(Error code -36)

It may be helpful to know if the drive is FireWire or USB? If FireWire, is it FireWire 800 or 400? Is the drive the type that uses the port for power, or does it have its own power supply? Was the drive partitioned and formatted with your old Mac, or was it erased (reformatted) when you started using it with the new iMac? Is if formatted for Mac OS X, or is it possibly formatted for Windows? The Mac format is called +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+.

Also, regarding your new iMac, is it one of the current new iMac models. Or, since your profile says iMac G5 and you are posting in the iMac G5 category (not the Intel-based iMac category), is it an older model that is "new" to you? I'll assume it is an Intel (not G5 PowerPC) iMac for the rest of this post...

This Apple article has information regarding +Error Code -36+.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2433

If this drive only has files that are backups of files that exist in your primary storage drive, you may want to erase the drive and re-copy the files over for the backup.

If you decide to do so, I would do it as follows to test the drive in the process. Run Disk Utility. Select this external drive in the sidebar. Be sure to select the DRIVE and not the volume indented under the drive.

If you want to see if there is data corruption on the drive currently, you can go to the +First Aid+ tab and run +Repair Disk+. If an error is reported and repaired, you can try using the drive again to see if the +Error Code -36+ problem still recurs. If not, you may have resolved the problem.

(Note: The next part will obviously erase whatever is currently on the drive.)

Otherwise, go to the Erase tab with that external drive selected in the sidebar. Click on +Security Options+, and select the option to +Zero Out Data+. This will write zeros to all drive sectors as part of the erase process, so it serves as a stress test. If the drive is having problems or becoming unreliable, it will stall or error out. Depending on the capacity of the external drive, this process can take several hours to complete, but the progress bar should should show steady progress. If it completes in a reasonable time, the drive is probably fine physically.

To confirm that it is now set up optimally for use with an Intel Mac, select the drive in the Disk Utility sidebar and look at the bottom of the window. For +Partition Map Scheme+, it should say +GUID Partition Table+. Then, click on the volume (under the drive in sidebar). For Format, it should say +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+.

Use Finder to re-copy all the files you want to back up from your primary storage to this external drive. Hopefully, this error does not happen anymore.

The current iMacs are Intel Macs. You can post your future questions here, in the category for +Intel-based iMacs+

http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=189

If the Western Digital external drive was one that is marketed to Windows users, it was probably formatted for Windows, using a format called FAT32. This format makes it useable in Mac OS X, but it is not ideal. For one thing, it has a maximum file size of about 4GB, so any file larger that limit that you are trying to copy over may be the reason for this error. It may also explain why the package does not work (if it is over the limit) but individual parts in the package do work; or it is possible that FAT32 does not support files that are packages (not sure about that one). Of course, if the same items work from the MacBook, then the file size limit would not be the cause.

You can check the current formatting on that drive by running Disk Utility. Select the drive on the sidebar. Note what it says for +Partition Map Scheme+. Then select the volume (under the drive). Note what it says for Format.

Please post back with what you find...

No problem, regarding the iMac type. I read posts in both categories... 🙂

So that drive is formatted for Windows. FAT32 is not that efficient for larger size drives (anything above a few GBs), and it has the issue with not being able to store any file that is larger than about 4GB. Therefore, since the data on the drive is available elsewhere, you should erase it so that it gets formatted for Mac OS X.

Just to be thorough (because it is going from Windows format to Mac format), you should do it as follows. Run Disk Utility. Again, in the sidebar, select the drive (not the volume). Go to the Partition tab. Reset the +Volume Scheme+ to *1 Partition*. Click the Options button. Select *GUID Partition Table*, if it is not already select. Back on the main window, name the volume and set the Format to *Mac OS Extended (Journaled)*. Click the Apply button to re-partition and reformat the drive.

To confirm it is now set up optimally for using with an Intel Mac, for +Partition Map Scheme+, it should say +GUID Partition Table+. For Format, it should say +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+.

Copy the files you want to back up onto the drive. I think your problem will be resolved.

If you are only using those flash drives on Macs (no need to access them from a Windows PC), you may want to reformat them for Mac OS X. However, flash drives are much smaller, so FAT32 should be reasonably efficient, as long as you don't get close to the 4GB file size limit.

You should reformat that external drive for Mac OS X anyways, because large drives that are only used on Macs should not be formatted FAT32. So I would do that first and see if the problem still recurs or not.