Mac Pro :: Cannot Empty Trash Folder - Deleting Downloaded Win Based File?
Jun 2, 2012
I downloaded a windows based file, (2GB) and my Trash Folder will not delete. It keeps hanging up when I try to delete. What cleaner can I get to completely delete?
Running 10.6.4 on a 27" iMac 3.06 GHz C2D. I was irritated by sometimes not being able to empty items from my trash(message that file was in use when it wasn't). I found on lancelhoff.com a command for terminal(cd ~/.Trash && sudo rm -rf ) followed by directory/filename which allowed these pesky files to be deleted which worked great. I was showing my manager the trick I'd found and while doing so, it stopped deleting the files.
Now when I put items in the trash I get a message 'Are you sure you want to delete "xxxx.yyy"? This item will be deleted immediately. You can't undo this action" instead of putting it in the trash. The files I was trying to delete when I was doing my doomed demo will not delete even after a restart. I did a fix permissions on my drive with Disk Utility which was no help in this regard.
I have a MacBook Pro and downloaded ROES software from Nations Photo Lab to create a wedding album and now I no longer want the software on my computer. It will not let me drop it in the trash bin. I did a command I to make sure the program was unlocked, still no luck. How do I go about removing this program from my computer.
I went through and deleted a lot of stuff then when I was emptying the trash it said that there was a locked file so I found out were it was pulled it out and then got rid of everything else there are about 720 locked files in the folder then I tried to find a quicker way to delete it then I found out how to unlock them so I went to pull them out but it just made a copy of it so now and I put it back in the trash not thinking about how that just adds on to the files so how can I get them out or make it so I can press continue just once for them all to go away.
See attached screenshot, I don't even know what that character is in the file name. Anyway it's always in my trash no matter how many times I click "Empty Trash". Don't know what this file is, or how it was made on Jan 1st, 1904.
My problem is with 300+ files in 2 folders that are left over from mac 9. They are in the trash, and are now locked, utterly. When I try to empty the trash, the error message says "The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items." As you may know, when dealing with multiple "disks" (read: partitions), Mac X puts a .Trash or .Trashes folder on each disk. The trash folders on my computer are located on the following paths:
If I begin an install that never completed and have moved the .dmg file to trash how do I delete it when the error message is: item is in use and cannot be deleted?
I got this forever looping combination of folders in my Trash, and now it won't let me empty the trash. It's kind of hard to explain, but if I open the trash, there is a folder in there called "RaceImages 11.36.24 AM [7/3]". If I drill into that folder, it goes on forever like this....Â
"RaceImagesThumbs > Desktop > RaceImages > RaceImagesThumbs" and on and on, repeating for basically ever. I could drill down to eternity and still not be able to delete the trash. I've drilled down through that repeating sequence a hundred times and still not seen an end.Â
If I attempt to empty the trash, it first says "the operation can't be completed because the item 'ML1_2014' is in use.", but I don't see that file. If I click continue, it says it can't be completed because the item "Desktop" is in use, and from there my repeating folder nightmare starts. Clicked 'Continue' a 100 times and the same sequence of folders as above are "in use".Â
Tried "Secure Empty" the trash, tried the finder menu "Option > Empty Trash". All to no avail...same error messages.Â
Emptied my trash and a vital folder in the dock is gone, with the questionmark icon on the folder now. I had not done anything I am aware of to m ove the contents of the folder to the trash. I do have a backup but it is a little more than 2 months old and I know there have been changes since then so recovered the folder is vital.
I have 2011 MacBook air and I tried to empty the trash, and only one file wouldn't delete because 'the file is still in use', but the application was turned off. So then I went to finder and clicked secure empty trash, which then proceeded in emptying, but it stayed that way for a long time so I clicked close. Then, it did seem to close, but then didn't and was stuck in deleting.
At that point the Air's fans began to crank up full speed and became extremely hot. I tried to turn off but didn't work so I just put it to sleep at the moment. I'm new with Mac ( in fact this is my first Mac) so I had no clue what to do. In windows I just do ctrl+alt+delete but what should I do with Mac to close the frozen command (in this case secure empty trash). I got scared bc of the fans and the heat. What should I do?
I moved a bunch of files to the trash can after installing Snow Leopard, mainly backup files from OmniFocus.
I clicked Secure Empty Trash and over 500,000 items began deleting. These 500,000+ items deleted at the rate of 2-3 items a second. This would total 138 hours equaling over 5 days to Secure Empty the trash.
This is just ridiculous in my option so I just did the "Empty Trash" feature, showing me only 350 items, which deleted quickly in under 5 minutes...
So far I know with Secure Empty Trash that the trash is securely layered with 0's & 1's....but wonder what happens with just "Empty Trash?"
How easily accessible is it for someone to retrieve something that i've deleted?
I've noticed that when I "Secure Empty Trash" though it takes longer, I usually regain a lot of gigabytes back. Currently, as of this post i'm "secure emptying trash" and i've regained about 25GB's which sounds about right considering there was about that much worth of video recordings from my video camera I no longer needed.
In the past when I've just "deleted trash" i've seen different results. If I have say 10GB's in the trash and I just "empty trash" then i'll maybe gain back like a GB or 2. ...if anything.
So, my concern is...say currently with the 25GB amount of trash I have, If I decided to just "empty trash", I obviously would not have gained back all the 25GB's..., perhaps just a few, guessing something like 5GB.
Well, does that mean that those GB's that are emptied in the trash (not securely) are just lost forever?
..Or will I regain those GB's the next time around (say weeks later) I securely empty the trash with whatever happens to be in there (all new stuff in the trash)?
Am I making sense?
Kinda confusing to me cause I don't understand it. But I feel it's vital for me to get this and have the most amount of gigs available on my Mac now that i'm using about 30GB's per week filming stuff and editing it on iMovie.
When I download a file from the internet, the O.S (MAC OS X 10.6.8). only allows me to save it to a few select root folders or desktop. A windows pc allows you to drill down multiple levels (if desired) and save it wherever you want.
I have two folders in my trash which I cannot empty. No matter how many times I try these folders will not go away. I have open the "info" link and marked them read and write without success.