Force Move - finder is copying ; (

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Level 1

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Force Move - finder is copying ; (

I seem to be having a very inconvenient issue in Finder.

I have been using it to search all my folders - imported from a "pc" organization - for all images so that I can archive these off my hard drive. Since iPhoto has basically duplicated this data on import I want to archive the originals to a couple of external drives. Also, it is taking up a large amount of additional space.

I am part way through the process of moving images from one folder "Folder 1" to a folder at the same level of heirarchy "Folder 1 IMAGES". I was doing this by selecting the images that Finder found and dragging and dropping them to the new IMAGES folder.

There are a large amount of images and when I tried to do them all at once I got an error that said the operation could not be completed because one of the files was in use. Obviously this also sometimes happens when a file is locked.

The problem is that I was part way through a move-drag and dropping /groups/ of files (so I could isolate the problem file) when Finder seems to have switched to COPYING these groups of files. I could tell this was the case because I started seeing the green plus icon.

Now I can't really even tell where I am at with this but I would like to start to FORCE moving the rest of the images from the original folder to the new folder so I know that I have not deleted any data. After all, these will be archived off of the hard drive and I believe they are all in iPhoto already.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks Much.

Part

Mac OS X (10.6.3), Mac Pro, MacBook Pro

Posted on May 17, 2010 9:07 AM

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Answer 1

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Barney-15E

Level 10

112,602 points

May 17, 2010 10:28 AM in response to Hotwheels22

If you hold down the command key it will try to move the file instead of copying. However, if it cannot delete the original, it will copy the file. You likely have some odd permission issues on the files or containing folder that won't allow you to delete. Therefore, you will see the copy behavior you have seen.

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Answer 2

Hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

15 points

May 17, 2010 3:07 PM in response to Barney-15E

Hi Barney, All.

Is there a way to move multiple selected files in this manner? If I hold down the command key while drag and dropping a group of files it only takes the one particular file that I happened to click on for the drag and drop. All the other files stay selected but they don't move.

This is sort of creating a mess over here. Is there some other workaround? At this point I am tempted to empty the trash, right click on the group select, select Move to Trash - and then try and copy or move the files from the trash to where they are supposed to go.

Also, was there a utility that I need to run to myself full permission on my files so that I can move them instead of my mac wanting to copy them? I downloaded something like this that let me drag and drop folders over an icon to grant myself full permissions and unlock everything (the files are coming from PC, sadly) but I can't seem to find it on the net or on my hard drive...any ideas?

This one is getting a bit beastly over here...

Thanks,

Jonathan

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,602 points

May 17, 2010 4:49 PM in response to Hotwheels22

Hotwheels22 wrote:
Hi Barney, All.

Is there a way to move multiple selected files in this manner? If I hold down the command key while drag and dropping a group of files it only takes the one particular file that I happened to click on for the drag and drop. All the other files stay selected but they don't move.

Drag first, then hold down the command key while dropping

This is sort of creating a mess over here. Is there some other workaround? At this point I am tempted to empty the trash, right click on the group select, select Move to Trash - and then try and copy or move the files from the trash to where they are supposed to go.

Also, was there a utility that I need to run to myself full permission on my files so that I can move them instead of my mac wanting to copy them? I downloaded something like this that let me drag and drop folders over an icon to grant myself full permissions and unlock everything (the files are coming from PC, sadly) but I can't seem to find it on the net or on my hard drive...any ideas?

I mostly use the Terminal to change permissions, but I think [BatChmod|http://www.macchampion.com/arbysoft> is a great GUI tool for doing the same.
However, I'm not sure what it does with ACLs. Windows uses them and they may be set with some ACLs that will also restrict you. The easiest way to clear them is with the Terminal:

sudo chmod -R -N /path/to/folder

The easiest way to get the path to folder is to type the command and the options, leave a space, and then drag the folder that contains the files onto the Terminal window.

This one is getting a bit beastly over here...

Thanks,

Jonathan

Message was edited by: Barney-15E

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Answer 4

Hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

15 points

Jun 4, 2010 8:36 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hi Barney, All.

Thanks.

A fwiw for the ether.

This was not fun but it was due to various permission issues with imported PC data. Solution by one of the Geeks was eventually (and finally!) to run a Terminal routine (I forget the exact code), then find the remaining files which were locked and to change the locked settings on the remaining files.

Also, I think an Option + I will get you a single Get Info pane that you can multiple change permissions with.

For some reason BatchMod did not do the trick on this one though I have no idea why.

Had me hung up for a month.

- Jonathan

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Answer 5

Hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

15 points

Jun 5, 2010 12:57 PM in response to Hotwheels22

thanks

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