Yeah - but smart people (and we should give the Apple Geniuses the benefit of the doubt here) will change their minds when presented with contrary evidence. And the fact that you can copy the files with the Terminal command is such evidence - you should show this to the Apple Geniuses.

Just to add my two cents worth: While the ability of the command line to successfully copy one file, where the Finder failed does seem to suggest a software issue rather than a media issue, it's not a slam dunk ... yet.

I don't know about the inner workings of the two file copy methods, but is it possible that there is some different low-level mechanism between the two? Could, for instance, the command line version have a greater tolerance for read errors? Maybe it retries bad 'sectors' more times than the Finder copy does? I don't know...are there other ways in which one file copy method could possibly succeed on 'dodgy' media where another would fail outright?

I'm thinking of my own experiences with extracting files of scratched CDs using different apps.

Also, just because it worked once with one file, doesn't mean that every time it will work in the command line, when every time it fails in Finder.

Fascinating stuff... do keep asking the questions! :)

gphaze, that highway clip.mov file which was successfully copied via the command line...

Was it readable and able to be worked with in whichever app you have intended for it?

Another question: since discovering that you have this problem, have you tried burning a data dvd onto the same old media, then attempt to copy a file back to your computer?

I apologize if this has been mentioned already and I missed it in a previous post.

I am experiencing this problem as well! I have a bunch of sony data DVD-Rs that I use to back-up files on. Just today I realized that I can no longer drag and drop items onto my desktop (I get the no smoking sign as well) EVEN THOUGH i do have read access to the files. For example, I can double click on a video file located on the DVD-R and it plays just fine, I just can't copy it to my hard drive!

Also noticed I can't copy from other volumes such as samba shares. This is such an annoying bug!

I know for a fact that this is not the media. The sony DVD-Rs I use are very high quality and I've never had a problem copying files from the EXACT disks before.

My specs are as follows: First generation macbook, intel core duo 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM, Mashita superdrive.

whoops, sorry for the double post!

jonathansmith68:
You should try copying one of the troublesome files via the command-line as suggested above.

I purchased a mbp yesterday. It's running 10.4.10. I just tried some of my older back up cd-r and dvd-r disks. All files viewed appropriately and were able to be copied to the desktop.

The install disk which came with the mbp says 10.4.8 is the os version, so the store from which I purchased must have updated to v x.10.

This mbp is a core 2 duo and doesn't have a problem. My older G4 mini which is also updated to 10.4.10 doesn't have a problem.

Is it only intel mini and macbooks with the single core processor which appear to be having this problem?

Jonathan, since gphaze hasn't answered my question, as well as copying via the command line as hayne suggested, have you tried burning a disc and copying from it since updating to 10.4.10?

Is it only discs burned prior to the update which have the copying from Finder problem?

So far, it is only two people that have this problem (as far as this thread goes), so it is a stretch to generalize that.

And I'm just assuming that gphaze's mini has an intel chip. When I reread his OP, I don't believe he had mentioned.

But stretching for generalizations sometimes is the only stretching I get!

Nope, I'm wrong. I'm told my sense of humor is often a real stretch!

:)

Since installing 10.4.10 I HAVE successfully burned a data dvd-r to the same Sony Media that I always use. It was burned and verified successfully. Although I still get the SAME exact problem when trying to do the drag and drop off of these newly burned disks as well as the old disks. I also noticed it is not ALL of my sony burnt media. Some do work, and I'm trying to find out why some work and some don't. Regardless it is ridiculous that not all of them do work since I a bunch of them I have done this from before and it worked fine.

I have not tried the command line copying but i did find an ugly little hack. When trying to drag and drop to my desktop, i noticed when drug over camino it shows the plus sign. I dropped it in there to see what it'd do. It shows me what looked like if you were to go to the index of a server online and see all the files. From there I could right click and download the desktop. This is incredibly ugly though.

Though I might be assuming to much, I believe this is a 10.4.10 bug with some of the first generation optical drives. It's crazy that I have been updated to 10.4.10 since June 27th and just now noticed this. I think that this in fact a bug with a particular model super drive and that not everyone has updated to 10.4.10 yet or that people have not noticed this yet.

One thing to note is that the super drive firmware update did not run on mine. It was really odd, I was under the impression that it would update the firmware on my original core duo macbook's super drive but after a restart it said "No devices were found that require this firmware update." so I'm assuming that the update did not do anything to change my superdrive's firmware. And also note that I have since burned and ripped cds and can read cds fine after all of this.


Edit: The fact that some people have gone as far as to reinstalling the OS and upgrading to 10.4.10 right away on older models such as the mac mini and are still experiencing these problems makes me think that this is for sure a 10.4.10 bug. So what can I do to report this? I think I'll be giving apple support a call today.

I called apple today, in hopes to finding an answer to my problem. The first lady had me create a new user, same problem existed, had me enter a safeboot, same problem existed, i reset something by holding down the power button with the battery removed, same problem existed. finally she had me do an archive and install. after doing this i noticed that 10.4.6 was restored. right away i attempted this task again, with no luck. called the second time to say that it still wasn't working and they asked me to update to 10.4.10.

the fact that the problem was still occurring while 10.4.6 was installed kind of debunked my 10.4.10 bug theory. anyways, i called a third time, and was directed towards a product specialists or something. we talked a long time, and after a lot of tests, he was stuck as well. he insisted that i do an erase and install of mac os x in order to see if this a hardware or a software issue.

anyways, just got finished, tried it out with 10.4.6, STILL THE SAME PROBLEM! for the heck of it, i updated the software to 10.4.10 and still getting this same problem.

also, since i now have fully reformatted and installed Mac OS X again, i have tried burning a new dvd-r and i get the same problem, so it's not just old disks of mine that are causing the problem, seems to have a problem with all burned media.

my new theory now is, the firmware update attempted to run and somehow bombed or did not finish correct leaving this annoying problem. the only thing i'm confused with is i was under the impression that the firmware update didn't even run at all since it supposedly couldn't find any compatible super drives to upgrade the firmware of.

i'm pretty much 100% sure that this is a hardware issue (most likely the new super drive firmware update). the reason i think this is since the superdrive firmware was just recently released, and i have heard of many cases of people's superdrives being bricked. though, note that mine is not currently bricked where as i can (for the most part) read optical disks, and burn to optical disks.

tell me what you think! gphaze, what happened when you attempted (or maybe successfully) ran the firmware update? if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to add!

turns out that is not the end of this.

through furthermore testing, i have now discovered that i cannot drag and drop (nor copy and paste) from virtual disk images (disk images mounted when double clicking on a .dmg file) nor can i drag and drop (nor copy and paste) from networked samba shares!

I think the entire system's firmware has gone bad. The third guy I talked to at apple mentioned something about going to an apple store and having them do a firmware restoration. Only problem is that the closest apple store is a good 2 hours away from here.

gphaze, did you have similar problems? gphaze did you happen to upgrade the RAM of your mac minis? (yourself and not just a BTO option)

JS68, for a moment it sounded as if it were the optical drive, but since you're having difficulty with dmg virtual discs, that appears to rule that out.

I was going to relay some stories about bad superdrives earlier this year, but it doesn't seem moot any longer.

Sorry about not being helpful.

jonathansmith68:
You should try copying via the command-line like suggested above. You seem to have gone through a of things but not tried this relatively simple test - or maybe I missed it?

i agree, i thought i was on to something when i thought it was the optical drive, but now i just have no idea what to think. considering i have done a full erase and re-install of mac os x, i'm almost 100% sure this is a hardware or firmware (possibly the firmware of the entire mainboard or something) issue.

hayne, i did do your terminal copy idea, and it worked without a hitch. though this is a working alternative, it's tedious. i'd assume that since just the graphical "drag and drop" is not working, that it's just a software issue, but the fact that i have done so many different tests, even an archive and install and lastly a full erase and re-install, it's making me think that this is a hardware or firmware issue (as odd as that sounds).

the command i used was the following:

jonathan-smiths-computer:~ jonathansmith$ cp /Volumes/test/01327_lichen_2560x1600.jpg ~/Desktop/test_image.jpg

thanks for the idea, glad to see it worked, this is just such a strange issue. apple is supposed to call me back tomorrow and i'll more likely be sending my macbook in for a firmware restoration or something.

After you did the erase & install of OS X, did you try the drag & drop before installing any 3rd-party software?

yes, I did. right after the Tiger re-install was complete, and before putting on ANYthing not Apple.

gphz

well, i just solved my problem! i actually upgraded my RAM to 2 gigs a while back and i was curious if the third party RAM was maybe causing this problem. i swaped out my 2 gigs for my original 1 gig supplied by apple. booted up, and to my surprise drag and drop worked perfectly!

i got worried, thinking maybe my RAM is bad, so i shut down my macbook, put back my 2 gigs in and that worked perfectly fine too!

rebooted and held down the "D" key in order to run a hardware diagnostics test. ran the "extensive test" on my RAM and it came back with no errors!

gphaze, i know it sounds crazy, but maybe you should try shutting down your mac and re-seating the RAM. also i am curious, did you happen to upgrade the RAM of your mac?

if you do end up trying this post back and tell us what happens!