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Error -50 trying to move or copy files from WD External to new MacBook Air

Help anyone! I have a fairly new WD External drive with all my life on it, the brand new MacBook Air I just purchased can see the files but every time I try to move or copy any of them I get an error code -50. I am beyond frustrated. I did move them into the cloud and then they disappeared from the cloud. Does anyone know anything? In your debt in you do.


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 7, 2021 9:32 PM

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Posted on Apr 8, 2021 9:50 AM

Error -50 is a very unhelpful generic communications error with a number of possible causes. Something between the drive to which you are downloading and the drive from which it is all coming is not working correctly, with probably dozens of possibilities. Check things such as cables. Inexpensive cables provided with chargers may not be suitable for data transfer.

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Apr 8, 2021 9:50 AM in response to MB_Becky

Error -50 is a very unhelpful generic communications error with a number of possible causes. Something between the drive to which you are downloading and the drive from which it is all coming is not working correctly, with probably dozens of possibilities. Check things such as cables. Inexpensive cables provided with chargers may not be suitable for data transfer.

Apr 22, 2021 2:28 PM in response to MB_Becky

I had this exact issue last week with a WD MyBook 6TB drive. After using disk utility to try to mount and use First Aid the solution for me was to run a scan and repair on a Windows PC. It took a little while but when the repair was complete I was able to mount the drive on my Mac mini and everything was there. Whew! Best of luck to you. I hope it works for you.

Error -50 trying to move or copy files from WD External to new MacBook Air

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