error code -36

[copilot87]

I have a Macbook Pro Oct 2011 model with El Capitan. I had removed my HDD and installed an SSD in it's place and then I removed my DVD drive and put my 500GB HDD that came with my mac there instead. I never had any problems with it. The 500GB was getting to small so I went and bought a 2TB drive and installed it. I formatted it as HFS+ with GUID Partition Map, but whenever I try to copy larger files it keeps giving me error code -36. I have tried dot_clean on the folder that won't copy and I repaired permissions on the drive, but it doesn't help. I put my 500GB hd in an external enclosure and I can copy my data from that to the desktop, but I can't copy from the external to my new 2tb. Neither can I copy from my desktop to the 2tb. It seems to be fine with smaller files, but larger ones will not transfer and keep giving error code -36.

 

[treekram]

You're having problems with the 2TB now where the optical drive used to be?

You should be able to get a SMART status on the 2TB drive if it's internal (use Disk Utility). If SMART status is bad, then the drive is likely bad. If the SMART status is OK, try the 2TB in the external enclosure. If it works, then the caddy or whatever you're using probably has a bad connector/cable or perhaps the logic board-to-optical drive connector is loose or has a problem.

 

[copilot87]

Yeah, I'm having problems with the 2TB now where the optical used to be. I had a 500GB in there and it was working just fine. No problems until I just switched it out for the 2TB an hour ago. The 2TB is a brand new drive, so hopefully it's not bad! I checked SMART status, and it says "Verified". I'll check my caddy-to-logic board connecter first before I try it in an ext enclosure. I guess there's the possibility that I didn't get it plugged back on correctly. Thanks for your reply!
[doublepost=1462827556][/doublepost]ok, I checked the connections and tried again. Still no go. I moved the 2TB to an external enclosure and copied files to it without a hitch. I put the 500gb hard drive back in the caddy (which is an OWC DataDoubler) and it worked just fine. But when I put the 2TB back in the caddy, same error code -36. Is it possible that the logic board connection for the optical drive doesn't support that big of a hard drive? I don't know how the size of the hard drive could possible affect that, but I don't know what else could possibly be wrong.

 

[treekram]

The OWC is a high-quality caddy (I have one in my 2012 MBP with an Evo 850). So I don't think that's the problem. It appears that there seems to be a problem with the Samsung/Seagate ST2000LM003 in the optical bay of the 2011 MBP. A couple of the articles:

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View...-+ST2000LMI003+HN-M201RAD+for+optical+bay+use

http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...bp-optical-caddy-keep-unmounting-when-writing

These were reported 6 months apart so I presume they're different posters. Most HDD's work fine in the optibay of the 2011 MBP (but SSD's have issues). Supposedly the reason it doesn't work is because it's a SATA3 drive but offhand I think it may be an issue with this drive and the optibay port. Neither of the two posts above had solutions so if you can, maybe you can return it or use externally. I just did a quick look at Amazon and there doesn't seem to be an alternative at a reasonable price.

 

[copilot87]

Well that is exactly what I needed to see. That's the very drive I'm using. I bought the Seagate BackupPlus Slim cause it's cheaper than buying an internal hd and then took the hd out of it and that's the one it is. So I'll just put it back in it's enclosure and use it externally and buy a different hd on newegg. Thanks for the help!