Problems copying files in Lion?

I had tried terminal command before and it doesn't work when I copy files into iTunes. Greys out and then it's stuck. During converting cd to mp3, if I also copy other files it will freeze the converting of the cd. Just stalls. Apple please release a fix.....

Thanks, this worked for me.

(btw: Cmd+Option+Esc brings up the Force Quit menu, select the Finder and choose 'Relaunch'. Easier than firing up the terminal)

Yes, restarting the finder worked for me as well (I've been able to try it once, though).

This sounds weird, but I tried deleting the file extension before copying and this allows me to copy the file. I just add the file extension back in after copying.

i am currently copying a 1.33gb avi file from my mac to samsung USB external drive. it takes 33 minutes for just 1gb??? do we really need to relaunch finder everytime? i bought macbook air with lion os because im convinced that this machine is fast. but im beggining to have my doubts. any solution for this?

Hello. I have two Macs. On one of them I have been using Lion for several weeks (Developer Preview) without any problems. However, I am experiencing the "finder copy issue" since yesterday, after I had installed Aperture 3.1.3. On the second Mac, the same thing: Lion has been installed when Apple released it. No problems until today. Two hours ago I installed Aperture on this Mac as well, and surprise, the file copy problem startet, too.

So one question to all of you: do you have Aperture 3.1.3 installed?

You can try this:

Go and login on your guest account and try to repeat your actions, copy to desktop or from desktop to USB drive etc, if this works then you could have login issues on your main account.

If so delete: com.apple.finder.plist & com.apple.finder.plist.lockfile from the preferences in your main account and it should resolve it. As these are just preferences they will re-create themselves.

Re-start and try again with your main account.

So one question to all of you: do you have Aperture 3.1.3 installed?

Installed on all Lion machines here, with no problems whatsoever.

Same problem with video files. I haven't tested other files. A reboot seemed to handle the problem. I'm running a new iMac and Lion. Lion is proving to be a pain in the *** so far.

I remembered that it wasn't only Aperture I had installed when the problem started: I also installed "Xee.app", a simple image viewer at the same time. In the meantime I deleted Xee and now have NO file copy issues any more! The interesting thing: Xee adds new file symbols for image files which are displayed in Finder (as file logo). Maybe it is an incompatibility problem with some extensions or links that change the appearence of file logos in finder. E.g. Dropbox had a similar issue: the Finder extension that displays the file sync status in the file logo didn't work after the upgrade to Lion. I had to install a newer (beta) version of dropbox.

I can tell you that I run Lion since the early betas have been released to developers, and I also have been using the golden master (which is the same build as the final release) for several weeks. I never had any file copying issue until I installed Aperture and Xee. No I could solve the issue by uninstalling Xee. For me it's clear: it isn't a direct problem of Lion - probably it's a usual incompatibility issue of software not ready for Lion yet.

I have the same problem with a brand new Macbook air with Lion pre-installed. I have tried every suggestions and nothing works. Force quite and relauch Finder did not work. Cannot copy/paste in Guest account either.

Another symptom I noticed is when I tried to copy anything to the USB drive, the "paste item" option did not even show up.

First time ever Mac user and got a very bad taste in mouth. How could something as fundamental as copy/paste not work in a new OS release that has been hyped so much? This is way worse that the notorious problem Vista had when it was first released. The problem then was it as freakishly slow in copy and paste, but at least it can be done if you are "patient" enough.

How much longer do we have to wait until Apple fix this problem?

Don't worry, Apple is as great as it is hyped out to be. I changed over about two years ago, and this is the very first time I'm having actual issues with my Mac. I'm sure Apple is working on getting these bugs fixed, so hang in there.

I know that you mentioned that you tried everything here, but I just wanted to make sure you tried getting rid of the extensions of the files that you want to move. If you choose the file, go to the secondary menu, choose "Get Info" you will find a box you can click to hide the extension (or just simply delete it yourself). When I did that, my issues related to this went away. I don't know how that worked, but it did.

Good luck and hang in there!!

The fact that this issue exists and is still unsolved says a lot about the Apples attitude towards its user base. Funnily enough if this problem showed up in Windoes 7 launch everybody would have been screaming bloody murder - in Apple world people just offer platitudes...

On the other hand Ktal has almost the right solution - go into finder preferences > advanced and see if you have show extensions enabled. My problem seems to be solved once I disabled that option... Not a permanent solution - at least for me as I need to see extensions but will work for now.

Thanks for the suggestion, but... hide extension did not help either. My problem seems to be one way ony. I can copy files from USB to the computer, but things do not work the other way.

Apple, fix it ASAP, if you really want people to believe Mac is better than PC!

Everyone with USB external drive issues:

You can't fix the problem as you have to wait for Apple to fix this with an update.

My suggestion is to get a FireWire 800 drive abd plug it into an older Mac with previous system.

Copy all contents and then use the new FW800 drive.

I have four of these drives plugged to my MbP and works normal.

I tested these drives on both an upgrade of lion and also on a clean install.

Not only will it work an you will be stress free, you will also have a speedy transfer compared to a slow USb drive.

You can daisy chain as many drives as you want.

Hope that helps, since hitting your head in the wall so many times then one has to rethink another way, try the FireWire port!