copying iTunes folder

[amosquito]

I have been trying to copy my iTunes music folder onto an external drive. It copies the 1st few files then gives me an error code -50. any ideas anyone?

[yellow]

According to www.AppleErrorCodes.com, this is:

-50 paramErr Error in user parameter list

Which means about as much to me as it does to you. Are you trying to copy this to your iPod? Is there enough free space on the external drive? Which file gives you the error? Are there "strange" characters in the file name (i.e., non-english-alphanumeric)?

[amosquito]

I am going to the music folder on my hard drive, selecting the iTunes folder and trying to copy it onto an external lacie drive. there is about 10 gig of music in the file and 70 gig of space on the external drive. the first few files copy across then i get the error message

[yellow]

Maybe it's just one file/folder that kills it everytime.

If you click the little triangle to the left of the copy progress indicator, you can see what files it's copying. At least then you might get an idea on what file/folder it's choking on.

I know it's a pain in the @$$, but you could try copying over smaller bits at a time to get it to succeed. You could start by doing a subfolder at a time from your ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/ folder.

[amosquito]

i have now discovered that this error message appears when i try and copy a music file with more than 35 characters in it - what is that all about??? i can copy "anarchy in the UK", but not "sgt. peppers lonely heartsclub band"

[Craig R. Arko]

It sounds like you need to erase and reformat the external drive for HFS+, using Disk Utility. It's probably still in the default Windows format that LaCie ships their drives with; and can't handle the long filenames.

[amosquito]

thanks very much - problem solved