Q: Error code 36 Please Help!

The drive is failing and should be replaced.

I thought my drive was failing, but not sure that's the case.

Shortly after installing Yosemite, Time Machine started failing with errors when trying to backup to my Seagate 4TB external USB drive (formatted one partition, Journaled/Encrypted).  Further testing showed that copying files to this drive sometimes yielded an error -36, and Disk Utility had trouble with certain erasing attempts.  Since the drive is under warranty, I had Seagate send me a new one.

The new one arrived today.  Same problem.  I formatted as Journaled (not encrypted), then tried copying a large file to it.  Many such copy attempts failed with error -36 ("The Finder can't completed the operation because some data in "Filename" can't be read or written").  I've tried changing USB cables, changing the USB port on my Mac Pro, downloading Seagate NTFS drive (which shouldn't matter, but I did it anyway, based on another thread), and Kext Repair Utility.

I do see there is another thread where a lot of people are having trouble getting USB external drives to mount under Yosemite, but that doesn't seem to be the problem here.

It's certainly possible I got a bad replacement disk, but the similarity of errors is striking.  I'm wondering if something got hosed with Yosemite's ability to interact with external USB drives.

Any other thoughts/input would be much appreciated.

Addendum to previous post:  As described in Apple's USB and Firewire Quick Assist guide, I unplugged all other USB devices.  And, the external drive started working again -- no more error -36's.

I plugged all the devices back in, one by one, and it still works OK, even after a restart.

And, I remembered that I also purchased a new Canon USB printer just a week or so ago, around the time this problem started.  So, sounds like a conflict between USB devices.  Not sure why it's working after unplugging and re-plugging everything in, though.

Same problem here... I send to yosemite feedback this problem.. I have 10 disks 2tb and 4tb and 3 of then income to have problems error code -36 randomly. I don't see problems before yosemite in any disk. The thing is or yosemite burn you disk or its a bugs on copy or communication thru disks. Its extremely rare that 3 of 10 disk have problems just after yosemite install. Obviously its not easy to change or format 3 2tb disks with the tons of data its contain...

I contacted Lacie technical support with the same issue (2TB LaCie Rugged v2 USB3.0 & Thunderbolt) and they referred me here.  My issue was logged as -

When copying data off the drive to my local hard disk with finder I get the following error message -

The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “random.filename” can’t be read or written. (Error code -36)

The specific file named changes on some attempts to copy. Finder then dismounts the drive. I have to unplug and replug the drive to see it again in finder.

I have tried reformatting the drive but the error remains. Currently I have it formatted as 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' a single 2TB partition. I am using a 'MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)' and the drive is connected by the Thunderbolt cable

I use thunderbolt and the drive dismounts.  I am using OS X Yosemite 10.10.1.

Is this an Apple bug - an operating system that can't reliably copy files, or a failing drive? 

Hi ajaszek,

I reckon it's an Apple error, I have a LACIE 1TB Thunderbolt drive that I'm trying to copy data to a Seagate USB3 external drive, and it's been driving me nuts.

It would start to copy, speed was awesome, but then it would pause for long periods of time, I tried several times to copy large folders across and everytime I came back a few hours late, would see the Error 36 message.

I tried to do individual copies and this seemed to work fine, but as soon as I tried to choose several files, I would keep getting this hanging issue, so would cancel and try again.

In the end I have given up using my Macbook Air with the thunderbolt port and gone to my trusty old 2007 iMac to transfer via USB2 instead.

It's been going for a good while now, copied 38GB of 177GB and no errors are showing, also the amount of data copied is a constant stream slowly increasing, unlike on my Macbook Air that would scream along and then just hang and hang and hang.

I have an appointment with Genius Bar tomorrow over error with Instant Hotspot not working, so will be sure to put this slow copy issue to them also. If they can tell me anything will update on here for you.

Gone through previous post, and basically my problem is the roughly the same.

MBP with Yosemite 10.10.2 connecte via firewire with external 2TB HDD.   Error 36 occurs when copying files from 2TB ext HDD to a locally networked NAS via WIFI.  I verified copying any files / folders from MBP's internal HDD to the same NAS is smooth without any hiccups.

Tried unplugged all USD devices to the MBP and changing different cables with the ext HDD, but the error persists.

APPLE please rectify this issue ASAP as this is very annoying and disturbing.

Hi scott252,

with the help of Lacie support I isolated the problem to be on the Thunderbolt port as the USB3 cable worked without error. 

I sent the drive to Lacie and they ran HDTunes, flashed and tested the ports then returned the drive to me unrepaired.  I was disappointed they did not use a Mac to try to reproduce the issue.  Lacie then sent out a new drive and it works fine. 

When I get time I will look into how to find more information in the console logs on Error 36. 

I've had this issue for a while as well since Mavericks came out copying to our Mac Mini OS X server.  Here's what I've come across as various unsuccessful solutions:

- repair permissions: didn't do anything

- check drive status: drive(s) are fine, no solution here

- your drive(s) must be failing: nope - had the issue with a new Late 2013) Mac Pro with external RAID, used a second new Mac Pro and tried copying to the same OS X Server with totally new hard drives and the same issue persists.

- copy using Terminal.app and invoking a "dot_clean" command: this is crazy to have to do this every time you want to copy

- use DeTox My Mac: don't want to pay for fixing an OS that should work right in this regard.

I have no solution and it's baffling.  It all started for us when Mavericks came out and has persisted ever since.

On top of that search broke when Mavericks came out so now Spotlight on local and remote volumes is unreliable.

Two key things that have really negatively affected out productivity.

Hey Tangier,

I am running into this same problem too, with music and video files on the drive in question. Did you ever find a solution to the problem. I have done the verify and repair on the drive. I have not done the cot_clean as its just a band aid, I don't want to have to do that every single time I download an album from iTunes and it gets all messed up. Any help would be great

I came across this same issues with a brand new Lacie 4tb drive and a Mac Pro running Yosemite. 

When I was transferring files from a glyph drive to my new lacie I was inconsistently getting -36 and -50 errors at sporadic times.  Sometimes a folder would give me the error then I would try again and it was fine.  The drive seems to be working ok although it does keep giving me a disk not ejected properly prompt even though it is still plugged in. 

Anyway..the workaround I found although not ideal because it was time consuming:

I noticed that certain folders that had sub folders in them were the ones causing the problems.  If I opened the main folder then transferred the sub folders individually the transferred much smoother.  So, that got me thru it but much slower than I would have liked.

Please let me know if anyone else has solutions.
Thanks

Todd

Finder - How to Quickly Fix Error Code -36 in Finder of Mac OS X

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Hi,

After years of using Seagate hard drives on my iMac i've unfortunately ran into this problem too now. It's happening with all three of my external drives and two of my WD drives too. They all have different content so it's unlikely the drives are failing or even files are causing this. I've done a lot of reading about this because it's a nasty little problem that we shouldn't have to deal with.

Some people say it's a fault in Finder, some people say that changing settings on your sharing folders work. Can anyone confirm this? has anyone actually fully fixed this?

I've been trying the drives on my MBP 2012 running Yosemite 10.10.4 and the drives seem to be working. I've even verified the disks and it says they're okay. But on my iMac, that was a different story, it wouldn't let me check the drives health, and it wouldn't even let me eject them properly anymore. I don't know whats going on, but this problem has only been going on for four days for me so far and it's really causing some serious anger inside me. I would be grateful for any fixes, tips or just knowing people are going through the same thing. I hope if this IS an Apple bug that it gets solved ASAP.