' option from the drop-down menu! Does this have anything to do with 'Folder Action' thing? please help! sorry i jst switched to Mac from Window recently so still trying to find my way through! Thanks

Hi,
Mac OSX can read and write/delete files and folders on harddisks that use the FAT32 file system.
Mac OSX can only read and not write/delete files and folders on harddisks that use the NTFS file system.
Use Disk Utility to check what file system your HD uses.
To enable write access from OSX to NTFS drives, you can either use NTFS-3G http://www.ntfs-3g.org/ or buy Paragons NTFS for OSX http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
Regards
Stefan

Cannot delete file from external hard drive (error code 36) in Finder, but Terminal is ok

I have a relatively new Macbook Pro Retina 15" and have a Western Digital 1 TB Passport. I've been using the passport for about a year now without any problems on older Macbooks in my house. I used to be able to read and write to this drive no problem. I am using the Paragon NTFS for Mac software in order to read and write to the NTFS drive. When I navigate through the drive in Finder, if I try to create a new folder, I do not have a problem. If I try to delete that folder I just created, I get this error:
The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “untitled folder” can’t be read or written.
(Error code -36)
The folder has nothing in it whatsoever. I just created it. But if I go to Terminal and I run
rm -rf "untitled folder"
This works fine. Why is Terminal acting different than Finder? This does not happen on my other Macbooks. Thanks in advance.

Thanx for such qucik reply!!! The pages were great, it had an answer for my problem, but unfortunately it also involved me dealing with it only on the MacIntosh HD itself, not on mounted external drive I suppose... So it didn't work they say that there is an icon in the left corner indicating locked folder - I don't see any icon on it. It says you can untick the box to unlock the folder - there is no tick to be unticked. Finally, they say that if I don't have permition or rights I cannot delete it. But how do i change permittion which already says that i can read and write in it? So everything appears to be normal only I cannot delete it. there is not even any warnig telling me I don't have enough rights, it just requires the password and after me typing it in it makes the sound of scraping paper but does nothing more. I aslo had some problems with emptying Trash after being seemingly succesful with one file and had got so far to have them appear in the Trash (no clue how this one actully got there though..) I followd the advice and emptied the Trash with Terminal. The Folder is still there but it shows 0 Kb... So far so good BUT: It is still on the external drive, so I obviously only managed to copy it into the Trash!!! Phew, innit a bit too tight to poor owners, this macbook?? I want my rights back!

I have deleted my private folder and do not have enough space to reinstall my operating system. How can i transfer files from my hard drive to an USB drive to free up space when the operating system isn't working. or do i need to erase disk?

i have deleted my private folder and do not have enough space to reinstall my operating system. How can i transfer files from my hard drive to an USB drive to free up space when the operating system isn't working. or do i need to erase disk through disk utilities without erasing data (but will it delete my programs such as photoshop, office, creative suite?

Connect the computer to another Mac and put it in FireWire Target Disk mode, or use the Disk Utility to clone the drive or image specific folders with the USB drive as the target. After you've copied off everything you want, you'll likely need to erase the drive and reinstall the applications.
(69695)

ITunes Doesn't Delete Movies From External Hard Drive

I have all of my iTunes media on an external hard drive. However, when I just tried to delete a movie (from within iTunes), it removed the movie from iTunes, but the actual mpeg file is still on my external hard drive. Is there something I'm doing wrong, or am I going to have to manually delete content from external hard drive? Thanks.

When you delete an item from your iTunes library, iTunes will give you the option to delete the file too, but *only for items that are located in your iTunes Media folder.* So, assuming your iTunes Media folder is on your local drive, what you are seeing is the correct behavior.
The best procedure in this case is to right-click the track in iTunes, choose Show in Finder, and delete the file within Finder. Then go back to iTunes and delete the track from the library.

I able to copy and paste files from external hard drive to mac, but not the other way around. Please suggest. Thanks

I m able to copy and paste selected files from external hard drive to my mac but not the other way around. Im not able to copy files from Mac to external hard drive.
The same is working fine with USB flash memory.
Please help.

Vijay Raymond Daniel wrote:
The only thing is we need to buy this software. if there is a free solution to inter change files between NTFS and HFS it would be better,
Don't use NTFS, remove your data off it first and change the format to something the Mac and PC can read, but doens't cost money or require software.
Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's

Can't permanently delete song file from external hard drive

Hi Guys,
I want to be able to delete actual song files from my external hard drive as well as from my iTunes library in one easy, lazy step, via the iTunes window. I am not interested in finding and manually deleting the files through my external hard drive.
When I hit delete it only deletes the song from my iTunes library but not the actual destination music file aswell (from my external hard drive). I am aware this is because my external hard drive is not the original "Music\iTunes\iTunes Music" destination that the apple crew have designed and so I am not offered the option of sending the file to the recycle bin or "trashing it" when I hit the delete key (this permanently deletes the file).
I am also aware that I can find the music file destinations and delete them through the iTunes window by hitting "CTRL & R" or by the "show in windows explorer" command. I am not interested in these options either.
Basically, I have 20,000 songs to clean up and don't want to have to take my laptop with me to my grave...
I suspect there is some way of changing things around, possibly via some particular parameters to be set in the "Edit" > "Preferences" > "iTunes Music Folder Desintation" command area but still haven't been able to crack it.
Any help would be welcomed with open arms.
Cheers.
Labia.

Camoracer,
You are right. Pardon me. The majority of the music that I was trying to delete off my external hard drive was in a separate folder (on the external hard drive), not in the directory specified in my iTunes preference settings.
Problem solved!!!
This should also be a lesson to those who believe a one step delete function (from iTunes library and actual music file) is not possible when the music files are stored on an external hard drive (or other storage medium for that matter). I have read a host of other forums who say a one step delete function is not possible without additional software.. Perhaps these posts were from the authors of the software trying to make a $.
Cheers.

Error Code-50 when trying to copy or delete files on external hard drive

Hi,
I am in process of backing up large HD video files from one external hard drive to another using Carbon Copy Cloner software. I get this error message: "This file or folder is sitting on a bad section of hard disk media and is unrecoverable. Delete this item (i.e. in the Finder) and restore it from a known good backup, then try the backup task again."
I have tried to delete that folder in Finder and I get error code-50, it won't delete.
I tried to delete individual files within folder - error code 50.
I tried to "replace" folder with good copy from other external hard drive. Error code-50
I tried to "repair disk" in Disk Utility application and I get error message "cannot unmount disk."
NOTE: the files in this folder are .m2ts format, from an old PC. I converted then into .mov but want to retain originals.
NOTE: I was successfully able to copy the folder from a 3rd external hard drive to the backup disk without a problem (which makes me think it's not the files/folder but has to do with the actual disk.), but cannot fix it on the original (source) disk.
Bad disk?
Bad files?
How do you fix a "bad section of a hard disk"?
Might reformatting the entire disk fix the "bad section"?
Any advice welcomed and appreciated!
Thank you!

Hi
Error -50 paramErr Error in user parameter list
Can there be any external hard disks - if so How is/are it/they formatted ? Must be Mac OS Extended (hfs) if used for Video.
UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange - works for most but not for VIDEO.
What this means in Your situation is above me.
• free space on internal boot hard disk? How much ?
Video codec
• streamingDV, AIC etc. (not .avi, .mp4, .m4v, .wmv etc as they are containers not codecs)
Pictures
• in what format ? .jpg, .bmp, .tif, else ?
Audio
• from where/what format ? iTunes, .avi, .mp3, .aiff, else ?
The "com.apple.iMovie.plist" file
Many users has not observed that there are TWO libraries.
• Library - at root level
• Library - in user/account folder - THIS IS THE ONE to look into
from Luke Burns
I fixed the problem.. but it was very, very strange. I had a very long section for credits and set the line spacing to 1.0.. for some reason this caused it. I removed it, and it worked fine. I put it back, and I couldn't preview or play the video.
I don't know why that could cause that big of a problem, but it did..
Klaus1
You need more free space on your hard drive.
jonorparkerjon
After phone support from apple I ended up creating a new project and adding all 117 clips back in individually till I found out what clips flagged and would not allow me to export. I had 3 I deleted and replaced and everything works now 1hr after tedious work....
Where do Your material come from
• Camera
• External hard disk
• USB-memory
And all are connected so that iMovie can find it ?
Yours Bengt W

Cannot delete Time Machine file from external hard drive

Hello,
I'd like to delete my original Time machine file from an external hard drive ( Lacie mini ). I move the file into the trash bin and it constantly "deletes". At one time I left it deleting overnight and the file still wasn't trashed.
I am going to hook up Time Machine to a different, dedicated external hard drive, but I'd like to gain space on the drive that Time Machine is currently on.
I currently have Time Machine turned off ( I do have everything backed up with my home folder on another external HD ). Should Time Machine be turned on for me to trash the file? Is there a better way to delete the file?
Much thanks in advance.

V.K. wrote:
... the best and the quickest way to delete it is to erase the TM hard drive....
But what if a person doesn't want to erase the TM drive? My MacPro came with tiger installed, but since tiger-intel-retail discs don't exist, my copy of tiger is what i have. I was all manner of foolish directing TM to that drive, but damage is done. What can someone in my position do?

Using itunes to perm delete files from ext hard drive

hello. the ext hard drives that contain my music crashed some time ago, and most of the files were thankfully restored, but in a slightly messy fashion, so now there's a lot of duplicate files and folders.
the easiest way for me to clean this up would be through itunes, using the show duplicate songs feature, but i cant figure out how to clear a file from itunes and make that permanently delete the file from my external hard drive.
ive read some discussion in other forums about shift-delete vs ctrl-delete, but not enough consistent information to be convinced.
can anyone help me out here?
thanks in advance,
bob

Are you "clearing" songs from a playlist or the Library?
To remove (send to Recycle bin) songs from a playlist and the library, select the song(s) and shift-delete them.
I've had the podcast problem once with a few podcasts a while ago. I 'solved' it by removing the duplicates. Some time later iTunes stopped duplicating.
Never discovered the actual cause. Sorry, can't help you with that one.
M

Can't open file on external hard drive?

Hi,
I'm using an external hard drive for mac backup and also to store photo files. I copied some photo files to the drive about two weeks ago and their icon appears, but when I want to open them, I get an error message: "The alias “...” can’t be opened because the original item can’t be found." There is also a small arrow on the icon. My other files can be opened okay.
What's also strange is that I found the icon of the external drive in the folder with the picture files, even though I did not drag it there (the main icon is till on my computer's desktop, where it should be.) That icon also has a small arrow on it. When I click on it, it opens and I can see my folders, but the photo folders with the arrow on it will still not open.
I tried ejecting the drive and reconnecting it, but it didn't help. Is there anything I can do to recover the missing photo files, or are they most likely gone? I have deleted these pictures from my computer hard drive. What should I do about the mysterious second external drive icon? Delete it or keep it? Can I somehow use it to restore the photo files?
Any help appreciated! Thanks!

The Hard Drive is a :
Toshiba Canvio® Connect 1TB Portable Hard Drive (Silver)
Model: HDTC710XS3A1
This one: http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=1 0001&krypto=3zEkJ%2BPHCwJUtrlzjGByIaVT405Hn%2BOkggwamseD1O2Y0FHbJ9AUp%2FvPow7k22 XRWnJ6JpaVN8kRgl1%2FsFLgpeXF3MELtwm2GBihw8f7efXGqDPuH1gOcMRylnlmBw9gsk%2BTp1l7y9 CIe9KKQs5NR6dOV3HVJyJoGFWpJuhiI4ebeznLAndHONOpAQH7BG04MKAdFPnSHdRzYEBcRoM%2FVHQM k2PSq4vj%2F684ZdSvLVCllSq4ffM7sqpFRf0VO825mlCiumRBMCpX4RLzBCDAjoVpsvSrfRAuJkk4ZW NwBP3Qfzok8RiYCyj3rmcmGc1iFsFS6dhKjH9xnnhEkb5%2Bag%3D%3D
I copied the photos by dragging and dropping them into the folder on the external drive. I highlighted them all and dragged them together, then clicked "Arrange by Name", so I would find them. As the folders were visible, I assumed they were copied correctly, however I'm not sure I actually opened one to make sure.
Other than the photo folder I have the hard drive connected to Time Machine and it automatically backs up files. I still have about 700MB of space left on the drive.
I used my Mac (disk utility) to format the drive, not the software that came with it, as someone on this forum recommended. Format is: Mac OS Extended (Journaled). So far, it had been working great.
Just looked at Disk Utility and it's strange, it's as if the Toshiba drive appears twice, with its original name and then the way I renamed it "Mac Backup". Not sure if that's normal? When I click on Mac Backup it correctly states how much storage I have left, but it lists over 230,000 folders and over 1.3 million files, which seems way too much, even considering the regular backups.

Recovering files from external hard drive

My external hard drive stopped working. Everytime I tried to access it, I'd get one or more of the following messages: "Time Machine Error. The backup disc is not available. Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "My Passport for Mac. The backup disc is not available. Your Time Machine backup disc can't be found."
That didn't cause me to worry, because my computer was in good working condition, so I just bought another external harddrive. However, I later discovered that I needed much of the information in the old external hard drive, because I had lost a great number of files from my computer. [I have to add that I partitioned my computer's harddrive about the same time under the step-by-step instructions of a second-level Apple technician.] Anyway, my problem now is to extract the files from my old external harddrive.
Data recovery is out. It's just too expensive. Ideally, I would just like to get my external hard drive working again. If that's not possible, I have to find another way, or just give up. Anyway, today I came to ask about Disc Warrior. I have read some reports that it can be used to do what I need done. Does anyone have any experience, successful experience, with it? Oh, I just discovered and downloaded StellarPhoenixMacData, but I haven't tried it yet.
Finally, judging by sound and vibration, my old external hard drive seems to be working. There is no clicking or other unusual sound, which I understand is a good sign.

Kappy wrote:
In any case if you connect the drive to your computer, then open Disk Utility, does the drive appear on your Desktop? If not, does it appear in DU's device list in the sidebar?
The new external hard drive appears in disc utility, but not the old external hard drive with which I'm having problems.
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads.
So, I guess you're saying that any of those you mention are better than Disc Warrior for my problem. Is that right?
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Okay, I have now disconnected the external hard drive. I hadn't realized that there was the possibility of overwriting files on the EXTERNAL hard drive.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.
Okay, I'll do that, but what about just repairing the external hard drive? Isn't that possible? I mean, couldn't it be something like a loose connection? However, I have certainly noticed that hard drive repair is not mentioned nearly as much as data recovery. There must be a reason for that.

(Error code -36) Can't delete files from external hard drive

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