Error code -36

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Level 1

4 points

Error code -36

Hi all,

can someone please help me get thru this dreaded transfer code? I am trying to transfer photos and videos to my brand new external ssd. I am able to transfer thousands of photos and then boom, I get the dreaded “error code -36”.

I am running latest os 10.14 Mojave on my late 2013 iMac. Maxed out Ram, HD processor. HD only 40% used.

I have tried what seems seems like everything including: 1) dot_clean, enabling read/write permission on all files, first aid on HD and SSD. I am at a loss for words right now as I have spent more hours than I would like to admit to fix this!

Any help is is truly appreciated :)

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Aug 8, 2019 8:06 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,144 points

Aug 8, 2019 8:16 AM in response to brutus4

It might be a symptom of your internal HD failing, or a damaged image file as -36 is an I/O error which is inherently obvious from that dialog.

Boot into Recovery (⌘-R) and run Disk Utility FIrst Aid on your internal drive, and the external drive. Hope for a green result on both.

How much remaining available storage is on your internal drive? Click on the MacIntosh HD icon on your Desktop and perform a Show Info (⌥⌘-i) on it.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,144 points

Aug 8, 2019 9:00 AM in response to brutus4

Disk Utility First Aid will not fix drive hardware issues, just the filesystems. You may also receive a warning or red First Aid result if the drive is in sufficiently bad shape that it borks Disk Utility First Aid.

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Answer 3

brutus4 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 12, 2019 3:50 PM in response to VikingOSX

Hi again. So I finally got around to your suggestion of running first aid in recovery mode. The good news is that my drive is ok. The bad news is I still get the error code. I have attached a screen shot of the first aid completion.

Any other suggestions? I am so demoralized more so because of the 3 videos that are not backed up that I get the same error message on. I am grateful for you taking the time to read my posts!

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Answer 4

Aug 8, 2019 8:19 AM in response to brutus4

If you are using Adobe Photoshop, then one of the modules or pictures may be corrupt.

Just a guess, as out of curiosity I looked up DNG and found it is part of Photoshop. https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/digital-negative.html

VikingOSX may have the better answer.

Have a nice day.

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Answer 5

brutus4 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 8, 2019 8:45 AM in response to VikingOSX

Funny you say that because my computer is starting to fail which is why I am transferring everything in the first place. I have a 1.94tb of 3.12 remaining (pic attached).

I will I’ll try to reboot in recovery when I get home tonight. Just an FYI that I am having the same issue with three videos as well.

So if I get green results do I do something else or will that fix the issue? Either way I will let you know tonight.

On a side I have been using the Dropbox app to auto sync everything to Dropbox so these files are all backed up fortunately to their cloud. I did just purchase a new Mac mini, but I have decided not to install the Dropbox app on this computer as I would rather not tie up the hard drive space and will instead use my 2tb ssd.

hopefully Dropbox will allow me to drag these massive folders of photos over to my new computer from their website so I won’t have to download the app again on my computer to do the sync. ugggghhhh whyyy!

Thank you so much btw for the advice!

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Error code -36

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