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User profile for user: Smithyworld
Smithyworld Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

How To Fix an Error -36 when coping files

I have my iMovie library on an external hargrove. The size is approx 404Gb. I need to move it to a new drive however during the copying process about half way through I get an error saying "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in 'Movie Library' can't be read or written. (Error Code -36)"


I have tried copying to another external drive, my desktop, I have check the permission are all Read Write. This is a new computer as well.


Any ideas about hot to fix this or transfer the files to a new library would be amazing!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.4

Posted on Apr 1, 2024 4:08 PM

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,742 points

Apr 3, 2024 2:23 PM in response to Smithyworld

What is the format of your external drive? iMovie libraries can only be stored on drives formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or APFS. Other formats can cause data problems. If you need to reformat be aware that reformatting will erase all data on the drive, so first back up any data that you want to keep.


Also, is it possible that you don’t have sufficient free space on your destination drives to hold a 404 GB movie?


— Rich




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User profile for user: Smithyworld
Smithyworld Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Apr 22, 2024 5:28 PM in response to Smithyworld

So the issue has been resolved. It turned out to be 1 corrupted file. The way we found the issue was rather than trying to copy the whole iMove Library, we went into the Package Contents and started moving the contents of the iMovie Library folder by folder. We eventually found a folder that failed so we then copied the items in that folder one by one until we came across the file that was failing. We copied all remaining files then created a new iMovie Library, opened the package contents and then moved all the files and folder I had just manually copied into the new iMovie Library. This new iMove Library now works great.

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How To Fix an Error -36 when coping files

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