Manatee

Error code -43 on a Mac when a file will not copy or delete

· 6 min read

Error code -43 on a Mac means “file not found.” Finder was asked to copy, move or delete something, and when it went to do so, the item was not where Finder expected it. The full message reads “The operation can’t be completed because one or more required items can’t be found.” Most of the time the file exists and Finder’s view of it is out of date, the drive dropped out for a moment, or the name contains something the disk cannot handle.

What the error is telling you

Every Finder operation starts from a list Finder already holds: this folder contains these items in these places. Error -43 appears when that list and the disk disagree. Three situations account for nearly all of it:

  • The item moved or vanished after the window was drawn. Another app, a sync service or another computer using the same shared folder changed things, and the window did not refresh.
  • The disk went away briefly. An external drive went to sleep, its cable shifted, or a network share dropped the connection. Finder still shows the icons, but nothing is behind them.
  • The name cannot be resolved. On network shares and drives formatted for Windows, a name containing a colon, a question mark or an asterisk, or one that ends in a space or a period, can be listed and still refuse to open, copy or delete.

Less often, the disk’s own directory is damaged and lists a file whose contents are no longer there.

Note what the message does not say. It is about locating the file, not about what is inside it, so by itself it is no sign that the file is corrupt.

Check that the file is really there

Terminal reads the disk directly, without Finder’s stored view. Type ls -la and a space, drag the folder (not the file) into the Terminal window, and press Return:

ls -la /Volumes/Backup/Projects
  • The file is listed with a sensible size. It exists. The problem is Finder or the name, and the fixes below apply.
  • The file is not listed. It is gone, and Finder was showing a leftover. Relaunch Finder and the icon disappears.
  • Terminal answers No such file or directory for the folder, or Input/output error. The drive or share is not properly connected, or the disk is having trouble reading.

Fixes, in order

  1. Relaunch Finder. Hold Option, right-click the Finder icon in the Dock, and choose Relaunch. Reopen the folder and try again. If nothing changes, restart the Mac.
  2. Reconnect the disk. Eject the external drive, unplug it, and plug it back in, straight into the Mac instead of through a hub if you can. For a network share, eject it and connect again with Go, Connect to Server.
  3. Rename the item to something plain. Use only letters, digits, hyphens and underscores, and keep the extension. If Finder refuses to rename it, use Terminal: type mv and a space, drag the file in, then type the new path.
mv /Volumes/Backup/Projects/report\?final.pdf /Volumes/Backup/Projects/report-final.pdf
  1. Copy with Terminal instead of Finder. cp -Rv followed by the source and the destination copies the item and prints each file as it goes. If it stops, the last lines name the file responsible.
cp -Rv /Volumes/Backup/Projects ~/Desktop/Projects-copy

Terminal’s own message is more specific than Finder’s. Input/output error means the disk could not read the data, which is the territory of error code -36.

  1. Run First Aid. Open Disk Utility, select the volume in the sidebar, click First Aid, then Run. First Aid checks and repairs the directory, the disk’s record of what is stored where. If it reports problems it cannot repair on an external drive, copy off everything that will copy before you do anything else to that drive.

If it is a file you are trying to delete

When the Trash will not empty because of one item, open the Trash, right-click that item, and choose Delete Immediately. For an item that will not even move to the Trash, select it in Finder and press Option-Command-Delete, which removes it without the Trash step.

If Finder still answers with -43, Terminal can remove the file directly. Type rm -i and a space, drag the file into the window, and press Return. Terminal asks for confirmation; type y and press Return. This is permanent, so read the path on the line before you confirm.

Advice you can skip

Resetting NVRAM or PRAM is suggested for this error all over the web. NVRAM holds a handful of startup settings, such as speaker volume, display resolution and which disk the Mac starts from. It keeps no record of where your files are. If a reset seemed to cure -43, the restart that came with it is the likelier reason.

Reinstalling macOS is also out of proportion. This is a Finder and disk problem, and the steps above deal with it at that level.

When the copy finishes but the file will not open

A file that ran into trouble on the way can arrive incomplete: the right name, a plausible icon, and contents that stop partway through. Compare its size with the source in Get Info before you delete the source. Verifying a file arrived intact shows how to be certain, and a file that copies to an external drive and arrives broken covers the usual reasons.

If the source is no longer available and the damaged copy is a video, a PDF or a Word document, Manatee can attempt a repair. Drop the file onto its menu bar icon or into its window, or right-click it in Finder and choose Services, Fix with Manatee. It reports one of three outcomes: Fixed, Partial (for example the first eleven minutes of a video) or Not fixable. It writes a new copy beside the file and never modifies the original, and everything runs on the Mac with nothing uploaded. Every feature is free for 24 hours, then it is $9 once.

Its limits matter here. Manatee is not an undelete tool and it does not repair disks. A file that -43 says cannot be found has to be found, or restored from a backup, before any repair can begin, and data that never made it into the copy is gone.

Questions

Does error -43 mean my drive is failing? Usually not. A single -43 on a network share, or after an external drive went to sleep, is a dropped connection. Repeated -43 errors on one drive, especially with First Aid reporting problems or Terminal showing Input/output error, are a warning. Copy your files somewhere else first and investigate afterward.

Why does it happen with only one file in the folder? Look at its name. Punctuation, a space at the end, or a name far longer than its neighbors are the usual culprits on shared and Windows-formatted drives. Rename it and try again.

The file is in iCloud Drive. Is that different? It can be. A cloud badge beside the name means the contents are not on the Mac yet, so there is nothing local to copy. Download the file first. A file that will not open because iCloud kept a placeholder explains what to do when the download stalls.