file name too long

What protocol are you using to connect to the NAS? You should be using AFP, not CIFS. Although CIFS is supported by OSX, it is essentially a Windows protocol that has limitations on length and type of characters.

Yep I am using AFP...

Sounds like the same issue as here: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=39504#p219917

Can you post the filename and path of the file that it's choking on?

I also found this that may be of some help: http://www.harrycaskey.com/trouble-copy ... rom-a-mac/

Searching Google for "the operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50)" returns a number of threads on the subject including some that were resolved by resetting permissions.

I found that even an empty folder with no media on it will give me the error

You can’t copy the item “04_1#3fmp3” because its name is too long or includes characters that are invalid on the destination volume. Sounds like a nas problem. The file name is Victoria Williams and I took out all the media. Its just a folder! I'm trying to drop it on media/music share. I don't know enough to get through that harry caskey code. Besides I tried it from 3 other macs in the house as admin. no luck :-(((
Thanks

Try copying one of the problem folders via terminal - it should give a more informative error than the generic catch-all -50 you are getting with finder.

It might also help to know how you backed up the data you are trying to restore as well as the details of how you are trying to restore them. Feel free to be verbose, the -50 devil is often in the detail

Thanks. I couldn't get Terminal to recognize the path to the nas box, but I used terminal to see invisible files. Show package contents no longer works in 10.6 as far as I can tell.

http://macs.about.com/od/tipstricks/qt/hiddenfolder.htm

It looks like each folder (mp3 in this case) has created a .AppleDouble folder (there have been a few threads about this) inside of the parent folder (artist name) once I trash those the files can be copied. Now - how do I repeat that action for 300 gigs of music or make the NV+ ignore the .AppleDouble files and just copy the rest?

Your problem is related to how you backed up the files to your Mac.

You have copied the data to the NV+ via AFP - the .AppleDouble folders are system folders used by the AFP service to store resource fork data that is not natively supported on non-Apple systems. You then backed up the data from the NV+ via some protocol other than AFP - this has caused issues with the resource fork data as the .AppleDouble folders have been treated as real folders rather than resource forks, for instance your being unable to "Show Package Contents" (ie this is not a 10.6 issue, but specific to your data)

Fortunately, while inconvenient, losing the resource fork data is rarely a major problem

Solution to your immediate issue is to either:

1. Restore the data to your NAS via another protocol - ideally the same as you used to backup the data. First temporarily disable AFP to allow the .AppleDouble folders to be overwritten. This should restore the resource fork data

2. Remove those .AppleDouble folders from the source, and then restore the data over AFP - losing the resource forks

3. Restore the data via terminal which will report errors re. not being able to overwrite the .AppleDouble folders but will continue to copy the rest of your data (rather than generate the spurious error like finder). This again will cause the resource forks to be lost.

Thanks. How do you copy a folder via terminal? I found this http://macmost.com/using-terminal-to-copy-files.html
but can't seem to find the correct server path for a destination. I get a protocol error. Thanks

for some reason I get the error ./ is a destination but it doesn't copy.


Last login: Sun Apr 24 17:01:29 on ttys000
new-host:~ richardlyons$ df
Filesystem 512-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2 624208480 605533640 18162840 98% /
devfs 246 246 0 100% /dev
map -hosts 0 0 0 100% /net
map auto_home 0 0 0 100% /home
/dev/disk3s2 39903192 21805888 18097304 55% /Volumes/lyonsfreelance
/dev/disk2s2 3906357344 598432728 3307924616 16% /Volumes/biggie
//richard%20lyons@Sula%20(CIFS)._smb._tcp.local/media 11604767296 1181408 11603585888 1% /Volumes/media
//richard%20lyons@sula/media 11604767296 1181408 11603585888 1% /Volumes/media-1
afp_0LhbPn035UAL4FlKnb0ZATMc-3.2e000009 11604767296 1181408 11603585888 1% /Volumes/media-2
afp_0LhbPn035UAL4FlKnb0ZATMc-1.2e00000a 11604767296 1181408 11603585888 1% /Volumes/homes
afp_0LhbPn035UAL4FlKnb0ZATMc-2.2e00000b 11604767296 1181408 11603585888 1% /Volumes/backup
new-host:~ richardlyons$ cd /Volumes/media-2
new-host:media-2 richardlyons$ cp -rpv "/Volumes/biggie/Music"
usage: cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file target_file
cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file ... target_directory
new-host:media-2 richardlyons$ ./
-bash: ./: is a directory
new-host:media-2 richardlyons$
new-host:media-2 richardlyons$

cp -prv <source> <destination>

Examples:

cp -prv /path/to/backup/media /Volumes/media

cp -rpv "/Volumes/biggie/Music" ./

Command needs to be all on one line - you appear to be pressing enter midway through the command