[waterbuck]

Hi

i have a new 512 MB imation flash drive. I can copy single documents to it, but can't copy a large folder (255MB) because it tells me "you cannot copy the item 'icon ' because the name is too long or includes characters that the disk cannot display. The 'icon ' files are invisible files, and seem to be associated with a variety of different files, including a number of old documents from my OS8.6 days, but also some new stuff.

The Flash drive is very likely PC-formatted and that may be the problem. I actually need to have it PC-compatible, however.


Is the simple drag and drop a workably way to throw 300 MB on one's flash drive or do I need to engage in a more technically involved process to copy this data over? Should I be trying to delete these invisible icon files?

[CharlesS]

I just tried it, and MS-DOS formatted disks don't seem to let me copy folders with custom icons to them either. I think the problem is probably the fact that the icon file has a return character at the end of its name, and FAT probably doesn't like that.

You can delete all the icon files by running these commands:

cd <path to the folder>
find . -name Icon? -exec rm '{}' \;

However, be warned that this will delete any custom icons that any folders may have had.

[waterbuck]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
I just tried it, and MS-DOS formatted disks don't seem to let me copy folders with custom icons to them either. I think the problem is probably the fact that the icon file has a return character at the end of its name, and FAT probably doesn't like that.

You can delete all the icon files by running these commands:

cd <path to the folder>
find . -name Icon? -exec rm '{}' \;

However, be warned that this will delete any custom icons that any folders may have had.

Hi-
2 questions
First, I dont have any custom icons. That is, I would not expect that the invisible "icon" files are related to custom icons at all. Does that change your interpretation of what is likely going on?

Second, the commands you describe would be in "terminal", right?

thanks...

[larkost]

If you want to keep the custom icons intact, you will have to move them inside a disk image (.dmg). Use /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility to create an image from that folder.

[effgee]

Originally posted by waterbuck:
Hi-
2 questions
First, I dont have any custom icons. That is, I would not expect that the invisible "icon" files are related to custom icons at all. Does that change your interpretation of what is likely going on?

There have to be custom icons somewhere in the folder(s) you are trying to copy - I have a 512MB Sony stick (MS-DOS formatted w/Disk Utilitiy) and have done a few tests. Any and all copies, the largest folder I tested was 400MB in size with several thousand files in it, proceeded without problems but as soon as there was a file/folder with a custom icon among the files to copy, the Finder would give me same error message you described above.

I suggest you look through your files again - most likely there's one or several that have custom icons (old 8.6 folders, perhaps?). Also try to copy a folder with a bunch of items of similar size (you could create a couple of empty disk images in Disk Utility for that purpose) where you're 500% sure there's no custom icons. If that fails as well, I'd recommend backing up all your files from the stick and reformatting it with Disk Utility's "Erase" option.

HTH

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by waterbuck:
Hi-
2 questions
First, I dont have any custom icons. That is, I would not expect that the invisible "icon" files are related to custom icons at all. Does that change your interpretation of what is likely going on?

Second, the commands you describe would be in "terminal", right?

thanks...

The invisible files are icon files; I can guarantee you that, 100%. It's been this way since System 7. The files are not named "Icon", but rather "Icon\r", i.e. the word "Icon" followed by a return character. It is that return character that the MS-DOS file system doesn't like. It could be that some folder has a custom icon and you're not aware of it, or it could be possible that some folder once had a custom icon which was deleted (OS 9, at least, tended to leave the file in there but just mark the folder as not needing to use a custom icon).

Either way, if you don't care about losing the custom icons, you can just run the commands I provided to get rid of the files.

[waterbuck]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
The invisible files are icon files; I can guarantee you that, 100%. It's been this way since System 7. The files are not named "Icon", but rather "Icon\r", i.e. the word "Icon" followed by a return character. It is that return character that the MS-DOS file system doesn't like. It could be that some folder has a custom icon and you're not aware of it, or it could be possible that some folder once had a custom icon which was deleted (OS 9, at least, tended to leave the file in there but just mark the folder as not needing to use a custom icon).

Either way, if you don't care about losing the custom icons, you can just run the commands I provided to get rid of the files.

Okay

I want to run the commands you suggest. Terminal commands are mysterious to me, for the most part. I'll try to show how I think you specify a path to a folder below and please tell me if it is correct. I never realy understand which way the slashes go.
Do I include those little less than "<" and greater than ">" things?
Do I need to type "run" or something like that?
Once I run the command do I need to type "logout" or "end" before closing the terminal application?

For example:
cd <TiDrive\Users\myname\Documents\Work\Research>
find . -name Icon? exec rm '{}' \;

is that the right way?

thanks

[wataru]

Why don't you just zip the stuff first? Control-click on it and choose to make an archive out of it.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by waterbuck:
Okay

I want to run the commands you suggest. Terminal commands are mysterious to me, for the most part. I'll try to show how I think you specify a path to a folder below and please tell me if it is correct. I never realy understand which way the slashes go.
Do I include those little less than "<" and greater than ">" things?
Do I need to type "run" or something like that?
Once I run the command do I need to type "logout" or "end" before closing the terminal application?

For example:
cd <TiDrive\Users\myname\Documents\Work\Research>
find . -name Icon? exec rm '{}' \;

is that the right way?

thanks

No, you need to use forward slashes. Also, the root of your boot disk is the root of the filesystem. A nice shortcut that skips to your home folder is ~, so:

cd ~/Documents/Work/Research
find . -name Icon? -exec rm '{}' \;

You need to make sure you type this exactly right - you can do a lot of damage otherwise.

Wataru has a point - perhaps it would be best just to zip the archive and put it on the flash drive...