White Prohibitory Sign When Trying To Move Files Off External Hard Drive

Why am I getting the white prohibitory sign when trying to add a new file to an external hard drive? I have run Disk Utility and permissions repair.

See Mac OS X: "Broken folder" icon, prohibitory sign, or kernel panic when computer starts
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106805
 Cheers, Tom

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Finder freezes when trying to move files to external hard drive

Whenever I try to move files from internal hard drive to my external finder freezes it. I have over 5 TBs of free space on my external, so I know it's not a space issue. This happens no matter the size of the file. It starts the copy and then will freeze before it finishes. If I try to force quit and select relaunch it acts like it is relaunching but my icons never re-appear and the command bar at the top never returns. So I end up having to hard boot.
I just reinstalled the 10.5.8 combo update and verified both hard disks, if any repairs came up I repaired and then did the same with disk permissions....it's still freezing on me. I am frustrated because there are some files I'd really like to move to my external raid hard drive but I'm not able to.
The freezing happens if I'm trying to transfer files from a disc or an additional external HD. My internal HD is only so big and the external Raid drive is for my capture scratch on Final Cut Pro and I'm even having issues capturing to that drive. Everything wants to be on my internal HD and that doesn't work for me.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sean Dale1 wrote:
Do you get any error messages and if so what are they? Do you have any problems copying files off the problem drive back to your Mac or do the freezes only occur when copying to the external?
No I don't get any error messages, the finder just freezes and when I try to relaunch finder it doesn't relaunch properly..all icons are missing and I'm not able to access the the task bar to properly shut down so I have to hard boot.
It happens only when trying to save files to the external, whether through drag and drop or within programs. I am able to access files on the external and copy files from there to my internal without problems.
Have you tried attaching this drive to another Mac and if so do you get the same issues?
I don't have another Mac to attach the drive to.
How is this RAID attached, SCSI, FireWire, SATA or what? How was the RAID created, Disk Utility or third party software and have you verified the integrity of the RAID?
The RAID is attached via SCSI. In an attempt to solve this finder issue I re-installed the drivers to the most current drivers available and in doing so updated any firmware....and there was no change. I was not the one who set up the RAID so I don't know how it was created. It's an Enhance UltraStore R16 and I've been using it without issues since January 2007 and this freezing thing has been intermittent for a few months now but now it's constant and annoying. I've verified the disk through disk utility but I don't have any software to check the integrity otherwise. Do you have any recommendations as to what software I could use to do this?
Message was edited by: Emily80

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

I am trying to move my old external hard drive (time machine ) to a new one

I have tried to move my old external drive time machine to a new external drive:
1. have formated the new time external hard drive
2. I have unlocked and ignored the drives ownership
3. I have turn of the new hard drive and them tried dragging the file (backups.backupdp) to my new external hard drive
when I do that a message come up that says "this volume has that wrong case sensitivity for a backup"
What does this mean and how do I fix it?
Thanks
Denise

Although the documentation says you can copy Time Machine backups in the Finder, it's very slow and sometimes doesn't work at all.
Launch Disk Utility, open the built-in help, and search for the term "Duplicate." Follow the instructions. All existing data on the destination volume will be erased. That shouldn't be a problem, because you don't want to mix backup and non-backup data on the same drive anyway. Turn Time Machine OFF in its preference pane while copying the volume.

How to find movie file from external hard drive in imovie?

i shot 29 gig of video on the road. i imported it into my macbook to the desktop. then i drag and dropped it into an external hard drive. now i have since dragged and dropped the file to my imac at home to work with it in imovie, but imovie cannot find any mpeg or any such movie file. i then tried to put it back to the canon hg10. after i plugged in the canon, i dragged the movie folder to the canon and it imported 29 gig. but the canon does not show any new movie files in the video mode. when i open import options in imovie, no new movies appear. any ideas?

For iMovie to see your file, it must be either on the internal drive, or it can also be on an external drive that is formatted as Mac OSX Extended (Journaled). (Not FAT32).
For the internal drive, your clips must be stored in a folder inside the Movies/iMovie Events/ folder.
For the external drive, your clips must be stored in a folder within the iMovie Events folder at the top level of the drive. Move your files there and then start iMovie, and it should see them.
Message was edited by: AppleMan1958

Locked Windows/Folder, Cannot Move Files On External Hard Drive

I'm running Tiger 10.4.11 on an iMac and am the only user, and therefore, administrator. I'm encountering a weird, albeit small, problem on one of my external hard drives (Seagate 320 gigs): I have boatloads of video files stored on the drive, but suddenly cannot move files into folders within the drive (I see a white "do not enter" kind of a sign over whatever icon I try to move). I can't move these files off the drive and onto my iMac's internal hard drive, either. I can only delete them. I can add new files to the drive, but then cannot move those either (can only delete them).
The folders and drive are not locked, I have read & write access, etc., so there doesn't seem to be any reason for me to be barred from moving items. Any clues? Many thanks.

Thank you for your reply and kind welcome.
That's a great tip, but that box was already checked, so I'm afraid that wasn't a solution. The problem ended up "solving itself" after I left my machine off for the day while I went to work. I may never know why that error occurred, but I certainly don't care, as long as it doesn't happen again. Take care.

Lost iPod in fire and trying to restore files from external hard drive

I've got a similar issue to folks who are trying to restore their Library from an external source, but with a new twist. We suffered a house fire, and my iPod was destroyed. Amazingly an external hard drive I had done some backups to survived (mostly) and I have several of my iTunes songs, but when I tried to import them into my new computer (and new license of iTunes) I can't get anything to work. I tried manually copying the files over to the iTunes folder and then "importing a file" into my Library but it doesn't do anything. any ideas?

Thank you for the suggestion. I was moving them in Finder, (just as the Genius showed me but obviously he wasn't quite a genius after all!) However, even after moving a file onto the external drive within iMovie like you suggested, it's still not working. Trying to open the files from the external drive, they will only open in QuickTime Player, and also only as individual clips. Any other suggestions would be very much welcomed!
Thank you.

Automator to move files to external hard drive?

Is it possible to have "automator move files uploaded to my computer automatically from my phone, via motocast (Droid Razr Maxx) which sits in a "pictures" subfolder, and move it to the external hard drive i use to back up my macbook air weekly? I occasionally take photos and videos and were wondering if this is at all possible to do being that I only connect my external hard drive occasionally and not regularly. The external hard drive was partitioned to have a back up drive for time machine and another drive for other (pics&vids) use.
If it is possible can the automator task then trash all files in original pictures subfolder when task is complete to avoid any memory use on macbook air?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

sdiaz34 wrote:
The external hard drive was partitioned to have a back up drive for time machine and another drive for other (pics&vids) use.
If it is possible can the automator task then trash all files in original pictures subfolder when task is complete to avoid any memory use on macbook air?
You really don't want to do that.
You'll have only one copy of the files, on the external HD. When (not if) it fails, they'll be lost.
For best results, get another external HD for your photos. Then let Time Machine back up both your internal HD and the external. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for details.

Movie files to External Hard Drive - HELP

While I still have roughly 35 GB left on my hard drive, I do plan to purchase an external hard drive to additional space. With that said, my lack of knowledge around the inner workings of iMovie and the physical movie data make me pause in terms of moving items over to the external hard drive. I don't want to (a) lose anything or (b) cause issues with any of my existing projects and associated web gallery postings.
Any suggestions on how and what to transition onto an external hard drive? In terms of my historic use, I typically load movie clips from my Sony HD camera, which in turn places these files into the event library. I have then taken snippets and placed them into various projects. I primarily use these projects to share via web gallery, with little creation of any other movie-type files.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Any similar advice for photos (which I typically edit in iPhoto) would be appreciated as well.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Basically, just make sure the external drive is formatted as a Mac OS Extended drive and make sure you perform all transfers to the external drive from within iMovie '08. (I.e., doing so externally can orphan resource pointers active in projects currently being edited.) Current Events on your internal drive can be dropped to the external drive once it is visible within iMovie '08 and the application will handle the creation any needed folders, transfer the data files, as well as, update the the resource pointers for any projects in the process of being edited.
Any similar advice for photos (which I typically edit in iPhoto) would be appreciated as well.
See iPhoto Help ("Moving your iPhoto Library folder to a new location") for specific instructions and warnings.

Best way to move files to external hard drive

Hi All,
My internal hard drive is nearly full. I''ve bought a 2TB external hard drive to copy my Aperture library to.
I'm working on a 27" iMac (10.6.8), with a 1TB hd and Aperture 2.0. External hard drive is an Omega eGo with firewire 800 (Mac Format).
Looking at some of the posts here, its seems that the simplest method is to copy the library (drag and drop) to a folder on the external HD. Then double click to open, at which point this will be the default library. After checking all ok, delete the original library.
I've also read suggestions that running your library on an external hard drive compromises speed, and that the files should be referenced externally with the library running internally for maximum performance.
Can anyone give me some advice as the best method to work work from the external hard drive? All my files are currently managed (around 820 GB)
I like the idea of something so simple as drag and drop to change my library's location, the delete the old one. but if I'm going to switch to external hd, I'd like to set it up correctly, from the start.
Thanks for your help.
Richard

Why not do this. Copy the library over to the external drive, leave the library on the internal drive alone for the moment and run off the external library.
If Aperture performs OK for your needs leave the library on the external and delete the library on the internal drive. During this period of testing you could switch between the two in order to get a real fell for how one performs over the other.
If it turns out that having the library on the external drive is causing problems then keep the library on the internal drive and switch to a referenced master setup with the masters on the external drive.
Remember that while you are testing this out and switching between the two libraries changes made to one library ill not be reflected in the other. So just use this time for testing and make sure any work you do in one library you can redo in the other.

Deleting time machine files off external hard drive

Can someone please help me?? I stored my time machine backups on an external hard drive which is now full because of time machine! I just want to delete the time machine files so I have space again on my external drive. Can anyone please explain how to delete this? Nothing seems to be working.

Can someone please help me?? I stored my time machine backups on an external hard drive which is now full because of time machine! I just want to delete the time machine files so I have space again on my external drive. Can anyone please explain how to delete this? Nothing seems to be working.

When/how do you move files off of Hard Drive to make new room.

Maybe this is simple; I understand so far that you can choose the Library folder for iTunes and that that is the source of all songs, album cover art, everything that iTunes needs to display all the information for tunes. Please correct me if I am wrong on that.
When the directory fills up to the point that it is taking over your startup drive, then the iTunes library folder can be moved to an external backup drive and iTunes can start up fresh, empty, and ready to receive new songs. Also, Please correct me if that is not correct.
How many songs do you contain in iTunes before you consider it is too unwieldy and time to start fresh?
I've never done this before, new first-time iPod user here, and would like some pointers on how to handle this.
Thanks In Advance,
Ken

When the directory fills up to the point that it is taking over your startup drive, then the iTunes library folder can be moved to an external backup drive and iTunes can start up fresh, empty, and ready to receive new songs.
You can move it but you do not need to "start fresh".
Just move the folder to the external drive and use it for everything.
No need to use the internal drive.
1 Quit iTunes.
2 Move the entire iTunes folder including music to the external drive.
3 Restart iTunes holding (Shift-Windows, Option-Mac).
4 Select Choose library. Select the library in the folder you just moved.
5 Move the old iTunes folder to the trash but do not empty it.
6 Restart iTunes normally and verify the songs work. If they do, empty the trash.
How many songs do you contain in iTunes before you consider it is too unwieldy and time to start fresh?
Over 100,000 songs and it will start to slow down.

Mail Crashes when trying to attach files from External Disk Drive

Before Snow Leopard, NO problems. After SL, I have problems in many areas.
Let's tackle one here: Mail freezes when I am trying to attach a file from my EDD. This did not happen with Leopard.
Help!

Try trashing iMovie preferences. They are in your home library>preferences.

Tried to move itunes to external hard drive, now can't find my library...any others have this problem?

I read instructions to copy over my iTunes library and link it through....edit/preferences/advanced by changing the location and this did not happen. All my songs did not get pulled into iTunes when I opened it back up again... it was empty. I tried to change it back and forth with no luck. I read more about it and moved the iTunes Media and other folders to new locations,,,still no luck. I even moved all the folders back to original location and could not establish the link from the advanced section. Any one know how to repair this issue and re-establish my library to iTunes again? Thanks

If the "new PC" is not an Apple, then your Apple Apps will not be compatible with the PC. So you are NOT able to transfer them.
Hope this helps

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.

White Prohibitory Sign When Trying To Move Files Off External Hard Drive

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