# Problems importing photos - destination folder not writable



## DeborahJ (Oct 7, 2016)

I've just set up Lightroom on a Mac Mini and have been importing photos normally.  Now when I try to import photos from an SD card or external disc drive I get the message "Could not copy a file to destination folder because it is not writable' It then lists the file numbers of the photos.  Yesterday I imported the same photos very easily into Lightroom on my laptop, where I still keep a a few photos.

Under destination I had the Into subfolder box ticked and gave it a name (date of the photos) as usual.  I tried using a different folder but no luck

I did update the operating system to Sierra a couple of day ago.  However my laptop is also on sierra and the importing is OK.  

thanks for any suggestions


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## clee01l (Oct 7, 2016)

If you have the "Make a second copy to.." checked, then that destination might be invalid or off line.   Check to see if there is enough free space on the Destination disk and the "Make a second copy to.."   If your Disk drive is full or nearly so there is not enough free space to write temporary files.


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## DeborahJ (Oct 8, 2016)

Thanks for your reply.  I haven't got "make a second copy" ticked and there is plenty of room on the disk - 668 GB!  I just tired it again and it said "some of the actions could not be carried out.... implying that some photos had been imported but I can't find them.


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## DeborahJ (Oct 8, 2016)

I've found a work-round.  Lightroom imports the photos perfectly if I pre-load them on to the Mac mini Hard Drive.  Hmmmm.


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## clee01l (Oct 8, 2016)

DeborahJ said:


> "some of the actions could not be carried out.... implying that some photos had been imported but I can't find them.


This is a different message from the one you originally reported.

In the Catalog panel, there is a special collection labeled "Previous Import" This is always a collection of the *last* import.  You can find your images in this special collection and then use the context menu to "Go to Folder in Library" to find the location of that image on the last import.


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## clee01l (Oct 8, 2016)

DeborahJ said:


> I've found a work-round.  Lightroom imports the photos perfectly if I pre-load them on to the Mac mini Hard Drive.  Hmmmm.


This suggests that your card reader components are marginal or defective.  Using the camera as a card reader is always problematic. There is undue wear on the camera battery. It always must be fully charged before attempting transfer.  The USB cable could be defective. (Remember camera manufacturers do not manufacturer USB cables but instead purchase these from the lowest bidder)   Lightroom is more sensitive and less tolerant to hardware issues than is the file system tools in Finder.   Camera Cards also fail after time. Try replacing the hardware components involved in the image import one at a time to see if you can determine which component is causing the process to fail.


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## Jessa_Rae (Oct 31, 2016)

I am having this same issue. I don't understand why a folder would not be writable and how to determine if it is writable or not. I'm using Windows.


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## clee01l (Nov 1, 2016)

Jessa_Rae said:


> I am having this same issue. I don't understand why a folder would not be writable and how to determine if it is writable or not. I'm using Windows.


Welcome to the forum.
There are two reason that I can think of to cause a folder not to be writable.  

Disk is full.  In Windows Explorer, Right click on the drive and choose "Properties"  There should be sufficient free space to create the new images copies AND enough free space (if the drive is C to create lots of temporary files during the import. 
Insufficient permissions.   In Windows Explorer, Navigate to the Destination folder, then Right click on the folder and and choose "Properties".  In the section marked "Attributes" you should have both  read & write permissions.
You cloud also get this message if you have the option checked to "Make a Second Copy to..."  That location could have the same problem or be off line.


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