OS X .afpDeletedxxxx copying snag violates "Just Works"

[r0k]

One thing I always hated about windows was it's need to prompt me over and over again during a very long task. One such long task involves copying folders full of images. I would get prompted hundreds or even thousands of times whether to copy the "read only hidden system file" thumbs.db. I went out of my way to delete it before starting a copy session.

OS X on the other hand, looks for hiccups like this and prompts you before the process starts. At least this is what an Apple genius claimed when I asked him about this topic. NOT SO!

Last night, I started a copy of 21 gig of music to a 32 gig usb flash drive. It told me I had 10 hours remaining so I went off to bed hoping the estimate was wrong and it would be done when I got up. In the morning, what did I see but a dialog asking me whether to copy ".afpDeleted99999" (It was actually a random string of numbers I didn't bother writing down. This dialog popped up after only 3 gig of the total 21 gig got copied. Did OS X ignore this error which affected only 1024 bytes of my 21 gig task and obediently bring me my results the next morning? No. I'm disappointed. I opened a shell at the root of my music folders and typed: "find . -name ".afp*" -print" to make sure there weren't any more of these slimy little turds standing between me and my usb stick 2/3 full of music.

I wish I knew a sure fire way to get this in front of Apple engineering so they could close this loophole. When I start my Mac doing something that involves moving 21 gig of stuff, I don't want it to get snagged over a trivial question regarding 1024 bytes somewhere in the middle.

This issue leads me to wonder... As Apple becomes more mainstream and tries to become more complex so it can do more for more people, is Apple starting to lose their "Just Works" mojo?

 

[TBi]

In windows, if you hold shift while clicking No it means "No to All". Use this next time and you'll only get asked the question once. Not many people know this handy little trick but it works a treat

Don't know what the mac equivalent is though.

 

[r0k]

In windows, if you hold shift while clicking No it means "No to All". Use this next time and you'll only get asked the question once. Not many people know this handy little trick but it works a treat

Don't know what the mac equivalent is though.

In windows, I click "Yes to all" many many times. Next time, I will try holding shift. In this example on OS X, there was only one file so Yes to All was not an issue. I don't mind being asked, I just don't want the computer to stop working while waiting for my response. If people taking the SAT took this approach of waiting for the answer to the hard question(s) before completing the easy stuff, nobody would score well enough get into college.

 

[TBi]

Windows will only ask the question once per file type. In other words, once for hidden files, once for system files, once for protected files. You shouldn't ever need to click yes to all more than 4 times.

If you don't want this problem then go into explorer and set it to hide hidden files as it is by default and you won't get asked again.

But i understand that it is annoying.

 

[r0k]

I'm concerned that I started this thread to complain about an issue in OSX. I'm getting replies about an OS I don't use any more. The information is interesting, but it doesn't address the immediate problem I'm trying to solve in this thread: Copy stopping on OS X to put up a dialog box.

Is anyone out there who knows how to solve this issue in OS X? Shouldn't a "copy" skip files for which I don't have read permission?

I suppose we could go into a discussion of how the hell a file I cannot read got created in a directory I own as preventing this file from ever being created in the first place would also solve my problem.

I did have Firefox crash several times yesterday. I guess this happens when you try to download dozens of files at one time.

I was downloading mp3 files from mp3.com to use for testing. I'm looking for software - besides itunes - to edit mp3 tags. Preferably batch edit where I can add genre or other obscure tags without messing up existing artist and album tags. I found some $15 shareware but I'm really more interested in open source software.

Anyway, in the middle of getting the files loaded onto memory stick so I could move them to another machine, I got this stupid error. Actually, it was more like the beginning (3gig/21gig).

I guess I'll see when I go home. If the copy finished with no problem this was a one-time deal and a "terminated abnormally" app can leave hidden files with messed up permissions lying around.

Still, it would be nice if OSX would ignore an issue like this and focus on doing what I told it to do rather than putting up a dialog and waiting all night for me to click on it in the morning only to find the remaining 18 gig of copying never started.

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

You could try the "cp" command from the shell. Not as pretty, I know, but being an old-time unix geek, I find myself going to the shell quite often.

 

[TBi]

Is anyone out there who knows how to solve this issue in OS X? Shouldn't a "copy" skip files for which I don't have read permission?

What if thse files are important for use? They might be invisible to the user but contain vital data for the application. Although why they vital data should be hidden is beyond me but some programs work that way.

Still, it would be nice if OSX would ignore an issue like this and focus on doing what I told it to do rather than putting up a dialog and waiting all night for me to click on it in the morning only to find the remaining 18 gig of copying never started.

I think it would be better is the OS showed this dialog box but also kept copying readable files in the background. There are reasons why it should ask the question but no reason why it should stop.

Preferably batch edit where I can add genre or other obscure tags without messing up existing artist and album tags. I found some $15 shareware but I'm really more interested in open source software.

iTunes can do this without messing up artist and album tags. You just have to unclick the boxes next to these items when doing a batch edit.

 

[Nermal]

Windows will only ask the question once per file type. In other words, once for hidden files, once for system files, once for protected files. You shouldn't ever need to click yes to all more than 4 times.

But you do. I think my record is 7 times.

 

[TBi]

But you do. I think my record is 7 times.

I'd be curious to know what each dialog box said

 

[r0k]

But you do. I think my record is 7 times.

I'd be curious to know what each dialog box said

Only 4 times? How about 4,000?
I faced this recently when I was migrating my wife's files to a Mac. If I try to use copy, I get asked about each and every thumbs.db despite checking "yes to all" every time. I think the copy asks you up to four times per directory and since I'm almost always copying over 1,000 directories... you get the picture.

Syncback
The solution I found was to use Syncback. There is a freeware version that copies everything without getting snagged on items that are stuck. Any stuck items are reported in a log file for later disposition.

Dumb Dialog Boxes
I thought about hacking windows to replace the dialog box code with code that forcibly expired after 90 seconds. Of course I couldn't simply replace one dll, I would have had to replace the dialog box methods in several dozen dlls.

It appears the same dumb thing is present in OS X, it is just not as up in my face because it only happens when permissions are messed up rather than "hidden, system, or readonly, yada, yada, yada" files.

Command Line vs Gui
The pain level on OS X is not high enough to send me looking for something like syncback but it's not identically zero. Of course there is the command line option but I'm looking for methods which are well integrated with the gui so that selecting and dragging and dropping work.

successful copy
I got home from work yesterday and found that all 21 gig made it onto my usb stick. It appears the corrupted file permission happened when firefox crashed. I would have to say this is a rare condition but my perception that OS X would not pause forever over a trivial problem turned out to be false.

id3 tags
I found an id3 tag editor shareware. It costs $15. I also tried editing id3 tags inside itunes. I also tried a freeware java based solution. The freeware didn't work at all . Itunes seemed to work but I didn't notice the batch edit option. I will have to go back and try it. The shareware works well and I might just opt to use it because I really don't want to import 21 gig of "test" mp3 files into my itunes account just to straighten out a few id3 tags.

With iTunes there is some doubt in my mind about how it works. If I import a few hundred mp3's and batch edit to add genre and other test tags, where will the changes show up? In the original mp3 files or will I have to "export" them to get the changes to show up? I turned off copying files to my itunes library when I import them so I don't end up with double the files on my Macbook. Meanwhile, the shareware obviously operates on the files I have it pointing to. While I hesitate to spend money to replace something free, the shareware is at the top of my list right now.

 

[TBi]

If I import a few hundred mp3's and batch edit to add genre and other test tags, where will the changes show up? In the original mp3 files or will I have to "export" them to get the changes to show up? I turned off copying files to my itunes library when I import them so I don't end up with double the files on my Macbook. Meanwhile, the shareware obviously operates on the files I have it pointing to. While I hesitate to spend money to replace something free, the shareware is at the top of my list right now.

It edits the original MP3. If you turned off the copy to library function then it will edit the file in place. When you open it in a different MP3 player you will see the change in tag.