Benway1
Level 1 (4 points)
iCloud

Q: Cannot backup my files / copy my files and folders due to error message " The operation can’t be completed because an item with the name “.DS_Store” already exists. "

Hi Apple community!

I have a [rather worrying] problem.


When I try to copy all my files from my documents on my mac [or the entire documents folder] into an external drive, I get this error message

 

" The operation can’t be completed because an item with the name “.DS_Store” already exists. "

 

I am not given an option to skip this file or anything else.

But I simply cannot complete the operation!

 

I have tried deleting a few of the .ds_store files, [both in the original and in the destinations]

but no success.

The same thing keeps happening.

 

At first, this was just happening when I was trying to backup to my dropbox folder [the one on my mac's harddrive, which gets synced to the cloud],

but then I tried to back up my documents to my external hard drive, and I realized it is giving me the same error message.

 

So effectively, it seems I cannot backup my files anywhere!

 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Posted on Aug 30, 2013 6:49 PM

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  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 30, 2013 8:10 PM in response to Benway1
    Level 10 (207,963 points)
    Applications
    Aug 30, 2013 8:10 PM in response to Benway1

    Please read this whole message before doing anything.

    This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

    The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, or by corruption of certain system caches.

     

    Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
       
    Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and  Wi-Fi on certain iMacs. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.

    The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

     

    Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

     

    After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

  • by Benway1,

    Benway1 Benway1 Aug 31, 2013 5:03 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Aug 31, 2013 5:03 AM in response to Linc Davis


    Hi Linc.

    Thank you very much for your help!

    I tried your advice, booted in safe mode [every running process was very slow, and clunky, so it seemed clear that it was in safe mode as you described]

     

    Tested while in safe mode;

    The problem is still there.

     

    Rebooted into normal mode, and the problem is still there also.

     

    Thanks very much in advance for any extra help you can offer.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 31, 2013 6:25 AM in response to Benway1
    Level 10 (207,963 points)
    Applications
    Aug 31, 2013 6:25 AM in response to Benway1

    In the Finder, press the key combination shift-command-C, or select

     

    Go ▹ Computer

     

    from the menu bar. A window will open showing all mounted volumes. Select the one you're copying to and open the Info window. What is shown as the Format in the General section?

  • by Benway1,

    Benway1 Benway1 Aug 31, 2013 5:23 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Aug 31, 2013 5:23 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Hi Linc.

    Thanks again.

     

    I formatted the external drive myself, and it is mac osx extended journaled, so it should be fine.

     

    I'm not sure if that's what you're assessing, but anyway.....


    To further test this, I have just attempted to copy all my documents into another folder on my INTERNAL hard drive,

    and I am getting the same error message!

     

    There is nothing special about this folder. Just a regular folder on my internal drive.

     

    There are about 150mb of docs in the original documents folder, spread through a few subfolders.

     

    Thanks again for further help.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 31, 2013 5:31 PM in response to Benway1
    Level 10 (207,963 points)
    Applications
    Aug 31, 2013 5:31 PM in response to Benway1

    Do you have any complete, current backups?

  • by Benway1,

    Benway1 Benway1 Aug 31, 2013 11:40 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Aug 31, 2013 11:40 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Yes I do.

    I don't use time machine, however;

    I make manual backups of my most important files and folders.

     

    Both to external hd, and to my localized cloud folders, which are then synced to the cloud.

     

    ....although I am unable to do any backup at the present, due to this problem.

    And there is lots of "important" text I want to back up.

     

    [important to me]

     

    I would prefer not to do a full system restore if possible.

     

    I am not much of a "power user" and haven't done anything weird to my system,

    which adds to why this is puzzling.

     

    I probably wouldn't trust a time machine backup currently anyway,

    with this problem the way it is.

     

    I'm not sure if I am "jumping the gun" with your suggestions.

    Let me know your thoughts if you can.

     

    Thanks.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 31, 2013 11:46 PM in response to Benway1
    Level 10 (207,963 points)
    Applications
    Aug 31, 2013 11:46 PM in response to Benway1

    The question is whether you're willing to risk losing whatever data has not already been backed up. If you are, and only if you are, proceed as follows.

    Boot into Recovery mode, launch Disk Utility, select the startup volume, and run Repair Disk (not  Repair Permissions.) If any problems are found, repeat. Then reboot as usual.

  • by Benway1,

    Benway1 Benway1 Sep 5, 2013 12:11 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 5, 2013 12:11 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks Linc, I'll give it a try and report back.

     

    I can certainly backup my docs to an external hd,

    but will "Repair Disk" possibly mess up other files and folders elsewhere?
    I don't use time machine, I do manual backups. I'm just wondering if I need to backup anything else, if anything.

     

    Sorry for my late reply.

     

    Thanks.

  • by Benway1,

    Benway1 Benway1 Sep 5, 2013 1:55 AM in response to Benway1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 5, 2013 1:55 AM in response to Benway1

    No wait.... I can't "certainly backup my docs to an external hd" as I just said in the above post;

    that was part of the original problem.  I'm dumb!

    [I'm really really tired right now, my brain-memory is not working]

    I just got the same error message when I tried to do copy my docs to an external hd.

     

    ...So I just spent a while copying and pasting docs from individual folders, and I seem to have got most of the important stuff, but that was very tedious.

     

    I will report back soon.

  • by Benway1,

    Benway1 Benway1 Oct 5, 2013 8:42 PM in response to Benway1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 5, 2013 8:42 PM in response to Benway1

    Sorry it's been a while since I updated.

     

    I am still having this problem.
    Trying to back up things unsuccessfully now.

     

    This is worrying.

     

    Linc :

    I don't really want to risk losing my data !

     

    That's why I'm trying to backup in the first place I guess.

  • by Benway1,

    Benway1 Benway1 Oct 22, 2013 8:41 PM in response to Benway1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 22, 2013 8:41 PM in response to Benway1

    Does anybody have a solution for this?
    I am STILL experiencing this error!
    I feel, on the part of apple, that I should NOT be having this problem!

    There is no good reason for it to my knowledge,

    since I have not done anything strange to my system,

    and there is another thread on these forums with other people experiencing the same issue!

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/22904933#22904933

     

    I cannot successfuly back up my data, on an external drive or on cloud storage!

     

    Please somebody help; I need a solution.

  • by Benway1,

    Benway1 Benway1 Oct 22, 2013 8:43 PM in response to Benway1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 22, 2013 8:43 PM in response to Benway1

    I cannot even copy all the data from my USB Sticks to my external hard drive.

    So I have USB sticks filled with data, and no way to clear them !.

     

    I feel this is fairly silly.

  • by cyberchucker,

    cyberchucker cyberchucker Jan 11, 2014 2:12 AM in response to Benway1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 11, 2014 2:12 AM in response to Benway1

    This is clearly an Apple bug, but here's a quick and easy workaround that worked for me:

     

    • I was trying to copy a big (800 GB) folder from one external drive to the root of another. It consistently failed with the above error message.
    • My fix was simply to create a dummy folder in the root of the "To" drive and copy my big folder to that.
    • After it ran (3 hours, no problems), all the files were successfully copied to the dummy folder, so I just dragged that to the root and deleted the dummy folder.

  • by MollyK83,

    MollyK83 MollyK83 Jan 15, 2014 7:27 AM in response to Benway1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 15, 2014 7:27 AM in response to Benway1

    I had this same problem with a couple folders when trying to copy to an external HD and a backup server. I got around the problem by compressing the entire folder and then copying over. Once it was copied over I uncompressed the folder and everything was copied successfully. Hope this helps!

     

    Molly

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