Error code 36 when copying files to external hard drive!

I keep getting this error when I try to copy files to my external hard drives. It is the same error no matter what drive I use. It says it cannot perform the operation because the data cannot be written - like there is a permissions problem, but I checked all the files, and there is no permission problems. The file sizes are small .iff and .jpg --- There is not more than 10 characters in the naming, so what is going on? I have folders inside of folders, and it will not copy - but if I go into the folders and copy each file one at a time, by itself, it works. I don't get it? Anybody have any thoughts?

a very common issue caused by a bug in snow leopard finder when dealing with FAT formatted drives. see this link for details and a fix
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11122044&#11122044

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Permissions problem when copying files from external hard drive

Hi.
I have recently reinstalled leopard (wiped the hard drive clean) on my macbook pro. (10.5.4). I had used Time Machine so I have a complete backup. But I only wanted a few of the files so I didn't do a backup restore. I went into the file directory of the backup on my external hard drive and dragged the folders I wanted back over to my laptop.
But I'm in permissions **** though! When I want to copy them over I get an alert saying you may not have privilege to do this and asks for my password. I enter my password and it copies fine. But every time I want to do anything with those files (like move them, or delete them) I have to re enter a password.
So, inside of the terminal I do a "ls -al" command to see whats going on and find that everything is the same as a natively created folder except for a '@' on the permissions column. I do a "ls -al@' to see more details and I get this:
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 xenition staff 204 Jul 20 17:08 Assets
com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineNewestSnapshot 50
com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineOldestSnapshot 50
I did run repair permissions from Disk Utility and it didn't solve it. How can I resolve the permissions on these files?
Message was edited by: risingtiger

run ls -aleO on the copied files and see if there are any ACLs or flags.
BTW, another (and possibly better) way to restore files from an old TM drive is via TM interface. control-click on TM in the dock and choose "browse other TM disks" select a disk to browse and go at it. when you try to restore something you'll be prompted for a location to restore it to and maybe a password.

Why do I get Error Code 35 when attempting to mount external hard drive?

When I use Finder to Go, Servers, Connect to Server I am prompted to enter password. After I do that I hit Connect again which connects to the Server (Airport Extreme) and I see the external drive highlighted but then gives me Error Code 35. I had it working earlier but something is now obviously messed up. I have rebooted, restarted, hard restarted Airport, disconnected and reconnected hard drive. Help!!!! Does anyone know what Error Code 35 means on OS 10.4.11?

Error code -35 means "No such volume; volume not found". Not terribly helpful.
You have already tried everything I would have suggested. Maybe someone else will have some suggestions?

Error -50 when trying to copy files to external hard drive.

When trying to copy files (itunes music folder) to an external hard drive, I get the following message: Copying music failed. An unknown error occurred (-50).
I have tried repairing disk permissions but still get the message. Any thoughts?

Gary,
A couple of posts referencing "error -50" seem to indicate that the error could result from a corrupted file.
One from Kappy follows:
Error -50 Post
One way you could save your music to the other drive would be to do it folder by folder (dragging each artist's folder, to the other drive). I suspect you won't have many (if any) errors doing that, and if you hit the corrupted file, you can come back to that folder and see which one is bad. You could also try to drag groups of artists folders to the drive if you had quite a few. One note: If you save your files this way, you won't be saving the library, which contains all the playlists you've created...you'll have to recreate them.
If you needed that music down the road, you could just do a File>Import from iTunes....
Hope this helps,
Bob

TA20831 Why do I get error code -50 when copying from one external drive to another in OSX Lion 10.7.4?

Any pointers (apart from 'googling') would be appreciated. Thanks

I have not yet been able to figure out what the problem is. I have checked the iMovie and other forums, both here and elsewhere on the Web, and I have not come across a single post that relates to this problem. The files I have been trying to copy are still on the external drive, and I have used the drive to store and transfer other files to and from my TiBook with no problems. But those three iMovie files, which will open and play from the external drive, STILL won't copy back onto my hard drive.
The one thought I had involved disk space: Maybe a significant amount (30GB or more) of free space needs to be on the target drive when copying such large files. When I get to a point where I can delete some of the larger files I have been tinkering with, I'll try again.
In the meantime, any insight from anybody into this issue will still be appreciated.

Can't copy files to external hard drive

I have had both my MacBook and external hard drive for over three years now, and have never had a problem. In the last week, my external hard drive stopped letting me copy files onto it. When you try to drag and drop it just comes up with the blocked symbol. I have tested this with other hard drives as well and keep getting the same error. I've read other forums where it seems the answer is just to reformat the hard drive to the correct format, but I've never had a problem before so it seems strange that the format would just suddenly change.
All suggestions welcome!

me to no problem until nowdays
and the file is movies 1080 so is one file 7-8-9-10 gb
the weird is i see the movie from memory stick
but i cant copy
i restared but i cant format the memory stick becouse i use it in windows
helppppppppppppp

I can't copy files to External Hard Drive : Please help..

Evening,
I've just bought a Macbook and am just getting to grips with it. This is my first question on this forum...the first of many no doubt.
Problem I've got is that I can copy file's from an external hard drive on to the MAC but I can't go back the other way and copy file's from the MAC on to the external hard drive - it says 'New Folder cannot be modified'.
When I go into 'Ownership and Permission' of the external hard drive it says I can read only.
The Hard Drive is a Octigen USB 2.0 drive if that helps..
Any ideas?
Thanks for your help
R
Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

How confident are you that MacFuse/ntfs-3g is a reliable option for ordinary humans? It is at version 0.2.2, not long out of beta, the FAQ mentions slow write performance and other rough edges (possibly fixed in the current version), and this is a comment by the author as of 1/11/07:
"Small disclaimer: Please note that MacFUSE is a complex piece of software, and it is a work in progress. We believe in releasing early and often, so we're releasing it now so that the community can help us to make it more robust."
I have no need for it whatsoever, but if I did, I would have concerns about using it for a backup drive.

Error code -36 when copying files to certain drives

I want to back up my Aperture Library. I have two external fire wire drives that give me this error:
The Finder cannot complete the operation because some of the data in Aperture Library could not be read or written. (Error code -36)
I don't get the error when copying to my Drobo, so I believe this problem is only related to my two fire wire drives. I reformatted one of them using Disk Utility, same problem.

Today I had the same thing happen. I was copying some large (2gb+) video files from a USB2 FAT32 external drive to my other Mac formatted external drives, first time to a firewire 400 and then tried to a USB2. At about 750mb, the transfer stopped and the EXACT same dialog box appeared.
I ran Disk Utility on the source drive USB2 FAT32 to fix drive errors. No improvement.
As I've had issues under SL with my optical FW DVD drives (see that thread for details), I thought may be my FW drives don't like FAT32. So I tried the Mac USB2 drive. Not working either.
Finally, I realized I was routing the FAT32 drive into a cheap unpowered 4 port USB hub (Genesys Logic, Inc. chipset). So I unplugged the hub from the Mac Mini and inserted the FAT32 drive directly into the Mac Mini. Tada! Success was at hand. No problems transferring to either FW or USB drives.
So this tells me there is something flaky about some devices and how they are hooked up. That is the drives and files are OK. It is Snow Leopard that has the bug.
Mike, if you are still having problems and are comfortable using Unix CL, you may be able to use the DD command (so called "Data Dump") to transfer. This is a very robust method to transfer files and permits resumption if a transfer has died midstream. It can even transfer real corrupt files off of damaged disk drives regardless of drive format. I used DD successfully to move files off an eMac that had random hardware crashes (due to faulty counterfeit capacitors) that were interrupting the transfer.
~Frank

Error message trying to copy files to second hard drive

we have a project, about 100 gig or so, that we want to copy from the external drive it is on, to a second external drive.
the process stopped after a while, with only about 60 gig transfered, with an error message saying "finder error code -36 can't read or write" a particular file (untittled2-7) or something similar...
the file itself appears to play fine form the original drive, and its about 2.7 gig.
any ideas what could be causing this, and what we could do to make it transfer across?
cheers
hugh

Yeah it's pretty easy if you pay attention to the top area of the window.. it will tell you what will happen if you click GO... Just select the files, right click on one of them to select Media manager. Then select copy, and a destination... read that summary to make sure what you're getting ready to do is what you want to do... it's pretty straightforward if you read that summary.
Jerry

Copied Files to External Hard drive and they are not available now.. where

Please help!
I have a G4 that had an original 20GB Hard drive. I installed a 60GB Hard drive. I was running OS 9 on the 20GB drive and OS X on the 60GB. I was working with a lot of video and pics and filled the 60GB drive, so I added an external 250GB drive.
Recently, I received messages that my start up disk was almost full (60GB), so I moved my users file from the 60GB drive to the 250GB. The file size was 47ish GB and so I thought I would create some room. The move took approx. 40 mins as I copied the folder over to the 250GB drive. Once it was there I verified it only by it's size and once I saw that it existed on the 250, I trashed the users file from the 60GB drive and then emptied trash.
I lost the icons and items on my desktop, however, desktop background remained the same. I cannot access anything that I opriginally had. The users file still has the same folders that it did, but they are now relatively empty. Each folder is approx. 50 kB in size but the users folder still exists as 47GB.
If what I have explained makes sense, can someone help me to either copy back my users folder (I tried that, but the 60GB drive still says it is full) or suggest something else (And not that I am a fool, as I figured that one out already!)
I ran Diskwarrior last night to verify the pathways etc. and everything is in order... I am lost... Please help if you can!
Thanks!
David

Dear David,
Did you move the entire "yourhomedirectory" name over to the 250 gig HD and then did you delete the entire "yourhomedirectory" file?
From what I have read, OS X will always be looking for Desktop, Documents, Library, Movies, Music, etc under "yourhomedirectory". There is some way to tell the system that they are located somewhere else but it is kind of hard.
When you mount the 250 gig drive do you see any of the files that you you moved over?
What do you see when you log into the OS X volume. Are there any files for you to see.
Not really sure what you did but let's see if we can get you fixed.
Dan

How to "Ignore Ownership On This Volume" When Saving File to External Hard Drive?

Hello,
I just switched over from Photoshop CS3 pc platform to the MAC version, and it gives me the message that I can't save what I've I've just done - I have my photo files on an external Seagate Free Agent Hard Disk - When I followed the instructions to "Select Disk/Choose File/Get Info/Click Disclosure Triangle next to Sharing & Permissions" - Then after I did all of this, there was no option to select "Ignore ownership on this volume." Instead, the only thing it said was, This is read only."
Surely, I don't have to give permission to save each and every file - This is a very serious hobby for me, but I am doing it out of my home, and no one else at this time uses my computer.
Before submitting this request, I called Apple support first, and they tried doing a Disk scan and repair of the permissions, but this was only for the internal Macintosh HD drive, not the external one that is related to this incident.
Thanks For Your Help ahead of time!
Also, this might should be saved for another separate question, but I had to set change my resolution to 1920 X 1200 - The text, etc, was much too large for especially doing anything in Photoshop. This new iMac has a 3.06/4 GB RAM/1 TB internal HD/NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Graphics Card.

Buko-
To tell you the truth - and I apologize for that statement - I woke up early this morning, and it hit me that I took what Lundberg02 said earlier the wrong way! So, I couldn't wait to get back on and apologize to him and all of you - And I hope that you will forgive me.
When I think about it now, perhaps he is right - This may not have been a pertinent place for me to insert this question. But after spending a long time with Apple about it, and then Seagate - I decided that the only other place I could go was to ask you guys. I thought, perhaps someone here had encountered the same problem when switching from pc to Mac platform. But perhaps I shouldn't have.
Actually, Seagate - I think - solved the problem, at least this erase procedure was working after two hours - until I decided that I'd cancel it, and take it back to Costco for a refund, which I did. And the Seagate rep told me that he didn't blame me, because the drive was getting a little old, and if I used their warranty program, I'd probably gotten a refurbished one, anyway. So, all of this trouble I've put you good people through has gone "for naught".
But hopefully, you'll be acceptable in the future when I ask more applicable questions, when my wheels really start spinning. Otherwise, I probably won't come here that often, anyway. I just enjoy fixing up old black family photos and coloring some of them. And I got the basics down. You know, like cloning, healing, and layering them to death!!
Thanks for understanding - And for forgiving me.
Burtron

Copy large files to external hard drive

How do I copy files fromone external hard drive to another external hard drive via mac book air

Gregory Taddeo wrote:
How do I copy files fromone external hard drive to another external hard drive via mac book air
If its from one drive TO A BLANK / NEW HD, and its a LOT of files (400+ GB)
then just use Superduper cloning software to copy it all in one click and sit back and let it work
free to use
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/superduperdescription.html

How do i copy from an external hard drive to iMac?

When copying from an external hard drive, when the box 'select your disc' comes up - I am unable to continue.

I suspect the external HD is formatted in NTFS, by default a Mac can write to one but it cannot be written to from one. How you overcome this is to download and install the NTFS-3G Download.
Roger

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

(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.

Error code 36 when copying files to external hard drive!

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