Larry,
Thanks for the reply.
I tried it on two different EHDs and both are formatted for Mac OS X journaled extended or whatever it's called. BUT...
after some more internet investigating I think I've found the answer(s)...
To use dot_clean, you’ll want to point it at the directory which is being copied and throwing the Error Code 36, the basics look like this:
Launch the Terminal (found in /Applications/Utilities/ or with Spotlight)
At the command prompt, type:dot_clean /Path/To/Directory/With/Problem/
When dot_clean is finished, attempt the file copy again and it should succeed with no error code
For example, if copying ~/Documents/FileBackups/ is the problematic directory, use:
dot_clean ~/Documents/FileBackups/
That should be all that is necessary to resolve the issue, just be sure to attempt the file/directory transfer immediately after the command is run.
OR
Then copy your iPhoto Library to an external drive, with the ignore ownership flag set.
See this document: iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users
The external drive needs to be formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled). And it needs to be writable, so no Blue ray.
Making the detour via an external drive with ignore ownership flag will make it possible to copy the library from one user account to another with different user names.
OR
I found the offending files in "photos" which was any file with a "." in the prefix (I use a lot of pics I find on the net for work and sometimes forget to rename them)
So now I'm about to try and do the transfer again. I will post back here after I finish for the sake of clarity in case anybody has this problem in the future.