rrprasad
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Q: Copying aperture library from one external disk to another fails with error -36

I am trying to duplicate my aperture library (449 GB) from one external hard disk to another. I get an -36 error and the copying fails before 1 GB is copied. I have repaired permissions and repaired my aperture library and have repaired both the source and destination disks. I am using a MB Air with a 256 GB HD (155 GB free) to perform the copy operation. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks!

Aperture 3, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jun 26, 2013 12:03 PM

by léonie,Solvedanswer
léonie léonie
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A:

I followed your directions and have found that the offending file is in the database folder within the aperture library package.

Create a new "Database" folder in the copied library and copy the items from "Database" one by one. Hopefully will be only one item inside that is broken.

 

Some items can be automatically rebuild, if you delete them, but it would be good to know, which of them is broken.

Posted on Jun 26, 2013 1:40 PM

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rrprasad

Q: Copying aperture library from one external disk to another fails with error -36

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  • by rrprasad,

    rrprasad rrprasad Jun 26, 2013 12:08 PM in response to rrprasad
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    Jun 26, 2013 12:08 PM in response to rrprasad

    Sorry, I am using OS X 10.8.4. I had that wrong in my original post.

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jun 26, 2013 12:31 PM in response to rrprasad
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    Jun 26, 2013 12:31 PM in response to rrprasad

    Error -36 is an input/output error.

    It can occur, when a drive is failing, when you have permission problems,  or when the drive has the wrong formatting. Why are you copying your library. Is there a problem with the drive?

     

    How are your external drives formatted? Are both of your drives correctly formatted MacOS X Extended? 

    If not, reformat your new drive. See: Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture

     

     

    Before copying your library, it will help to repair the library and to repair the permissions, if you have not done so already, see: Repairing and Rebuilding Your Aperture Library: Aperture 3 User Manual

     

    Regards

    Léonie

  • by rrprasad,

    rrprasad rrprasad Jun 26, 2013 12:37 PM in response to léonie
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    Jun 26, 2013 12:37 PM in response to léonie

    Hi Leonie,

     

    Thanks for the response. To answer your questions:

     

    Both drives are MacOS X Extended. The destination drive is brand new that I have just reformatted. The source drive is the old one. I am copying as I want to create a backup, just in case the drive fails. I have repaired the disks as well using disk utility.

     

    I have also used the Aperture First Aid to repair the perminssions and the library (just the first two options out of three provided).

     

    What else can I do?

    Regards,

    Rahul

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jun 26, 2013 12:56 PM in response to rrprasad
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    Jun 26, 2013 12:56 PM in response to rrprasad

    Rahul,

    I have also used the Aperture First Aid to repair the perminssions and the library (just the first two options out of three provided).

     

    What else can I do?

    Sorry, I overlooked that you already had done the repair options.

     

    To prevent permission issues, I'd enable the "Ignore Ownership" flag on both drives, if you have not already done so.

     

    Your copy-problem may be caused by a bad media file in your library.

     

    You could try to copy in small installments.

    • Open the Aperture library package in the Finder by ctrl-clicking (right clicking) the Aperture library.
    • You will see a Finder window with folders like Masters, Previews, etc.
    • Create an empty folder on your new drive, name it something like ApertureLibraryBackup and drag the items from your current Aperture library on by one to this new folder.
    • When the copy fails, e.g. for the Masters folder, check, how much could be copied. The first file, that not could be transferred, is probably the bad image or video.

     

    Delete this file from your Aperture LIbrary (using Aperture) and then try to copy the rest.

     

    Post back, when you discover what cannot be copied.

     

    Regards

    Léonie

     

    P.S.

    You enable the "Ignore Ownership" flag from the "File > Get Info" panel of the drive.

    Screen Shot 2013-06-26 at 21.54.16.PNG

  • by rrprasad,

    rrprasad rrprasad Jun 26, 2013 1:06 PM in response to léonie
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    Jun 26, 2013 1:06 PM in response to léonie

    Hi Leonie,

     

    Thanks so much. I followed your directions and have found that the offending file is in the database folder within the aperture library package. How do I go about fixing this issue? The folders have all copied successfully.

     

    Rahul

  • by rrprasad,

    rrprasad rrprasad Jun 26, 2013 1:07 PM in response to léonie
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    Jun 26, 2013 1:07 PM in response to léonie

    Oh, and I did make sure that ignore ownership was checked as you show.

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Jun 26, 2013 1:40 PM in response to léonie
    Level 10 (108,884 points)
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    Jun 26, 2013 1:40 PM in response to léonie

    I followed your directions and have found that the offending file is in the database folder within the aperture library package.

    Create a new "Database" folder in the copied library and copy the items from "Database" one by one. Hopefully will be only one item inside that is broken.

     

    Some items can be automatically rebuild, if you delete them, but it would be good to know, which of them is broken.

  • by rrprasad,

    rrprasad rrprasad Jun 28, 2013 8:42 PM in response to léonie
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    Jun 28, 2013 8:42 PM in response to léonie

    Hi Leonie,

     

    Sorry for the delayed reply. It was several previews that needed to be rebuilt. Once I did that all was well. Thanks so much for your help!

     

    Rahul

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 28, 2013 10:28 PM in response to rrprasad
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    Jun 28, 2013 10:28 PM in response to rrprasad

    You are welcome.

    Great news!

     

    Léonie

  • by PaperBackHero,

    PaperBackHero PaperBackHero Oct 27, 2013 7:54 PM in response to léonie
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    Oct 27, 2013 7:54 PM in response to léonie

    Hi Leonie, No matter how long ago you posted your missive, your advice regards tooling and fixing a -36 error absolutely helped me find the corrupted file and delete same (which was in the Masters Folder). WOW. Now am transfering my Aperture Library over to a new drive from a failing drive. It's a 1.52 TB Aperture Library File size. I am keeping my fingers crossed that there are no further problems.

     

    best,

     

    Jon Levi

  • by jonlevi,

    jonlevi jonlevi Nov 7, 2013 9:07 PM in response to PaperBackHero
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    Nov 7, 2013 9:07 PM in response to PaperBackHero

    Turns out the that solution was actually simpler than I realized. I researched this -36 error issues in other related Apple forums.  After using Leonie's solution above, it worked for certain Aperture Libraries when I was transferring to a new external HD (G-Tech 4 TB) using firewire 800 cables. I started getting a cascade of -36 errors transferring more Aperture libraries and dilligently using Leonie's solution and realized something more was at hand causing these errors.  I traced it to the way I was daisy chaining my HDs. Other forums faulted cheap USB Hubs and cables. I simply reconfigured the daisy chaining to a more direct route by switching the main drive to the iMac and daisy chaining from there. That seemed to solve the problem. Currently I have 8TB of external drives (G-Tech 2TB, 4TB and 2TB mirrored raid array) and 2TB internal. I hope this solves others problems with -36 Errors.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Nov 7, 2013 10:40 PM in response to jonlevi
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    Nov 7, 2013 10:40 PM in response to jonlevi

    Other forums faulted cheap USB Hubs and cables. I simply reconfigured the daisy chaining to a more direct route by switching the main drive to the iMac and daisy chaining from there. That seemed to solve the problem. Currently I have 8TB of external drives (G-Tech 2TB, 4TB and 2TB mirrored raid array) and 2TB internal. I hope this solves others problems with -36 Errors.

    That is a really good point, jonlevi, to check, how the drive is connected.

    I have seen the same problem with GarageBand and Logic, when using daisy chained drives or HUBs.

    I did not think of it in relation to Aperture, for you really will want to use the fastests connection for the drive with your Aperture library.