Something happens in macOS when copying books to another library

[dunhill]

caliber, version 8.4.0
ERROR: Exception not considered: <b>FileNotFoundError</b>:[Errno 2] No such file or directory: '._How to interpret dreams to win at l - Diane Von Alten.epub'

caliber 8.4 embedded-python: True
macOS-15.5-arm64-arm-64bit Darwin ('64bit', '')
('Darwin', '24.5.0', 'Darwin Kernel Version 24.5.0: Tue Apr 22 19:54:26 PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.121.6~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8112')
Python 3.11.12
OSX: ('15.5', ('', '', ''), 'arm64')
Interface language: en
EXE path: /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/calibre
Successfully initialized third party plugins: AudioBook_Duration (1, 0, 9) && Count Pages (1, 13, 6) && Ebook Translator (2, 4, 1) && Epub Metaguider GUI (intellireading.com) (1, 0, 2) && Epub Metaguider post processor (intellireading.com) (1, 0, 2) && EpubSplit (3, 10, 0) && Fetch Audio Meta (0, 1, 22) && Find Duplicates (1, 10, 9) && Import Audiobooks Metadata (0, 2, 7) && Quality Check (1, 14, 2) && Read Audiobooks metadata (0, 1, 1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre/db/backend.py", line 449, in rmtree_with_retry
File "shutil.py", line 752, in rmtree
File "shutil.py", line 703, in _rmtree_safe_fd
File "shutil.py", line 701, in _rmtree_safe_fd
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '._cover.jpg'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre/gui2/actions/copy_to_library.py", line 412, in choose_library
File "calibre/gui2/actions/copy_to_library.py", line 465, in copy_to_library
File "calibre/gui2/actions/copy_to_library.py", line 533, in do_copy
File "calibre/gui2/library/models.py", line 477, in delete_books_by_id
File "calibre/db/cache.py", line 85, in call_func_with_lock
File "calibre/db/cache.py", line 2231, in remove_books
File "calibre/db/backend.py", line 2364, in remove_books
File "calibre/db/backend.py", line 1499, in rmtree
File "calibre/db/backend.py", line 455, in rmtree_with_retry
File "shutil.py", line 752, in rmtree
File "shutil.py", line 703, in _rmtree_safe_fd
File "shutil.py", line 701, in _rmtree_safe_fd
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '._How to Interpret Dreams to Win Him Over - Diane Von Alten.epub'

[dunhill]

Now that I read the log it seems it is not because of hidden files, but because the file or directory does not exist

[kovidgoyal]

That error can only happen if some other program is deleting files from the directory as the same time as calibre.

[biscuitroller]

Is there a way to prevent this? I'm getting a similar error when I run the portable version from an external hard drive. I understand it's not advisable to store a library on a network drive, but does the same apply to portable hard drives?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by biscuitroller

Is there a way to prevent this? I'm getting a similar error when I run the portable version from an external hard drive. I understand it's not advisable to store a library on a network drive, but does the same apply to portable hard drives?

You should not have a problem with an external hard drive connected to the same computer you are running calibre.

Does MacOS have a safe mode you could try? If not, you could turn off your AV and everything that runs are startup and see what happens.