I bought these Minis from Apple with factory-installed 1 gig sticks, so...it's their RAM.

Plus, they're minis...I ain't goin in there!

g

alright try this than, if you haven't already, try shutting it down for a good 5 or 10 minutes, totally unplug it from the power source so the RAM can clear out anything it may have left in there. probably sounds like a strange request but i'm curious if that will fix anything.

yeah, I did that, too...including the 2 times I went to the genius bar.

gphz

So, I'd be interested in hearing from smarter brains than mine... does this mean that a terminal copy maybe uses less memory, or addresses a different area of memory than finder does? It does seem strange that a RAM fault (whether bad ram or improperly seated ram) would manifest in this way, and only this way, repeatedly.

Remind me again what type of files are being copied?
The type of file might affect what operations get done by Finder versus the command-line 'cp'. E.g. the Finder might be updating a preview icon while 'cp' wouldn't do that.
And of course using the Finder does take more memory and CPU than using 'cp' since the graphical interface is being updated. So it is quite likely that more (and possibly different parts of) RAM is being accessed when you use the Finder.

One thing that you might try is to run the following command in a Terminal window:

lsof | grep Finder > myoutput.txt

and then try to do the drag & drop using Finder, then go back to the Terminal window and type Control-C to stop the command. (I.e. hold down the 'ctrl' key and then press the C key.

Then show us the contents of that myoutput.txt file - preferably by attaching it to your reply by using the Manage Attachments button at the bottom when you reply.

Another thing to do after you try the drag & drop again is to use the "Console" application (under /Applications/Utilities) and look for error messages in either console.log or system.log that are timestamped around the time when you tried the drag & drop.
(You can get access to console.log & system.log via specific menu items in the Console app's "File" menu.)
Show us these error messages.

well, I am mo def not a smarter brain, but from what I gathered from the "geniuses" and from the product specialists is that +R media is less compatible.

I don't know whether that is true as I don't have hundreds of machines at my disposal to test, prove, disprove that statement.

I don't know why TDK would make 100 zillion pieces of media which are not widely compatible with machines in use.

I don't know why Apple would support (but not really) a media type which it says isn't compatible.

I don't know why my media, which had formerly worked, now doesn't (the conventional, drag and drop way)

I don't know why the Genius was comfortable seeing that I can drag all files from a disc but not individual ones, and saying that that was functional enough for me not to need service or support.

I only know what makes sense to me, what I have seen with my own eyeballs, what I have tried to argue with the apple people.

I could go on and on testing, trying this, trying that, but what it comes down to is can I take a piece of normal media, burn it in my machine, then retrieve files from that very same media burned on that very same machine?

The answer is, yeah, but not really always.

That is what I'm left with.

And some how, for some reason, the world's most modern, most bestest, most advanced, most lickable, most coolest, most powerful OS can't deal with +R media.

I'd keep scratching my noodle over it, but I'd like to keep my hair.

cheers!

gphz

me too
 

I have the exact same problem. However, I do use -r software and it won't copy either. mac osx 10.4.10 here, never had problem before. Powerbook g4 1.67 15" super drive. I also use different media than you since you said it begins with a t. I am using verbatim mostly. What is the deal?

ps.
 

i can't drag any but can drag all at the same time. sucks when you have 4.3 gb on a disc and only 1 or 2 gb free.

nobody mentioned this but is it maybe a virus?

One other thing that nobody mentioned that may be of great importance and offer some insight into what causes this problem... When clicking and dragging, the no smoking symbol appears, but when holding over a folder, it doesn't open the file for you or even highlite it like normal.
Furthermore, if you hold it over macintosh HD, Applications, Desktop, or any others on the left bar, it shows the green plus but again, doesn't open the folder if you stay over it, and when you drop it doesn't go into the folder.


Ps I tried removing the ram ( one stick, then both with the battery) and letting it sit before starting it up (tried with 1 stick) and no dice.

NO. It is most definitely not a virus.

Trevor

I don't know.

-R and verbatim are what the Apple Genius said that Apple recommends.

I had the extra confusion of having had no problem with this media (which I burned and retrieved from no problem) then suddenly HAVING a problem.

gphz

Grithole, by any chance have you tried the tests which hayne mentions in a few various posts earlier in this thread?

There are times when it's been tough to keep track of what testing has been recommended, so I'll sometimes copy and paste into a TextEdit document, the posts of just one person who is trying to help. This way I can follow more easily that one person's recommendations, and post back the results of those tests.

gphz, we proved back in post #16 that the problem was not the media. The explanation given by the Apple Genius is wrong. If you can copy from the command line, then the media is just fine. The problem is something related to the way that you are copying in the Finder. At this point, I would guess a Finder bug, although it could be related to the way the Finder is interacting with something else on your computer.

But it is not the media.

Trevor

you and I both know it, but getting Apple to accept and act on this knowledge is another can of beans.

Grithole is saying he has problems with -R Verbatim, which is a brand and media type Apple says they recommend.

It almost seems like there's an underlying issue with burners or whatever software governs their interaction with the OS.

gphaze

Been doing some investigating into this problem and came across the following from a Mactech magazine:

http: //www.mactech.com /articles/mactech/ Vol.18/18.12/Metadata/index .html

What are your thoughts?

I'm not sure what in that article (about meta-data) you think is relevant to the current problem.

This thread made reference to Finder having a problem copying information as oppose to using Terminal.
When trying to investigate why, i read comments from other people suggesting when dragging files to other locations certain 'DS Store Files' stored in that location cannot be overwritten therefore prohibiting copying of data.

The article in the link i posted made reference to the cp command line in terminal ignoring any metadata when copying or moving files.

I dont have the technical expertise to verify any of this so i posted a comment here to shed further light on this problem.

The .DS_Store files might be part of the problem.
The .DS_Store files don't hold anything essential - they store info about the size & configuration of the Finder window for a folder. And the Finder comments that you put into the Get Info window seem to get stored in the .DS_Stored files.
But if you haven't been adding comments to your files using Get Info, you can remove the .DS_Store files without fear of losing any info.

So that's something you could try as an experiment - remove the .DS_Store file for the destination folder before trying again to drag files from the DVD.
You can remove the .DS_Store file using the following command once you are in that folder in a Terminal window:

rm .DS_Store

(See this Unix FAQ for info on navigating to a folder in a Terminal window.)

If you get an error message saying that you don't have permission to remove the .DS_Store file, then please run the following command and show us the results:

ls -l .DS_Store

and then you can remove it via the following command (which will prompt you for your password):

sudo rm .DS_Store

Another idea to figure out what is happening here is to use the Unix command 'fs_usage' in a Terminal window while you are doing the dragging of the files from the DVD to the destination. The 'fs_usage' command shows what files are being accessed.

To try this, open a Terminal window and copy/paste in the following command:

sudo fs_usage -e -w > ~/fs_usage_output.txt

Then proceed to try to drag the file you want to copy from the DVD to the destination on your hard disk.
After that has finished (successfully or not), go back to the Terminal window and hold down the Control ('cntrl') key and then press the C key. This (Control-C) will stop the 'fs_usage' command and then you can use your favourite text editor to look at the file "fs_usage_output.txt" that is in your home folder.
Show us the section of that file where the file you are trying to copy is mentioned. Or just the whole file if it's not too long. (You can attach it as a plain text file, using the "Manage Attachments" button at the bottom when you reply).

Note: it is best to quit all other programs than Finder when doing this in order to minimize the amount of other file accesses that will get recorded by 'fs_usage'