How to copy data from NTFS external drive to AFS drive.

LCMan wrote:

MrHoffman wrote:

LCMan wrote:

I don't have Windows computer. I only have Macs.

Temporarily offload the contents of the NTFS storage device, use Disk Utility to reformat it as HFS+ or APFS, and the whole problem goes away.

Finder should be able to offload contents at least directory by directory.

Are you saying reformat my NTFS external drive that I have data one to HFS+ or APFS? If so, don't this erase all the data in the drive?

That would be the “Temporarily offload the contents of the NTFS storage” part of that suggestion, yes.

Once the data is temporarily elsewhere — onto another external storage device, to internal Mac storage, to iCloud Drive, whatever — the NTFS volume then can be reformatted, the contents re-loaded, and the whole NTFS problem goes away.

If you’re not using that storage to directly connect to and then transfer files directly to or directly from Microsoft Windows, then there’s no need to have the NTFS format around, and there are reasons not to have NTFS around.

If you bought that storage and it came pre-formatted NTFS, usual would be to reformat before first use.

Error -50 is an input-output error of some sort. Could be the format, or a corruption, or could be the source or destination storage hardware is failing.

macOS can read most NTFS volumes, but cannot write to them.

If you have an add-on tool such as Paragon NTFS installed, check for updates to that.

You can try dismounting everything, unplugging it all, and rebooting and reconnecting. That might clear things.

Does this error also happen when copying from NTFS external to internal, or from internal to APFS?

Is the data on the NTFS external volume available on Mac, or Windows running elsewhere? (Is there a source of data that doesn’t involve this USB external?)

rsibrent wrote:

I've been working with this all afternoon. I have a similar situation with an external NTFS drive that I want to move to an archive drive. Copying the files is not a problem but creating folders in the copy operation apparently is not allowed either by the Apple/Microsoft agreement on NTFS or because of the NTFS security protocols. NTFS is pretty strict on the ownership and location of files. Folders have security permissions so I assume they can't be created in the Apple file structure. So unless a third party utility is used it looks like the files are going to have to be copied into folders that are created on the Mac.

Mac implements read-only NTFS. Need read-write? That means Paragon or such.

Or set up a file server. Set up the file server on Windows and pull files from the Windows file server to Mac, or set up the file server on macOS and push files from Windows to the Mac file server.

But "getting them off the NTFS volume" involves copying them to another drive somewhere. Doing this "in chunks" is painstaking since the folder structure would have to be created manually. And in the case of the OP, the only drive available is a Mac - which is the essence of the problem.

I found a solution in my case. I have a Synology NAS that has a USB port. I assume Synology either has licensing to work with NTFS or SMB handles the translation issues. I connected my external drive to the NAS USB port, mounted it as a share on the Mac and copied directly to my Mac AFS drive - complete with the folder structure. No errors. I assume these files could also be copied to the NAS first then to the Mac but I didn't try that.

Hope this helps somebody here.

LCMan wrote:

I can open and play the files on the NTFS external drive. I'm not trying to write to it. I'm simply trying to copy the folder that contains subfolders/files to my AFS drive.

If I select all individual files and copy to my AFS drive, it works fine but I have a tone of subfolders and I don't want to go to every individual folders and recreate the folder then copy all the files. Is there a better way than this slow method?

After you have updated to current on macOS and (if you’re using it) on Paragon NTFS…

Get the data off the HDD however you can, on the off chance that the HDD is failing.

Or transfer the data from an SMB server running on the original remote Mac or Windows server, and eliminate the external HDD from the transfer.

Then once the data is retrieved, test the external storage, and then reformat the external drive into something other than NTFS.

Or set up an SMB server if the remote server is network-accessible, and use that.

I've been working with this all afternoon. I have a similar situation with an external NTFS drive that I want to move to an archive drive. Copying the files is not a problem but creating folders in the copy operation apparently is not allowed either by the Apple/Microsoft agreement on NTFS or because of the NTFS security protocols. NTFS is pretty strict on the ownership and location of files. Folders have security permissions so I assume they can't be created in the Apple file structure. So unless a third party utility is used it looks like the files are going to have to be copied into folders that are created on the Mac.

LCMan wrote:

I don't have Windows computer. I only have Macs.

Temporarily offload the contents of the NTFS storage device, use Disk Utility to reformat it as HFS+ or APFS, and the whole problem goes away.

Finder should be able to offload contents at least directory by directory.

rsibrent wrote:

The OP doesn't have a Windows computer AFAIK. On a Windows machine you could copy the files from the NTFS drive to a Mac-compatible formatted drive like FAT or ExFAT which would remove the NTFS security information. Then you could copy the files from the Mac-compatible drive to the Mac.

Alas, no Windows, no need for Windows, no need for FAT or ExFAT, and no need for NTFS.

Which is why I suggested getting the individual files off that NTFS volume in batches or in clumps of some or all of the files in a directory or however else, then reformat the NTFS volume, then reload the volume with files, and get NTFS out of the configuration.

LCMan wrote:

I'm trying to get all the files off of the NTFS volume. I just don't want recreate all the individual folders. I have no need for NTFS on this drive anymore.

Paragon offers a ten-day free trial of their product.

Maybe that works here?

That's assuming the NTFS isn't simply corrupted, too.

Macs can open and view NTFS files. I think you will have to recreate the folders on the AFS drive then copy the files into the folders. Here's a link to Using and NTFS drive on your Mac

The OP doesn't have a Windows computer AFAIK. On a Windows machine you could copy the files from the NTFS drive to a Mac-compatible formatted drive like FAT or ExFAT which would remove the NTFS security information. Then you could copy the files from the Mac-compatible drive to the Mac.