Problems copying files to external USB drive

I am trying to copy my Pictures folder to an external drive, but I get the error below. I have checked permissions and that does not seem to be the problem. None of the files are open and neither is iPhoto, Photoshop Elements are any other program that would try to access the files. Can anybody help?
"One or more items can't be copied. Do you want to skip them and copy the remaing items?"
Thanks.

So have you clicked through to copy them to see if any are missing? It may only indicate that there are some invisibles it cannot copy.
-mj
[email protected]

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Windows 7 64-bit Copying files to external usb drive - files becomes corrupted.

Hi All,
I am getting intermittent problem with regards to copying files to usb external hard drive from my laptop.
When file is copied to external drive, the file becomes corrupt from the external drive.
I have to repeat around 2 to 3 times or more to re-copy the file again until file is not corrupted.
Appreciate of any help.
Below is my system info:
Using Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit 4 gb of ram.
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name GIBBY-LAPTOP
System Manufacturer Sony Corporation
System Model VGN-SR26GN_B
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz, 2267 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. R1130Y1, 8/28/2009
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
User Name Gibby-Laptop\Gibby
Time Zone Malay Peninsula Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 3.97 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.60 GB
Total Virtual Memory 7.93 GB
Available Virtual Memory 6.05 GB
Page File Space 3.97 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

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 using 4 different computers, from 7 years old to brand new ones, using AMD or intel chipsets and totally different USB controllers, and using many different USB sticks, hard disks, etc. The only common thing in those computers is Windows 7 x64 and
the external 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.

Trouble accessing files on external USB drive after 10.6.8 update

Upgraded to Mac 10.6.8 on my MacBook Pro (I'm not a techie, but the "About This Mac" thingy says 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 - I assume that means something to somebody). Since the upgrade, I've been having problems accessing data on an external HD connected via USB - there were no issues before the upgrade, but now it's impossible to even navigate to a particular file or subfolder half the time, as the process freezes 95% of the time (every so often I am able to get through, for no obvious reason) - usually I just get what looks like an empty folder and a little spinning thing in the bottom right-hand corner. Sometimes when I do get to a file - say it's a ZIP file - I'll try to unZIP it and the process will hang; if I try to drag it to the desktop and unZIP it there, I can't get it to copy to the desktop, I just get the "copying files" box and a bar that never shows any progress, it just hangs at zero bytes out of whatever it might be.
Also having intermittent issues with another external USB drive, which is the one I use for Time Machine - about one in every five backup attempts is successful, the rest of the time I get a message saying the backup couldn't be performed.
I have two external FireWire drives as well, and I'm having no trouble with either of those - so I'm assuming the problem is USB-related (and 10.6.8 related, since none of this was happening before the upgrade).
So - I'm wondering if anybody else is having the same issues, and f there's a solution that a non-techie like me could handle that won't make blood come out of my ears.
Cheers!

Thanks baltwo - the PRAM tip was helpful. For some reason I still have trouble accessing a few files, I'm putting that down to them being somehow corrupted. Eric, thanks, but I tried using Disk Utility and the communication problems I was having with the drive meant that the repair couldn't be performed. I may try again now that that side of things seems to be running a little more smoothly. Anyway, thank you both!

Automator to mount multiple ISO files on external USB drives

I have several ISO files on an external USB drive on a Mac mini. Double clicking on any of the ISO mounts it, one at a time.
I need to have an automator that mounts ALL ISO it can see on a given USB external drive. I have written an Apple script but that hangs up the Mac mini. I need help because I am not familiar with Applescript or Apple automator. I used Unix years ago, butg have a hard time with AppleScript.

Macs can't normally write to NTFS drives:
http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=7426620&messageID=4582486
Your other problem sounds like another computer has the files open or application has the files open simultaneously. Try shutting down your Mac, and isolating your Mac from any network and try rebooting again in safe mode by holding the shift key at startup.

Problems with a shared external USB drive

I have setup an external USB drive on my iMac 10.6 and use it for Time Machine backup. When I try to access this drive over my wireless network from my PowerBook 10.5.8 for TM backup, I can only see the drive under Shared as a Folder, not a drive icon. It is not available for the PB's TM app. This is a HP 1 TB drive formatted in 1 partition MacOS Extended journaled GUID .... and it works as a backup drive for the desktop 10.6 TM.
The very same thing happens if I connect this USB drive to my Airport Extreme only both the PB and the iMac see the drive as a folder and neither can use the drive for a TM backup.
So, how can I see the drive as a drive icon from the PB and have it available for TM backup over the network?

Douglas McKibbin wrote:
The very same thing happens if I connect this USB drive to my Airport Extreme
Do not attempt to back up that way -- it's "iffy" and +*not supported by Apple.+*
It sounds like you've missed a step in the setup. See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Be sure to note the advice there to partition the drive, so each Mac has it's own, exclusive space.

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.

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.

Getting "resource busy" when trying to copy from an external USB drive

Hi, I have an external (Seagate FreeAgent Desk 1.5TB) USB drive attached to my MacBook Pro (2009) running 10.6. I am trying to copy the files back to my laptop. However, when I copy them in the Finder, I get a message saying that some of the files are "in use". So I even tried copying using Terminal, and often I get this kind of message:
$ cp -pr /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01\ Legoland /Users/Andy/Desktop/m
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 14;38;18: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 14;41;40: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;03;24: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;04;03: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;13;21: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;14;16: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;15;40: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;16;23: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;17;19: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;51;14: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;51;42: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;51;50: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/clip-2008-06-01 15;53;34: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/iMovie Cache/Cache.mov: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/iMovie Cache/Cache.mov: could not copy extended attributes to /Users/Andy/Desktop/m/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/iMovie Cache/Cache.mov: Resource busy
cp: /Volumes/Movies/2008-06-01 Legoland/iMovie Thumbnails/iMovie Cache/Cache.plist: Resource busy
After this happens, when I do "ls /Volumes/MyDriveName" I get zero results, nothing. I cannot unmount or eject the USB drive. I have to physically kill power to it, and then plug it back in. Then my MBP recognizes it again, and I can work with it for a short time before I hit this problem again. Copying some files works, but mostly they do not. I hope I have not lost these files.
I ran Disk Utility, and it can't do anything with this drive... it keeps saying it cannot unmount it.
Oddly, I can "ls" every file in every directory on this drive after I reconnect it (i.e. until the problem happens). So it seems like my data is sort of there, at least the directory is.
Is there something more robust than Disk Utility that I can try? Any idea why I cannot eject the disk? And especially, what this "Resource busy" and "in use" message is about? This is coming straight after a reboot, and it only happens for SOME files, so it's not likely to be an obvious usage by some open app.

Hmm, check out this program http://www.hamsoftengineering.com/products/wkm/wkm.html ... it might lead to some more clues. It seems like as soon as you plug it in, the system latches onto it. I'm guessing because it's an iMovie file, which OS X scans for, so all applications have the ability to grab that media that it's messing things up.
Suggestions...copy those files, and rename them.
Check out the app above to see what's holding onto the files.
Check me out over at www.itarsenal.com for some remote control support on the house if you still need help.

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

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

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

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

Problem Moving Files to External Hard Drive

I am trying to move two large video files and one large iMovie file onto a WD Passport external hardrive. I have no problem moving most files but with these three I get an unspecified error message part way through the copying process. All three of these files are uncorrupted. Anyone know why I might be recieving this message when copying these three files and/or how I can rectify this problem?

Sounds like your external hard disk is formatted in FAT32 which has a 4GB file size limit.
You should reformat that hard disk to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Error when trying to copy files to external drive

When attempting to copy files to external hard drive I get a message " unable to copy some data, error code -36".
How do I find out what that error code is tring to tell me?

Sadly, I have had this issue as well. Last eyar Iit got to the point I couldn't copy at all. From what I recall, Apple told me it could be one of many things. A bad internal drive, bad permissions, a bad external drive, a bad firewire port, a bad cable, bad memory, and on and on. I never did figure it out, but I do know my hard drive did crash a month later. However, having said that, I own a new computer, and last week, it started again. Still have not figured out what is going on. Good luck.

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

Problems copying files to external USB drive

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