File copy problem Mac

[axel ebermann]

Just for the record: I hate Snow Leopard and I hate finder !!!

So one of my Raids went down because a drive died, no biggie, everything is back upped.
Except when I am trying to copy the files back to the new Raid I created it says:

'files cannot be copied because they are in use'

except they are NOT. I fixed all the permissions. But it seems to be a different problem.

The thing is: All the media is there. I can open the jobs and everything is there.

Any genius idea would be greatly appreciated...



Cheers


Axel

 

[Dustin Cross]

Try using command line.

cp -Rf (source location) (destination location)



Dusty

 

[axel ebermann]

Hey Dustin,

Thanks for your recommendation.
command lines are scary monsters for me because they can make data disappear.

anybody got another idea ?

thanks

axel

 

[Frank Cueto]

Dustin gave you a good idea. cp command will copy, not remove, so u are ins safe hands. You may try it on something nonimportant first just to feel warm and fuzzy inside if u wish.

 

[axel ebermann]

the only warm and fuzzy inducing act right now would be to set the damn editing system on fire
and move to Hawaii.

but I will give it a shot. thanks Frank

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Yeah, it's a bitch... But it happens under Windows and Linux too...

Could be a few causes for this, but I'm guessing your backup or wherever you're copying from is fairly slow or is having some issue with being indexed properly. Do it from the command line. Or you can do it from within finder as well -- turn off icon preview in your finder options and it will stop trying to index the files and make preview icons. That is the most likely culprit.

If it persists after you've turned off icon preview (or just moved to list view) and are not using Cover Flow view anywhere near the files you're copying, then there may still be a permission or use flag issue. These can usually be cleared from the command line using the lsof tool, or via finder in the info tab if you want to take forever doing individual files/folders <ugh>. At this stage, it's probably best to use a command line copy like Dustin suggests, but more than likely it's the indexing issue above. Next most likely culprit is a corrupt file system or permissions table on the drive you're copying from.

EDIT> if you still can't copy and all the data seems to be proper. It may be an issue with the system immutable flag for the files in question. This can be fixed from the command line too, but it's a bit more involved and you have to unmount the drive, re-mount with different permissions, then modify the flags, unmount, reboot... hope it works.

 

[Ivan G]

Critical files shouldn't be copied using finder. I use Synchronize Pro. There's a trial version, give it a try.

 

[axel ebermann]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your input. Seems like the backup raid is not liking the command line option too much either.
What I will do tomorrow is hook up the raid on my old mac that runs on tiger and see if I can copy the files.

With snow leopard the downgrade is usually a pretty nifty way.

Or maybe those projects were just never meant to be finished in which case it would be karma

Ivan: I did not copy them with finder but with silverkeeper
Jeff: I think I owe you so many drinks by now that you will be an acoholic
should I ever meet you in person

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

If I had nickel for every time someone said they owed me a beer, I'd have... Well, that would be a shitload of nickels.

Seems there's a permission mismatch with the backup drive. Doing a repair permissions probably doesn't fix it because there's nothing wrong, it's just a mismatch. So, try this. Go to the scary command prompt again and type:

sudo chflags -R -L nouchg /volumes/myDrive

That will reset the immutable "in-use" flag for all the files on that drive. Obviously, myDrive should be replaced with whatever the volume name is for the drive you're working with. If the problem is localized to specific files or folders, you can narrow it down...

sudo chflags -R -L mouch /volumes/myDrive/myFolder

...and so on.

After this, give the copy (in finder) another try. If it still doesn't work, then I guess some more deeply rooted trouble-shooting will be needed.

 

[axel ebermann]

Hey Jeff,

I'll be happy to send you a nickel - or two . Where are you based anyways ?

I did the whole permissions repair thing, did not do a thing. I tried to copy everything on Tiger - no go.
Then I ripped the drives out of the Raid and put them into some cheap port multiplier enclosure.

And now it seems to copy stuff via the terminal window.

I will make sure all the more or less important stuff is double back upped. Then I will face the scary monster and try
your command line.

Thank you so much for your terrific help.