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Cant copy Photos Library to External HD

L

legaleye3000

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 31, 2007
1,370
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In the middle of copying, I get error code -36, stating that Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "Photos Library" can't be read or written.

I've run repair permissions and its still not working. Please help. Thanks.
 
legaleye3000 said:
In the middle of copying, I get error code -36, stating that Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "Photos Library" can't be read or written.

I've run repair permissions and its still not working. Please help. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Repairing permissions has no effect on user files, so it cannot help. What format is the external drive?
 
Its FAT (maybe Fat32); however, it was formatted with Disk Util.

Anyway, I was able to copy my iPhoto library to the External HD, so there's gotta be something going on with the Photos Library. Any help is appreciated.
 
legaleye3000 said:
Its FAT (maybe Fat32); however, it was formatted with Disk Util.

Anyway, I was able to copy my iPhoto library to the External HD, so there's gotta be something going on with the Photos Library. Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
How big is the library file?
 
55GB

The iPhoto library was actually 56gb... weird. The iPhoto library copied fine.
 
Can disk util format it so that mac and windows will read it without it being fat32? (NFTS?) Thanks.
 
legaleye3000 said:
Can disk util format it so that mac and windows will read it without it being fat32? (NFTS?) Thanks.
Click to expand...
Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)
​
Choose the appropriate format:
​
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive) NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion and later)
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
  • You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
  • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
  • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
  • You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X. [*]Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
  • You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
 
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It appears FAT32 is only natively supported by windows (read/write). All of the others require 3rd party programs. Is that correct? Thanks.
 
legaleye3000 said:
It appears FAT32 is only natively supported by windows (read/write). All of the others require 3rd party programs. Is that correct? Thanks.
Click to expand...
From my earlier post, Windows can natively read/write FAT32, NTFS and exFAT. A third-party app (MacDrive) is needed for Windows to read/write HFS+. According to the article that Bruno09 linked:
iPhoto libraries should be stored on a locally mounted Mac OS X Extended drive for best performance.
Click to expand...
It's unclear whether that applies to the Photos app, or not.
 
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I'm looking for both windows and osx to natively read/write. Is there anything except Fat32? Thanks again.
 
It looks like exFat, if I'm understanding correctly, will read/write natively on both windows and osx. Please confirm. Thanks.
 
I formatted to exFAT and around 50gb out of 55gb, I know get error code -8084 saying the operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred... Any ideas? Thank you.
 
Sorry


HFS+ is the only option if you'd like the Photos library to work correctly.
 
I'm not looking to run the Photos library from the external drive. I just want to back it up to the drive and continue to "run" it from the local HD.
 
I formatted to exFAT and around 50gb out of 55gb, I know get error code -8084 saying the operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred... Any ideas? Thank you.

(I'm not trying to run the Photo library off of the external HD. I just want to copy the library to the external HD for backup purposes)
 
legaleye3000 said:
I formatted to exFAT and around 50gb out of 55gb, I know get error code -8084 saying the operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred... Any ideas? Thank you.

(I'm not trying to run the Photo library off of the external HD. I just want to copy the library to the external HD for backup purposes)
Click to expand...
For backups, I recommend you create a full bootable clone of your drive, rather than just backing up selected files. Format a drive in HFS+ and use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your drive. That way, not only are your user files backed up, if your internal dive ever fails, you can simply boot from the clone and you're back up and running.
 
Are you telling me I can't copy a 55gb file to an external hard drive without cloning? I don't think that's right...
 
Nope

legaleye3000 said:
Are you telling me I can't copy a 55gb file to an external hard drive without cloning? I don't think that's right...
Click to expand...

No, we're saying you can't copy an iPhoto/Photos library to a drive that's not HFS+, whether you want to run it from there or not.

You can try to compress the library and copy the resulting file.
 
Thanks for the input.

Sorry if I'm not understanding... I've been able to copy my IPHOTO library to my external drive, no problem. Once I update to 10.10.3, updating iPhoto to Photos, the PHOTOS library will not finishing to my external HD.

You're saying I can't copy the library to an external drive unless its HFS+, but I've been doing it for years with my iPhoto library by simply dragging and dropping the library from my computer to the external HD (which is not HFS+).

What makes the PHOTOS library different that it will not complete the transfer? It gets to around 50gb out of 55gb and gives me the above referenced error (unexpected error has occurred).

So your statement that HFS+ is required doesn't make sense to me when I've been doing it with iPhotos for years... Thanks.
 
HUh.

Maybe you've been lucky before.

It's never worked for me.

If you're not going to run it from the external, doesn't compressing and copying that file solve your issue?
 
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