While there might not be much need for pondering over how to backup your data on Mac ever since Time Machine has come to the rescue of many, there are still people who prefer to save data on physical media such as the DVDs or CD. Burning thus becomes an important part of the backup process.
However as must have been experienced by many Mac users, burning user folders directly to the disk usually results in an error in OS X 10.6. The bug did not exist till OS X 10.4 however with some changes in the OS, the error is quite annoying for 10.6 users.
If you have tried dragging the folder directly on the Disc icon, getting an error message “” might not be uncommon. Not only does this error stop you from getting the backup done, it renders the disc useless as well.
Its fix is, nevertheless, simple enough.
The file that causes the error is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist. Due to some changes in coding in 10.6, the Finder modifies this file at the time of burning the disc. Since the file stays in use during the burning process, 10.6 fails to burn in onto the disc and thus the error.
To fix this, simply lock the file. For this, open Get Info for the file and check the Locked option in the info window before burning. This gets the job done. Just remember to unlock the file once done burning.
However keep in mind that the same error might appear again, when the file being burnt gets deleted from the original location or you don’t have the permission to aces the file. So don’t panic next time this happens, reasons could be any of the three mentioned. Just keep the solution in mind.