HD Replaced, can't copy from another HD

Gerard McLean · #1 December 17th, 2007, 10:30 AM

Just replaced a HD on a G4 Powerbook, Aluminum, installed OS X 10.4.11.. all is well EXCEPT I can not copy to the HD from another volume (CD, FWHD, USB stick, etc)

However, I can use the terminal to cp to the internal HD. Permissions on the internal HD says I should be able to Read and Write. ?????

ElDiabloConCaca · #2 December 17th, 2007, 10:51 AM

What exactly do you mean when you say you "can not copy to the HD from another volume"? Does the Finder give you an error message? Does it appear to copy, yet not really copy? Does it complain about permission issues? Does it do nothing at all, with no warnings or errors?

If you could be more specific when you say "can not copy", we may be able to point you in the right direction...

Gerard McLean · #3 December 17th, 2007, 12:24 PM

When an external HD is attached (USB, FW) the files will not copy to the internal HD using the Finder. There is no error message, the files really do not copy nor do they appear to copy. There is a white NO symbol when the icons are dragged to the internal HD.

Yet, they will copy just fine with a cp or mv in the Terminal, using the same admin account.

Gerard McLean · #4 December 24th, 2007, 04:26 PM

nobody else has an opinion or proposed solution???

ElDiabloConCaca · #5 December 24th, 2007, 04:32 PM

Where on the hard drive are you trying to copy the files? To some directory in your home folder? Or perhaps the root directory of the drive?

Also, what kind of user account are you logged in under when you try and do the copy (regular user, admin user, etc.)? What version of Mac OS X are you using? These external hard drives... are they yours? Formatted by you? Used with any other computers -- Macs? PCs?

I realize those questions are all over the place, but with the weirdness that is the problem, I'm not sure where to start... I'm guessing permissions issues, but then again, I just don't know. Can you provide a screenshot of a Finder window of your internal hard drive while an external drive is connected? I'm looking specifically for a "no write" symbol in the corner of that Finder window...

Gerard McLean · #6 December 26th, 2007, 08:10 AM

ElDiabloConCaca, I hopped on the computer to get you screen shots, and now everything is working like I would expect. The only thing I did differently between then and now is to repair permissions several times and restart a few more. And, made invisible files visible... then turned then back invisible.

I had previously repaired permissions and rebooted with no luck... but doing it about 9 times seems to have maybe done something?? Perhaps it was all those curse strings spewed by the biological interface unit attached to the keyboard...

All of your questions were also asked by me as well....
The answers, for reference:
Any and all directories on the target drive
Admin user
Back up drives, made by the same user. (and any other drives like a shared USB stick)
Not sure if there was a "no write" on the Finder window.. but pretty sure that would have stuck out to me as well

I hate not being able to reproduce something as it stokes up distrust for the machine, but for now all seems to be working...

G.