Error 36 when copying photo library

[macaddict007]

I just reformatted and reinstalled High Sierra and wanted to physically copy my photo library file back which is 34GB and halfway through the copying I get the following error message:

The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “Photos Library” can’t be read or written.

(Error code -36)

Any clues as what's going on? I can't figure it out.

 

[treekram]

There's information on this at:
https://www.slrlounge.com/error-code-36-on-a-mac-what-causes-it-and-how-to-fix-it/
http://osxdaily.com/2015/02/21/fix-error-code-36-finder-mac-os-x/
and other sites - did you search - it seems like this is a common issue.

Now I would be cautious about doing this. Did you copy the files to a non-HFS+ or non-APFS disk or flash drive? If you don't know, use Disk Utility, right-click on the volume and press "Get Info" and look at the entry "File system" - if it says something like "Mac OS Extended" or "APFS" it's HFS+ or APFS. If you're not finding "File system", make sure you are selecting the volume and not the disk (although on my High Sierra system, I only see volumes not disks).

If you copied to a non-HFS+ and non-APFS disk, then it seems to me, if you run this command on that disk, you might lose the metadata which may or may not be important to you - take a look at:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204478

If the metadata isn't important to you, you can apply the dot_clean command as explained the linked articles above.

So this may be a bit complicated. I'm not a Apple photos app user and it's unclear to me if the metadata is stored in a database or in the file. If it's in the file and if the metadata is important to you, if you can post what file system you have on your destination and on your source, that would be helpful if you would like suggestions on how to proceed.

 

[macaddict007]

Hi and thanks for your reply. I did try the things mentioned there but still getting the same error. Very annoying. I researched this so much.. Would be so grateful for a solution.

 

[macaddict007]

Figured it out. I manually copies folder by folder. Then there ended up being one corrupted video file.

Problem solved