I sometimes get these error messages, and I suppose I was typing commands to quickly.
But usually it should be OK after it.
Are you sure your external hard drive is OK? (to be sure: even when working on the iMac you are using the LaCie as image source/storage site?)
What connection do you use? FireWire or USB 2.0? What size do your images have?
Could it be, that the info takes too long loading from the external hard drive?
And: does it happen EVERY TIME or just sometimes?