'Preparing to copy' hangs

I'm trying to transfer files directly between two external HDDs hooked up to my Mac.
When trying to transfer either of two folders - full backups of my MacBook and Mac - the 'Preparing to copy' item value eventually hangs.
For further detail, in case it helps, please see this post.
What might be causing the hang, and how can it be resolved safely and easily?

I'm having similar issue. Drive is a 2 TB Seagate, partitioned into 4 or 5 partitions.
This partition is 250 GB storage.
No issues with drive.
Disk Utility verified and repaired this partition.
I'm trying to copy and back up two large files.
iPhoto library of 110 GB
Aperture library of 70 GB
This is unacceptable. Come on Apple!
SuperDuper works fine for backups to other partitions. What's up?!

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Preparing to copy hang on iPhone6+

Syncing with iTunes and restoring from my old iPhone 5S, all my apps move over seamlessly, but on photos and music, VERY little has moved. Randomly selecting songs/photos to copy over. Syncing hangs on Step 7, Preparing to copy items stage, with no progress bar, just the barber shop spin. New playlists will show up on iTunes on the phone, but only 1 song, or 0 songs in the new playlists. Photo stream, or whatever it is called now, doesn't seem to be working either back to the phone.
I've restarted my latest Macbook Pro retina, and the iPhone a couple times. Nothing seems to be pushing like normal. I even left it plugged into the Mac all night hoping something would move. nothing.
Should I clean wipe it and start the whole process over again??? Ugh, 1st world pain.

Just got off the phone with Apple Level-2 and here's what worked for me:
1. Backup to iTunes (NOT iCloud)—be sure to backup Apps
2. Reset/Delete all content on device (so it's left "as new")
3. Set up as new—doN't restore from backup
4. Restore from iTUNES backup (NOT iCloud!)
5. Then re-add your content.

Copy folder items hangs on preparing to copy

I am trying to copy the contents of a folder from one place to another and it gets stuck on "preparing to copy 2 items" forever. I can't even stop the process, have to force Finder to quit and then restart. Then I have the same problem! Help!

I'm copying my website domain file, which is very large, to another empty folder on my desktop. But even when I try to copy the individual files one at a time, "preparing to copy" gets stuck even on the much smaller files. I haven't had this problem before with copying and pasting files to folders. I just did an update to the OS tonight, could that be the problem?

Preparing to copy to...

It's such a pain that copying files often does not work but hangs with the spinning wheel and a little box that says Preparing to copy to... But the operation never completes and cancel doesn't work. I have to restart. what to do about it? This happens even when copying just a few files.

My first suggestion would be to [repair the hard drive with Disk Utility|http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417]. You'll want to repair both the drive you're copying from and the one you're copying to. Only the boot drive needs the extra steps outlines in the link I gave... any other hard drive can simply be repaired from Disk Utility without rebooting.

I am trying to copy more or less 30G from my MacbookPro to an external hard drive and it is stuck in the "preparing to copy" step. But that for more than one hour. What should I do to make it faster? Thanks a lot in advance!

I am trying to copy more or less 30G from my MacbookPro to an external hard drive and it is stuck in the "preparing to copy" step. But that for more than one hour. What should I do to make it faster? Thanks a lot in advance!

Thanks Shootist007, by blockd files I mean files that I have changed to blocked and when I tried to move then for the first time, I had to unblock again. I am trying to backup my pictures, my songs and other files like word documents and excel tables. First I put all of them as blocked, what caused the first problems on trying to move them. Then, I've unchecked the block option and if I try to move one by one, there is no problem. The issue is to move all together, because it gets stuck in the preparing to copy files step. Anyway, if I cannot do all by once, I'll do it one by one, event though that was not suposed to happen if we are talking about technology, right? Anyway, I thank you again for trying to help me!

Using Target disk mode from hard drive which is starting to fail, when I move files, I get a preparing to copy message but nothing happens. Any ideas?

Hello, i have a MacBook Pro. The hard drive is failing to such an extent that I can't currently use the computer, only things like utility mode etc. I have connected it unto my iMac and using a Firewire in target disk mode, I am attempting to move files across using that mode. The HD of the Macbook Pro appears in the IMac devices menu and I copy and paste the appropriate folders/files but as I do this I get a progress bar which says "preparing to copy" but then nothing appears to happen. Any ideas on what to do? Is there a password or other issue here that I am over-looking. Perhaps the hard drive of my macbook pro is so corrupted that I can't move files over. Any help would be great?

Try moving smaller groups of files. I' guessing that you don't have a backup huh?

"preparing to copy to applications" stuck

Long story short: I accidentally dropped a second copy of Microsoft Office into my Applications folder. I didn't mean to do that, so when the COPY window appeared saying that it was preparing to copy, I clicked the x to stop.
The status changed to "stopping" but the COPY window will not go away. I can minimize it but not close it out. I cannot shut down or log out--only a hard shutdown. How do I make this go away?
This was 24+ hours ago.
Here's a picture of the window--the animation is still cycling on the progress bar.

Hi Liz, this is what works for me every time the process runs ongoing. Bear with me.
For those who are confident with Terminal
Warning: Make sure you type in the following commands exactly as shown, case sensitive and proper spacing, please.
In Menu bar at top of screen, upper right hand corner, click on the magnifying glass icon which is “Spotlight.”
Type in “Terminal.” Click on “Top Hit Terminal”. This opens the Terminal utility.
At the prompt type:
ps aux
This command lists the currently running processes on your computer.
Not to confuse the main intent of this discussion, only going over what needs to be typed to cancel the running process. With that said.
The 1st column: USER, is where the process is running under.
The 2nd column: PID, is the process ID.
The 9th column: STARTED, lists the date and time the process started.
The 10th column: TIME, lists the total time the process has been running.
This command filters out the running process that you are concerned with by name.
In Terminal type at the prompt, but do not press “Return/Enter” yet:
     ps –ef | grep –w name
Replace “name” in the command line above with the corresponding number listed under “PID,” that is located to the right of the “USER,” from the table that was created in Terminal “ps aux” of the process you want. Remember this number and jot it down. Only after number is replaced, press “Return/Enter.”
Now for the good stuff, stopping the process that doesn’t end.
In Terminal type at the prompt, but do not press “Return/Enter” yet:
     kill -9 pid
Replace “pid” in the command line above with the same number you replaced for “name” in the command line:
“ps –ef | grep –w name” that you jotted down.
If the command above does not run under your “user” account, you will have to insert “sudo” before the above command and run the command as an administrator.
In Terminal type at the prompt, but do not press “Return/Enter” yet:
     sudo kill -9 pid
Remember to replace “pid” in the command line above with the same number you replaced it for the 1st time you ran “kill -9 pid” before inserting “sudo” in command line.
After running “sudo kill -9 pid” command you will be asked to enter your password.
When this command is run the running process will be “killed.” The running process will not be seen on Desktop or appear in Terminal command “ps aux” or “ps –ef | grep –w name” anymore.
The dreaded endless, “Stopping…, Preparing to copy” the ongoing process will be over.

'Preparing to copy' halts

I have two external HDDs hooked up to my Mac, one via USB and another via Firewall 800, and I'm trying to transfer files directly from one to the other.
It has mostly worked out, but there are two folders, roughly 100GB and 124GB, 163k items and 204k items respectively, that are not copying over. These folders coincidentally are full backups for my Macbook and Mac, respectively.
When trying to copy the items over, the process seems to halt during the 'Preparing copy to' stage, at which the 'Preparing to copy' item value appears to not change. For example, for the Macbook backup, the 'Preparing to copy' item value usually halts at around 41,760 items or so, and after several attempts on the same session, sometimes even less (e.g. around 23,000 items or even around 1,000 items).
There are also two folders that are full backups for two Windows PCs, that transferred just fine. They are roughly 50GB and 147GB, 130k and 306k items respectively. Transfer of the larger latter folder was attempted after attempting the 'halting' transfers above.
I would have tried to initiate the transfer on other computer devices, but unfortunately the Mac, not the older Macbook nor the Windows PCs, seems to be the only one that is enabling access to the corrupt HFS+ partition of the external hard drive of which I am trying to transfer files from. I have also tried first copying the folders to the Mac Desktop folder first, but the halt occurs in that case as well.
Based on my experience, my initial guess is that there is some Mac-permission-based issue with one or some files that is causing the halt, but I'm not sure, and even if that was the case, (a) there doesn't seem to be a way by default via the normal transfer method to see which file(s) is/are causing the issues, and (b) it might be a tedious process to resolve the issue if there are a large number of issue-causing files.
(1) What might be causing the halt?
(2) More importantly, how can it be bypassed safely and as easily as possible, so that the transfer can be completed?

Hi Pat,
While it's possible that Permissions are at play, I suspect Disk corruption.
Have you Verified these two Disks in Disk Utility, (not Verify Permissions), & tried Repair if needed?
What brand drive is the problem one? Is it AC or Bus powered?

"Preparing to copy" from NAS

Hi,
I am trying to copy about 4 TB of data from a portable NAS device to my server's local storage, both connected to the same network switch. Network speed is at 10 Gbps. I mapped the shared folder on NAS and dragged and dropped all the data to start the copy
process. Its been over 24 hours and it still shows "Preparing to copy...". Windows is trying to determine how much data to copy and its at 900 GB so far. This is very slow!
Is there a way to skip "preparing to copy" step and start the actual transfer of data?
Any third party tool that can copy fast?
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Hello,
below the NOVEMBER section in
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc135870.aspx you will see that the utilityspotlight_11.exe is about the RobocopyGUI and that way you have a Microsoft source.
For the splitting part you understand it correct.
You may also check out RichCopy also from a Microsoft guy BUT not supported from Microsoft itself
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.utilityspotlight.aspx
Best regards
Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/
Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Am attempting to copy 13000 photos to external hd from imac;computer stuck on preparing to copy; how long should this take?? bob

i am attemting to copy 13000 photos from imac to external hd; computer is stuck on preparing to copy;how long should i wait
eyedrbob

The speed of transfer also depends on how the external HD is connected, and how it was formatted.
The easiest way to move that kind of volume of photos (and it will take some hours) is to create a folder for them on the external HD, and then use SyncTwoFolders to make an exact copy of the folder now containing all your photos, in the new folder on the external.
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/22644/synctwofolders/

How do i stop the preparing to copy music bar

I was trying to copy music from my external hard drive to my new macbook pro 13 inch. I ended up copying the music through select and move manually to itunes. But the operation that was copying the music to the music folder in the finder still says preparing to copy music (with the word stopping... at the bottom). But it has been a while, and it won't shut off. There is no stop button and I can't manually delete the files from my music folder because the copy bar is still going, nor can I shut down my computer or log off or restart. What should I do? I just got this computer in the mail today.

How about a fuller description of what you are trying to do?

ITunes/iPhone stuck contacting update server preparing to copy items

Why is Preparing to copy items stuck?
Why is Contacting the iPhone software update server stuck?
I have an iPhone 6 Plus running 8.1. I have not updated to 8.2 yet. My phone was syncing normally until 7pm lastnight but now it is stuck at Preparing to copy items Step 5 of 5. For background information; I am a DJ and use my phone to screen songs so I regularly sync songs on/off and use iTunes Grouping and Comments to organize tracks. I may listen to songs and sync the phone multiple times a day and this was done without problems on 3/24/15 at least 4 times until after 7pm.
I have done a hard reset on the phone. I have restarted my Macbook Pro, done a Force Quit. I have tried to uncheck Sync Music to remove all music and start over. I let this sit for over an hour with no success. Today (3/25/15) I attempted to update the phone to iOS 8.2 but the computer sits at Contacting update software server and no progress is made. There are multiple posts online with this issue as well.
I did allow some Apps to update yesterday but I do not recall which ones. So, whats the deal?

Watashi mo wakaranai! Each time I reset my iPhone 5 and then I get one go after that to re-sync new data to the unit before having to reset again. This morning I reset and began to start loading everything from scratch again, only to realise this afternoon that the sync had deselected a number of PDF's that I need to access from my iPhone regularly throughout my working week. When I re-ticked those files and asked the sync to resume, iTunes stopped everything and left my iPhone without all its data synced. I have had to asked it to sync a third time now.
Oddly, the amount of space indicated at the bottom of iTunes doesn't seem to relate to the amount of data being loaded in a coherent or reliable fashion, as more space is showing now that when the PDF's were (unbeknownst to me) deselected. Also, even when there is as much as 9GB showing as free on my 64GB unit, iTunes tells me that there is insufficient space available on my unit to sync: This forces me to reset again! It takes more than 24 hours for the iPhone 5 to load 50GB odd of data... I remember when we were told how computers saved us time.

HT203177 Finder stuck at "Preparing to copy.."

Every time I try to copy large files (more than 100GB) the small window which shows the copy progress continues showing "Preparing to copy..". It is not really stuck, and I can cancel it if I choose to, but it doesn't copy the file either. I tried copying my iPhoto Library when I discovered this issue. It also happens if I enter Time Machine and try to restore and older (local) copy of the library.
Does anyone know how to solve this problem?
I would really appreciate any kind of help.
(I'm using OS X 10.8.2.)

Hi!
Recently, I have encountered the same problem.
It turns out that many users have the "preparing backup" issue, but I gave it some thought and remembered that the problem started to occure after moving my iPhoto folder to an external drive.
I have formatted my external Time Machine drive etc. etc. Tonight, it worked for 3 backups. Now, it is locked "preparing backup" again.
radu92, could you please explained how it worked out for you.
Cheers,
Norchris

Finder stuck at "Preparing to copy.."

Every time I try to copy large files (more than 100GB) the small window which shows the copy progress continues showing "Preparing to copy..". It is not really stuck, and I can cancel it if I choose to, but it doesn't copy the file either. I tried copying my iPhoto Library when I discovered this issue. It also happens if I enter Time Machine and try to restore and older (local) copy of the library.
Does anyone know how to solve this problem?
I would really appreciate any kind of help.
(I'm using OS X 10.8.2.)

I waited for around 30 minutes before cancelling it. I am aware that it can take very long, but the problem is the finder doesn't even show the progress. It doesn't change beyond the "Preparing to copy.." state. Is it normal to take that long just to prepare the process?

Local Client Copy Hanged

Hi All,
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Log:
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Hi
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Regards
Anwer Waseem
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'Preparing to copy' hangs

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