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User profile for user: chadbedinger
chadbedinger Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Can't copy files, Error code -36

Hello,
I noticed after I upgraded to 10.6 I was having issues copying files from one external HD to another.
I have 2 WD MyBook's, one is macOS formatted and one is FAT32 (for pc compatibility.)
I am trying to copy a folder of video files from the mac to the fat drive and I get the error "Finder could not complete the operation because some data in "such and such.m4v" could not be read or written. Error Code - 36 "
the file in question has a valid file name and was copyable in the past. If I don't copy that file it will randomly pick another one in the bunch and stop again. It also will give the error if I try to copy "such and such.m4v" by itself.

I ran repair permissions on the mac formatted external and a PC scan disk on the FAT32 one, still no change. Out of curiosity I tried copying the same files from the external to the interanl HD on my mac and it does the same thing so its not just an issue of copying to the FAT32 drive.

I waited for a couple of updates (installed 10.6.2 last night) and this still has not been fixed. I really need to back these files up to the other drive now, anyone have a solution?

Aluminum 20'' iMac 2.4ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.1), 4gb RAM 320gb HDD

Posted on Nov 11, 2009 7:45 AM

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33 replies
User profile for user: Francine Schwieder
Francine Schwieder
User level: Level 6
19,052 points

Nov 11, 2009 1:22 PM in response to K T

KT: do you have an Apple reference for this statement? AFAIK error -36 has always been an IO error, that is, the system was having a difficulty copying from or writing to the device. Sometimes it is because of a hardware problem (the drive is too full or is failing), it is also distressingly common when trying to write to Windows shares, see for instance here:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2212675&tstart=45

And for an idea of just how long the Windows problem has been around, there is this KB article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1564

I personally saw a lot of error code -36 when I had a failing firewire drive (and it eventually did die, and at the most inconvenient possible time of course).

The solution depends on the real cause of the problem, and while it is possible that it's a permissions problem, it could also be any number of other things as well.

Oh, and here's the exact entry from the MacErrors.h file in Leopard (I haven't located anything similar in Snow Leopard):

ioErr = -36, /*I/O error (bummers)*/

Not particularly informative I'm afraid, but that's all they wrote.
Francine

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Francine
Schwieder
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User profile for user: V.K.
V.K.
User level: Level 9
56,174 points

Nov 11, 2009 1:28 PM in response to Francine Schwieder

Francine,
whatever it is it is most definitely not a permissions problem in this case. there are no permissions problems with FAT drives ever because FAT FS doesn't understand unix permissions and all files on a FAT drive are treated as read+write by everybody by OS X. I've also seen many such problems as the OP is having, which is ones of the reasons to stay away from them. don't know how to resolve it. sometimes repairing the FAT drive from windows helps, sometimes not.
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User profile for user: V.K.
V.K.
User level: Level 9
56,174 points

Nov 11, 2009 1:49 PM in response to chadbedinger

let me get it straight. you get this error when moving the file around on the system drive only? If the FAT drive is not involved which drives are involved exactly? you should repair all the drives in question. for the system drive boot from the snow leopard install dvd and repair it from there. repair disk, not permissions.

also, please click on the reply button next to the post you are replying to and not the one at the top of this thread.
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User profile for user: dianeoforegon
dianeoforegon
User level: Level 5
7,287 points

Nov 11, 2009 1:51 PM in response to chadbedinger

*Error -36 is a hardware error*.

An I/O error almost always means disk damage (hard drive, optical drive, CD). You probably have a bad disk. Try running Disk Utility / Repair Disk.

Error -36 is often just a read/write error e.g. when copying from a bad DVD. If you get this error when copying between hard drives you should start to worry.
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User profile for user: chadbedinger
chadbedinger Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Nov 11, 2009 3:09 PM in response to V.K.

I ran disk utility from the 10.6 install disk and ran a repair disk on both the system disk and my mac formatted USB
there were a couple of errors that were fixed on the system drive and the USB was OK (i had done the repair before in OSX anyway, it was fine then too.)
after reading more threads about the -36 I also cleared the pram (supposedly an apple care solution)

Upon a reboot nothing has changed, I also checked to see if I could COPY a file to another location on the same drive (mac OS USB external) and I cannot. I can however MOVE the file to another location on the same drive.

If I take the files it gets hung up on out of the folder i am trying to copy it will work just fine... they problem with that is some of the folders are 100gb + of files and it stops copying every time it gets to a file with the -36 issue. then i move the file out of the folder and start over.
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User profile for user: V.K.
V.K.
User level: Level 9
56,174 points

Nov 11, 2009 8:31 PM in response to chadbedinger

chadbedinger wrote:
I ran disk utility from the 10.6 install disk and ran a repair disk on both the system disk and my mac formatted USB
there were a couple of errors that were fixed on the system drive and the USB was OK (i had done the repair before in OSX anyway, it was fine then too.)
after reading more threads about the -36 I also cleared the pram (supposedly an apple care solution)


Upon a reboot nothing has changed, I also checked to see if I could COPY a file to another location on the same drive (mac OS USB external) and I cannot.

this indicates disk damage with the actual place where the file is stored on the drive. somewhat surprising that disk repair found no issues with the drive.
could be a bad block. in that case the file is unrecoverable. if you have something like Tech Tools pro i would run it to thoroughly check your hard drive.
I can however MOVE the file to another location on the same drive.

that's normal because in this case only the location of the file in the file system changes. the underlying data does not get touched. that's why moving anything (no matter how big) on the same drive is instantaneous.
If I take the files it gets hung up on out of the folder i am trying to copy it will work just fine... they problem with that is some of the folders are 100gb + of files and it stops copying every time it gets to a file with the -36 issue. then i move the file out of the folder and start over.
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User profile for user: iMiNg@dEu
iMiNg@dEu
User level: Level 1
0 points

Nov 12, 2009 7:18 AM in response to chadbedinger

hi, i noticed this bug today on my newly updated 10.6.2!!!

i am transfering folders from my mac to PC vis usb stick everyday.

i made several test to test the problem.

the conclusion is:

my mac disk is in mac format, my usb is fat32 format.

files can be copied through different formats without problem (NO FOLDER!).

BUT if you have folder created in fat32 system, you can copy it to mac, but no more back to the fat32 usb.

anyone could test it again?

create folder in fat32 usb stick with file, copy to mac, delet your usb folder, and copy the mac folder back to the fat32 usb. then you see the ERROR!
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Can't copy files, Error code -36

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