Strange folder problem

[Black]

Chakravartin wrote:
Get info on the folder and see if it belongs to "Nobody."

You may have deleted or migrated the user account that the folder was originally created under, leaving it associated with a nonexistent UID.

Home.
It clearly belongs to my main user. I get options to change owner to other users, but my main user is grayed out suggesting it is already the owner.

[Black]

Chakravartin wrote:
Is "ignore ownership" checked in the Finder's Get Info window for that backup drive?

No, it's unchecked.

[Chakravartin]

You described the copy on your boot drive as a "broken alias" that can't be opened. Then you wrote, "the same thing has now happened to the corresponding folder on the backup drive."

So right now you have a copy of the folder at the root level of your boot drive that has an icon corresponding to an alias?

And the copy on your backup drive also has an icon corresponding to an alias?

And double-clicking either of those folders results in the "could not be opened because the original item cannot be found" alert?

You also wrote, "I just tested on my portable and 10.6 does not seem to have a problem with a "Music" folder at root level."

Do you have a working copy of the Music folder on your laptop? If so, why don't you copy that version of the folder to your iMac?

[Black]

Chakravartin wrote:
You described the copy on your boot drive as a "broken alias" that can't be opened. Then you wrote, "the same thing has now happened to the corresponding folder on the backup drive."

So right now you have a copy of the folder at the root level of your boot drive that has an icon corresponding to an alias?

And the copy on your backup drive also has an icon corresponding to an alias?

And double-clicking either of those folders results in the "could not be opened because the original item cannot be found" alert?

You also wrote, "I just tested on my portable and 10.6 does not seem to have a problem with a "Music" folder at root level."

Do you have a working copy of the Music folder on your laptop? If so, why don't you copy that version of the folder to your iMac?

I don't know how to describe it any better. They just look like normal folders, no little alias arrow in the icon, but changed somehow so that the system suddenly thought these hefty folders were aliases. The toggle arrow next to them in the finder disappeared and they could not be opened. Get Info is unable to calculate any size and also thinks they are orphaned aliases.

There's a piece you're not getting somehow-- when I deleted the "bad" folder on the boot drive I reclaimed 300 GB. When I looked at the corresponding folder on the backup it was fine. After copying it over to the boot drive, =both= folders were not openable and were thought to be aliases by the system.*

I now have the conundrum that I risk ruining any backup of this folder by connecting it to the system. The laptop has a 64 SSD, no 300 GB Music folder. Even if it did I would be looking for some serious advice on how to copy the folder over without risking the same thing.

I have two remaining copies-- not the newest but there should only be a few minor things missing-- one on the drive of the old mac, and one on another backup I keep in a firebox. I need to get them over to the new mac without risking them somehow.



*a new piece-- I ran a permissions repair on the boot drive and resultantly the Music folder is grayed out in the finder. I don't think I have ever seen a folder grayed out in a finder view before . . .

And stranger-- iTunes apparently still sees files in this folder-- I can play a song the shows in iTunes' Get Info as being located at Macintosh HD:Musicalbum name/song name.)

[Chakravartin]

So, you don't get that "could not be opened because the original item cannot be found" alert?

Then the OS is not confusing the folder with an unlinked alias.

...

Did you verify the hard drive with the Disk Utility to confirm that you do not have directory-corruption?

If not then you should do so now.

If so then move on to the next step...

...

The "Music" folder is at the root level of your iMac's boot drive?

How comfortable are you with the Terminal?

These commands might fix it.

sudo chmod -RN /Music

sudo chown -R

[Black]

Chakravartin wrote:
So, you don't get that "could not be opened because the original item cannot be found" alert?

No, that's exactly what I got until it became grayed out. Still get it on the unopenable folder on the backup.

Then the OS is not confusing the folder with an unlinked alias.

Semantics, I guess. Get Info thinks it's an alias, and the alert asking to relink it thinks it's an alias.

...

Did you verify the hard drive with the Disk Utility to confirm that you do not have directory-corruption?

If not then you should do so now.

Yes I did-- checks out fine.

If so then move on to the next step...

...

The "Music" folder is at the root level of your iMac's boot drive?

How comfortable are you with the Terminal?

These commands might fix it.

sudo chmod -RN /Music

sudo chown -R

[Black]

I trashed the folder on the new mac and on the backup drive.
I hooked the backup drive to the old mac and re-copied. The copy was fine. Plugged it into new mac-- "bad" folder again. Plugged it into Air (running 10.6) -- looks just like it did on the new mac.
I trashed it again; created a new folder on the backup drive while connected to the air; now moving -some- of the music folder content in.
Will try little by little.

[Black]

And a little epitaph-- moving the files over into a fresh "Music" folder created at root level from within Snow Leopard turned out fine.

I dug out my SL install disc and upped the old mac to Snow Leopard-- and now the Music folder on that mac has gone unopenable.

Points to some sort of corruption in the folder that Leopard was OK with but Snow Leopard is not, rather than a permissions issue. Basically in line with what the folks at Apple thought.

[Anonymous User]

Hey

just reboot the system. Or esle take the laptop to any laptop repair store.