How to Fix Error Code 36 in Mac OS X Finder

How to Resolve Error 36 in Mac OS X Finder with dot_clean

To use dot_clean, you’ll want to point it at the directory which is being copied and throwing the Error Code 36, the basics look like this:

For example, if copying

/Documents/FileBackups/ is the problematic directory, use:

That should be all that is necessary to resolve the issue, just be sure to attempt the file/directory transfer immediately after the command is run.

If this worked for you, or you know of another trick to fix Error Code 36 in the Mac OS X Finder, let us know in the comments.

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73 Comments

I also am having the error show up in copying my FCPX library (2.75TB) from one HD to another. Using a MacBook Pro 16, Catalina, all latest versions.

Here is a Q: Would it make a difference if one HD is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and the other is Fat32?
Thx!

2 4 hr sessions with different senior mac advisors. we tried at least 2 dozen solutions
ftom terminal to shutting down to safe mode
No solution worked

hard for me to believe that apple cannot
resolve this

sony video file from camera fails at every
copy attempt. error 36

In my experience terminal did not work, dot_clean.

If it does not work download ‘Commander One’ and use this to transfer the files.

This worked for me and seems to allow transfer of files larger that 2GB.

Thank you so much, i used Commander One too and it worked perfectly fine.

I’m trying to copy a movie file to a USB stick. Your instructions are unclear to me. Please tell me what I specifically have to type into the terminal. I know nothing about the terminal, and I mean nothing.

Tried dot_clean…and most of the files in the Memory card disappeared…..almost had a heart attach….ejected the memory card…..plugged it back in and all was well….could copy again. Thank you very much

I’ve been getting error 36 moving MP4 files to an NAS Drobo 5N. Unfortunately, dot_clean doesn’t help. I’ve found that duplicating the file with the error using command-D works, but only one file at a time.

Thanks you so much.
The dot_clean worked a treat on my photos library file Pictures\Photos Library. photoslibrary when I was doing a big copy of all my files in my Pictures folder.
All the other files had been successfully copied except those that were alphabetically after the Photos library.
So I just copied those few independently.
I am really grateful to all of you. You saved me trauma and hours of work that I would have spent trying to solve the problem.
Carol

Easiest way around this is to copy the file using Terminal:

It didn’t work for me – I just got input/output errors on all the problem files.

Ok, guys! Robe is absolutely right. I tried EVERYTHING. Just coping fr SD card to external hard drive was an absolute nightmare with this 36 thing. I am no computer wizard, but what Rob said about cp-R worked! I just dragged the whole folder to be sure.

Elena & Rob, THANK YOU! Worked perfectly for me.

Attention: file-dragging (original/’troubling’ FILE) / FOLDER-dragging (destination FOLDER).

I dont understand….please explain step by step.

Forgot to mention that I have used the USB between Mac & Windows to use the PDF files. Could this be an issue?

I have a Mac Mountain Lion – which I downloaded & upgraded into El Capitan, which works fine for me despite very few bugs – which occur like font list becoming invisible on Adobe InDesign. This is a simple, minor annoyance. Not sure if it’s related to this or not. Maybe it’s not.

But my real and more current issue is with the Kingston USB disk as I had files on it. However, it seems to think that there are files on it even if there’s not.

I have looked at quick tutorials with dot_clean solution but it doesn’t seem to work. The USB is empty and yet when I re-insert the USB – sometimes the files show up, sometimes it doesn’t. Seems like a paradox to me.

I also tried out the disk utility in an attempt to use digital ‘first aid’ – under external drive:

⇒ Kingston Data Traveler 3.0 Media (reads as empty with blue bar with all space unused) – It says ‘first aid’ was successful, but ‘erase’ was unsuccessful.
Then there’s sub-header KINGSTON underneath it. ‘First Aid’ and ‘Erase’ does not work here.

Short of abandoning this USB, I am at a loss as to a solution to fix this USB or to use it again.

Any ideas or other options?

Wish I could test this out but I’m trying to transfer 45gb through my network and it takes a few hours. The damn error came up when it was at 43.15gb. FML!

Hi,
what if this error appears when I try to copy mp4 file from a DVD disk? does it necessarily mean that the disk is damaged?
thanks

I just tried dot_clean

/Desktop
Then restarted the computer and It worked

This unfortunately wasn’t worked for me.

An external hard drive I keep around 600GB of music on was becoming unstable (unmouting randomly and not appearing in finder window for up to an hour) so I got another external drive and tried to move everything across.

I type dot_clean then leave a space and drag the folders to be copies in. Once it shows the paths to those folder I hit enter and drag everything to the new drive. Sometimes I get another error 36 before the first folder has transferred, sometimes after a dozen. No real. Noticeable pattern.

Any updates tips would be appreciated

I just wanted to say thank you for this page, both the article and the comments. Just wanted to share my experience in case it helps someone too.

I use Lightroom, so have all my managed photo files and folders on an external hard drive, which is copied to another drive by Carbon Cloner. I wanted to copy it again to a mobile hard drive for use away from home.

I used File Synchronisation at first to copy the files and repeatedly got errors – sometimes 900 of them. Same of I just dragged and dropped manually. I tried the dot clean on every single volume involved but it didn’t help. I manually went through each folder and removed the offending file and then copied it back – aargh. I got my first copy/

Then I messed up after some big changes to the library and decided to start again with a new copy – the error 36 started again. I couldn’t bear the thought of going through the files again. I ran first aid on the drive with disk utility – and a couple of changes were made, I then used Carbon Cloner to copy the files and it worked – there were only 2 errors – a random photo and an iPhone video – apparently ‘sitting on bad sectors”. I have deleted them from within lightroom and copied back back ups so we will see if this solves the problem. I am very happy to have a complete copy though – and v. chuffed that CC overlooks the errors. In my case think it might be a sign the the drives are failing, so another reason I need so many back ups (there’s another in the cloud). Time to restructure!

Thank you for this. It solved my problem.

This immediately solved the issue. I don’t know why but it has.

Please advise and help for the following issues. I want to copy from USD to MAC. its show error-36. I try to follow your guide solving this issues. the problem is idk what is ‘Path’, ‘To’, ‘Directory’, ‘With’, ‘Problem’ in my mac since i am not familiar with computer as i am only user.
please advise if you can help me. thank you.

best regards,
Victor Dragono

This worked for me! Thanks so much!

So I can’t do the dot clean to fix a file that’s on a mounted disk? The file that is giving me the error when I try to move it is on my main drive. I’m trying to move it to an external…

I have the exact same issue transferring FCP library, Bjorn – did you manage to fix?

I also am having the error show up in copying my FCPX library (2.75TB) from one HD to another. Using a MacBook Pro 16, Catalina, all latest versions.

Here is a Q: Would it make a difference if one HD is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and the other is Fat32?
Thx!

If you are getting the error while you are copying things to external NTFS drive, try to mount the drive in Windows and remove the the Mac specific files. In case you run into difficulties, you may need to run check disk to clean the drive and you can run it from command or from the Drive properties toolbox on Windows.

Same problem here as well, but not with all CD’s that I am uploading. I am transferring old CD-R discs of images to an external hard drive and getting the error 36. Not all folders have the error on the same ‘CD. This is occuring maybe 5% of the time. I’ve tried copying to my Mac’s desktop, but the same error occurs. Any thoughts?

…..Also, In all cases, I will transfer a certain portion from the folder with the rest receiving the error. On occasion, I can transfer 1 by 1. Is this signs that my burner is failing?

Are the CD’s scratched or damaged? I find that this error also occurs when a file can’t be read because the physical media is damaged. A solution that I found was to use

It did not successfully copy everything, but unlike Finder it did not stop when it came across a bad file. It displayed which files it failed to copy as it went, also.

I have the same problem.

My Cd-R’s are in perfect condition and have been stored properly. They were all burned in 2007 and 2008.

Note, I only receive the error on Imation CD’s. I’ve been transferring from Sony, TDK and Memorex without issue. Some Imations give me no trouble, but most do. I borrowed a friends mac and got the same issue however I was able to get a few extra photos before ether error occurred.

Also, when I put my CD-R in and search it up on disk utilities, my repair disk option (first aid) is grayed out so no go on the disk repair.

Got a fix for people with a similar issue. Originally, I burned all images to CD-R’s using a Windows based computer (non-mac) and decided yesterday to try to copy images from an old Dell. Well, it worked perfectly and I have transferred all images no problem to an external hard drive. The issue would appear to be my Mac having difficulty reading the Imation CDs. I borrowed a friend newer mac (2014, compared to my 2011) and the same issue occurred, except I was able to get a few more pictures from the newer computer than my own.

How to Fix Mac Error Code-36 Permanently

Hello friends and fans, this is Steve Sadiq with an important article related to Mac Solutions by Steve. Today I’ll help you to fix mac error code 36. Obviously, this is very much annoying and disturbing when you face such an issue while working on your MacBook. Don’t worry, I am going to share with you a very simple solution, that will easily help you to solve this error code 36.

How to Fix Mac Error Code-36 Permanently – Video Tutorial

People who are not related to IT or don’t have much technical knowledge find such errors quite irritating and disturbing during normal working. How much disturbing it is when you have to leave all your working aside and find the solution of the problem.

Don’t worry!

Such things are part and parcel of the working. Remember that you are dealing with the machines. MacBook is also a Machine, sometimes the issue may come but there is always a solution to it.

I have also shared the video with you guys so that, you don’t need to worry at all. If you are not quite convenient with the video thing to follow my step by step guide and this will solve your issue.

Error code 36 basically defines the issue in the Mac. Error codes are given the number so that the error is easily checked and rectified. Like the scenario here indication mac error code 36. Which means an issue with copying the file.

When you get this error code 36. Simply open the terminal.

How to Solve Mac Error Code 36 using Terminal

Utilities > Terminal app

The terminal is basically like the dos prompt in windows. In the terminal, you will see the hidden file, the terminal files that Mac OS X creates the doc.

What you have to do in the terminal.

In the terminal, you have to type dot_clean (provide space) folder path.

If, you don’t know the folder path, don’t worry at all.

You can simply drag the folder in the terminal and leave it ahead of the space. It will automatically type the path as shown in the pic below.

Just press enter and nothing will be seen to have happened. No problem, just close the terminal. Now try the copy operation again. This time you will go the process all the way through.

Bravo. You have done it.

If next time you see the issue of mac error code 36 what you have to do is, simply open the terminal and type in the dot_clean folder path. Provide the path and press enter. Your issue of error 36 is resolved permanently.

Resolve Error Code 36 on Mac

Updated on July 27, 2021

Min Reading 4 Min

Summary: Sometimes, your Finder will display error code 36 when you try to copy files or move them to another location. This error won’t let you perform any data transfer. Don’t worry. Read on to know more about the error and how to fix it on your Mac. Also, download this free tool to recover files in case of data loss due to such unexpected errors.

Mac is a fast, stable, and flawless computer. But sometimes, you’ll encounter the Finder error code 36 that won’t let you complete tasks such as copying, transferring, or deleting files. You feel frustrated and don’t know what to do.

The error code 36 occurs when Finder can’t read or write data from any file. The affected file usually has the extension with a dot and an underscore (say .DS_Store). You need to resolve the error to perform various operations on files from Finder in your Mac.

The next section describes the correct troubleshooting method to fix the error. In case you lose your data during the troubleshooting, and you don’t have a backup, leverage a free Mac data recovery software to salvage your lost data.

Run the Dot_Clean Command from Terminal

Caution: Use Terminal commands on your Mac correctly, as a wrong command may result in data loss. So, back up your Macintosh HD before running the Terminal command to be on a safer side.

You require to execute the dot_clean command in Terminal to remove the Finder error code 36. The complete steps are as follows:

a) Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal to launch the Terminal application on your Mac.

b) Type the command dot_clean and give a single space, then drag and drop the folder that contains the affected files to add its path, and then press Return.

Image: Dot_Clean Command in Terminal

Note: You can even provide the path of an entire volume if the Finder error occurs while backing up files to an external storage medium.

c) Once the dot_clean command merges the hidden files with the actual files, close the Terminal window. Now, try copying files once again. This time the Finder won’t throw the error code 36.

Ensure the File Permission Is Read Write

You can check the permission of the files that you are copying and make sure they have the correct Read/Write permission. In case the file permission is not Read/Write, you can provide that permission to perform the file transfer task without any error. Perform any one of the following:

Repair Your Storage Drive Using Disk Utility

Sometimes, when you delete your files and then try to empty your Trash folder, Finder won’t let you operate due to read-write error code 36. You can try to repair your Mac storage drive using Disk Utility to fix the disk issue. The steps are explained next.

a) Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility to launch Disk Utility on your Mac.

b) From Disk Utility’s sidebar, select the storage drive where the error occurred.

c) Click First Aid from the top and wait till the repair process is over.

Now, try to empty the Trash folder from your Mac, and you won’t find the Finder error 36.

Leverage a Free Mac Data Recovery Software

If you’ve lost data during troubleshooting of error 36 or otherwise, you can use a Mac data recovery software to recover it. Steps are as follows:

a) Download & install *Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac on your Mac mini, iMac, or MacBook.

b) Launch the software, select the required file type, and then click Next.

Image: Select What to Recover Screen

c) Select the drive location, switch on Deep Scan, and then click Scan.

Image: Select Location Screen

c) After the scan is complete, preview your files and select the essential ones, then click Recover.

Image: Preview File Screen

d) Click Browse to select an external storage drive as a recovery location, then click Save.

*Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac tool helps you recover up to 1 GB of files for free. To recover unlimited data, upgrade the tool to the Professional or Premium edition. Good news: All Stellar software products have a 30-day money-back guarantee, so activate with confidence.

Conclusion