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The Cardinal
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Q: The alias can't be opened because the original item can't be found

I have a G-RAID2 drive connected to my time capsule by USB. I use it for time machine backups. It backs up no problem and I can also restore from it. The TC is connected to my iMac by Ethernet.

My problem is that if I try to access the G-RAID2 drive in the finder on my iMac the drive is mounted onto my desktop but i get a message telling me that 'The alias "G-RAID2" can't be opened because the original item can't be found." and I am asked to delete or fix the alias.

If I connect to the time capsule from my MacBookPro using Airport I can mount the G-RAID2 and view the contents!

Can anybody tell me why I cannot access the G-RAID2 drive from my iMac? I have tried repairing the disk in Disk Utility, I have tried fixing the alias (but I cannot select the drive) and I have tried deleting the alias, without any success. I have also tried connecting the drive directly to my iMac but I still have the problem.

I hope somebody can help!

MacBook Pro 17/2.16 GHz & iMac 24, Mac OS X (10.5.7), iPhone

Posted on Jul 7, 2009 2:53 AM

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The Cardinal

Q: The alias can't be opened because the original item can't be found

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  • by Chrisfriend,

    Chrisfriend Chrisfriend Dec 24, 2009 5:08 AM in response to duplechain
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 24, 2009 5:08 AM in response to duplechain
    Changing the alias bit fixed the issue in my situation, as well. I'm surprised this isn't something checked in a routine Disk Utility scan (which I ran on the drive out of sheer panic that I was losing my data). While numerous other issues were found and fixed, this single-bit error persisted.

    Thanks for the solution!

  • by arunjitsingh,

    arunjitsingh arunjitsingh Jan 4, 2010 5:45 AM in response to The Cardinal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 4, 2010 5:45 AM in response to The Cardinal
    Having a very similar problem with my Time Capsule (1TB).
    I can connect to it fine, with any computer in the house. I'm not using it for backup, rather as a network storage.
    With Leopard, I could connect to the drive, have it's alias on the Desktop and use it from there. I also created some aliases for folders inside the drive, which worked from everywhere (open/save dialogs, etc).
    Now, with 10.6 and 10.6.2, I can't use the Desktop shortcuts, can't use any aliases for folders within the drive and can't even access anything beyond the root of the TC volume from Open/Save dialogs!

    I can only use the drive from the Finder. Disk images on the drive work normally.

  • by rafaprimi,

    rafaprimi rafaprimi Jan 24, 2010 7:40 PM in response to duplechain
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 24, 2010 7:40 PM in response to duplechain
    I had the same problem and that worked for me too! :]
    Thanks a lot, I was really freaking out with this bug!
    Wish Apple can help us on that in the future!
    Thanks!!

  • by mrzzmr,

    mrzzmr mrzzmr Mar 17, 2010 5:37 PM in response to The Cardinal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2010 5:37 PM in response to The Cardinal
    I had the same problem. I have a Western Digital firewire drive (LaCie), upgraded to Snow Leopard, and started getting "The alias can't be opened because the original item can't be found". Fix alias and delete alias don't fix it. Disk Utility repair doesn't fix it. Multiple people suggested downloading Path Finder, then use Get Info to disable the alias bit. I tried that but the Get Info command is never enabled.

    But then I figured out how to disable the alias bit using the command line. You have to have Xcode installed. Then run Terminal and type:

    /usr/bin/SetFile -a a /Volumes/<YourDiskName>

    Problem solved!

  • by Spiritua Reborn,

    Spiritua Reborn Spiritua Reborn Apr 5, 2010 12:07 PM in response to mrzzmr
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 5, 2010 12:07 PM in response to mrzzmr
    The "/usr/bin/SetFile -a a /Volumes/YourDiskName" fixed the problem in my SL 10.6.3 MacBook, although when i used the comand in terminal a new error pops XD, said "No such file or directory", then i went to "/usr/bin" and searched for the "SetFile" file, and oh! surprise, "SetFile " wasn't there, so i turned on my iMac Leopard 10.5.8, searched for the mising file, copied it to my MacBook and then run the comand again in terminal, i was lucky that the leopard file still works in snow leopard.
    I'll leave here a link for download the "SetFile" (in case you dont have it):

    http://plunder.com/463cdeb573

    Once you download, uncompress and place it into the "/usr/bin" directory run the comand in terminal and your desktop alias should work again.
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