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Imola Ghost

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
1,143
12
I've been trying to copy and paste some files on to a external hard drive. My MBP will calculate the amount and then start copying and pasting but will come back with errors shortly after it began.
 
Some thing like "the operation can't be competed because and item with that name already exists".
 
I'm getting the same thing when copying .mp3 files to an external NTFS drive. There's nothing wrong with the drive or the files, but I keep getting this:
Picture 1.jpg
I don't know if that's what you're getting, Imola Ghost, but if it is, I haven't found any solution after a few days of searching.
 
I would encourage you attempt to copy using terminal commands. Someone else may chime in with a better terminal command, but I use this to move files with potential permissions issues:

sudo ditto -rsrcFork /SourceDirectory /TargetDirectory
 
I would encourage you attempt to copy using terminal commands. Someone else may chime in with a better terminal command, but I use this to move files with potential permissions issues:

sudo ditto -rsrcFork /SourceDirectory /TargetDirectory

sudo cp /SourceName /DestinationName
 
I'm getting the same thing when copying .mp3 files to an external NTFS drive. There's nothing wrong with the drive or the files, but I keep getting this:
I don't know if that's what you're getting, Imola Ghost, but if it is, I haven't found any solution after a few days of searching.


Yes, that was one that I was the exact same one I was getting. Although I get the other also. I was copying/pasting to a external USB hard drive also but it is formatted to FAT.

I would encourage you attempt to copy using terminal commands. Someone else may chime in with a better terminal command, but I use this to move files with potential permissions issues:

sudo ditto -rsrcFork /SourceDirectory /TargetDirectory

I don't even know what that is? I'm new to mac's!
 
I'm getting the same thing when copying .mp3 files to an external NTFS drive. There's nothing wrong with the drive or the files, but I keep getting this:
I don't know if that's what you're getting, Imola Ghost, but if it is, I haven't found any solution after a few days of searching.

I get much the same, but it's an error (-51). I only seem to get it when I send a bunch of files over my wireless connection to my external drive attached to a PC. I figured it was some kind of noise or something.
 
Now, for some reason I can't even copy/paste anything as I get this message:


The operation can’t be completed because an item with the name “0-9” already exists.

WTH, I just formatted both hard drives to FAT and they are clean as can be with nothing on them. I select only one folder to copy/paste and try pasting on the other hard drive and this message shows up. I'm getting this with every file I try to copy/paste.

I'm lost!
 
Now, for some reason I can't even copy/paste anything as I get this message:


The operation can’t be completed because an item with the name “0-9” already exists.

WTH, I just formatted both hard drives to FAT and they are clean as can be with nothing on them. I select only one folder to copy/paste and try pasting on the other hard drive and this message shows up. I'm getting this with every file I try to copy/paste.

I'm lost!

Uh, didn't notice the FAT formatting before. I seem to remember that you need to use NTFS for transferring from a Mac. I use NTFS.
 
Uh, didn't notice the FAT formatting before. I seem to remember that you need to use NTFS for transferring from a Mac. I use NTFS.

Both Windows and Mac OS X will natively read/write to FAT32. The only limit is 4GB per file.
 
WTH, I just formatted both hard drives to FAT and they are clean as can be with nothing on them.

Was that done while booted in OSX using Disk Utility... or in Windows (using _____ ) ?

I don't deal with fat32 much, except on a tiny flash drive... but i think OSX might behave better if (its own) Disk Utility does the formatting. (or, at least check *all* disks involved using disk utility's verify/repair feature).
 
Well here's what I'm needing to do. My car [Audi] has a input for a external usb hard drive to play music files. The hard drive must be formatted to FAT/FAT32 in order for it to recognize it.

I was trying to do this on 2 external FAT32 drives. I do however have my music located natively on my 13" MBP which is formatted for Mac OS Extended Journaled.

How can I get the music onto one of the hard drives and make it readable by the car?

I formatted both drives using the Snow Leopard's Disk Utility.
 
I formatted both drives using the Snow Leopard's Disk Utility.
Hmm, okay. Try that verify disk operation then (both volumes).

How can I get the music onto one of the hard drives and make it readable by the car?
What you did is supposed to work. The only other thing i might be curious about is: do these same errors still happen if you use drag-n-drop (as opposed to copy/paste)?
 
Forgive me if I'm ignorant about this, but I'm learning the mac as we speak [October 2009].

But doesn't drag & drop actually "MOVE" the file? I just want to create a copy but I don't mind doing that if it will work. I just need to know. I've got backup of everything.
 
Forgive me if I'm ignorant about this, but I'm learning the mac as we speak [October 2009].

But doesn't drag & drop actually "MOVE" the file? I just want to create a copy but I don't mind doing that if it will work. I just need to know. I've got backup of everything.

No, drag and drop on the same drive moves the file. Drag and drop to another drive copies the file.
 
No, drag and drop on the same drive moves the file. Drag and drop to another drive copies the file.


WOW, that's good to know.

I just verified each disk and it didn't report back any problems.

I just tried dragging & drop to/from the drives and I got the same code.

The operation can’t be completed because an item with the name “0-9” already exists.
 
Is your Mac OS Extended Journaled formatted as case-sensitive? Disk Utility.app will show this, so if it doesn't show as case-sensitive, it's not.

If the disk is case-sensitive, then you might have two files whose names differ only in letter-case, e.g. "Gack.mp3" and "GAck.mp3". To the Mac, these are two different files. To the FAT32 disk, however, they are the same, because FAT32 does not distinguish case.

Another possibility might be a character in one of your filenames that is illegal on FAT32. The filename it displays as causing the failure "0-9" seems a little odd, but it's not illegal on FAT32. Of course, if the original contains an illegal FAT32 character like "*", then the displayed filename might not show the exact cause.

One other possibility is that "0-9" has nothing to do with it, and the real problem is a file larger than 4 GB, but the error-reporting alert is simply messed up.

These are just guesses. I think it's going to take some sleuthing to figure this out.

Try dragging the files in smaller groups, to narrow down where the error occurs.
 
I looked in Disk app and didn't see anything about "case-sensitive".

I also get this message when copying also. This one shows up ALL the time.


The operation can’t be completed because an item with the name “Bob Marley” already exists.


I'll try copying in smaller quantities to see what happens.

Is there a difference formatting a hard drive [FAT32] using a Mac vs. a PC?
 
I looked in Disk app and didn't see anything about "case-sensitive".

I also get this message when copying also. This one shows up ALL the time.
The operation can’t be completed because an item with the name “Bob Marley” already exists.
It sure sounds to me like chown33 is right: one of these volumes may be formatted as case-sensitive.

Just select these disks in Finder and get info (⌘i) on each. Tell us what it says under "General Info:" after "Format:"
 
This is the drive on my 13" MBP

Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

This is the usually hard drive 160gb

Format: MS-DOS (FAT32)

This is the other extra drive 250gb

Format: MS-DOS (FAT32)

Some other external drive 60gb

Format: MS-DOS (FAT32)
 
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