Finder Won't Let Me Move Files to my External

cgm707

Registered
I have a Macbook Pro and Lion. This problem just started happening. I have an external hard drive that I store most of my personal stuff on. When I try to move a file from the laptop to the external, I get a message saying that the operation can't be performed because of error code -50.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Chip
 
Then open /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and run permissions repairs and hard disk errors on that external. See if that helps.
 
Repair Permissions won't help - Repair Permissions isn't available on a drive that doesn't have an OS X system installed.
Much better, in Disk Utility, choose your external hard drive, and click the Repair Disk button.
 
Then open /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and run permissions repairs and hard disk errors on that external. See if that helps.


the only option was to Repair Disk, which found some corruption...it suggested running Verify and Repair, but Disk Utility says the external can't be unmounted
 
I would suggest that you restart your Mac, then try the Disk Utility/Repair Disk again.
If you get the same 'corruption' report again, try the same Repair Disk until no problems are found. If you continue to get the same report, then best choice would be to backup that drive, and erase the drive - restoring the files to the disk afterwards.
Or, use a more capable disk directory repair utility, such as Disk Warrior.

BTW - The Repair Disk also verifies (how would it know what to repair without verifying as part of the task?) - So, running a Verify Disk after completing a Repair Disk would be a redundant repetition :D
 
For some unknown reason, the unmount disk option finally worked for the external. The Repair Disk worked, too, and I was able to transfer my file from the laptop to the external, hooray! I also restarted the computer to make sure. It makes sense that Repair Disk would also verify, you're right. Thanks much for the help.
 
..."unknown reason"?
You did say that Disk Utility repaired something on that external...
That was likely the culprit, and you fixed it! (or, Disk Utility did the fixing, eh?)
 
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