can't empty trash of external hd. file in use.

[Kyle Nerder]

there is a file that will not delete on my external hd. The files says "in use".

I have tried option button and empty but no luck.

it's getting really annoying.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[eva01]

have you turned the external drive off and on? first ejecting it of course, then trying to delete the file

 

[ipacmm]

I would also try to restart your computer and before you open anything up, I would try to empty the trash.

 

[HiRez]

And if those things don't work, you can open Terminal and type

sudo rm -Rf ~/.Trash

(it will prompt you for your admin password). Every once in a while I've gotten that "file busy" error with a file that really is not in use by anything.

 

[Kyle Nerder]

And if those things don't work, you can open Terminal and type

sudo rm -Rf ~/.Trash

(it will prompt you for your admin password). Every once in a while I've gotten that "file busy" error with a file that really is not in use by anything.

OK so I tried this and I get this...

http://www.kyleherder.com/flatblack/images/picture1.pdf

error -43? what gives. 2 years this file has hung around on my external hd.
Finally it's starting to bother me. I guess life goes on...

 

[RatVega]

When was the last time you ran Disk Warrior on that drive?

 

[HiRez]

error -43? what gives. 2 years this file has hung around on my external hd.
Finally it's starting to bother me. I guess life goes on...

OK yeah, that one stumps me. I think RatVega is right, there is probably something very, very wrong with your hard drive, like a corrupted B-Tree or something. Since these things usually only get worse and tend to eventually corrupt your whole hard drive, I'd definitely run a disk utility on it, DiskWarrior or my favorite TechTool Pro. NOT Norton if you can help it.

 

[Kyle Nerder]

disk warrior is on it's way. I will give it a shot and get back to you guys...

 

[Kyle Nerder]

OK yeah, that one stumps me. I think RatVega is right, there is probably something very, very wrong with your hard drive, like a corrupted B-Tree or something. Since these things usually only get worse and tend to eventually corrupt your whole hard drive, I'd definitely run a disk utility on it, DiskWarrior or my favorite TechTool Pro. NOT Norton if you can help it.

Is TechTool Pro much different then the Deluxe version that comes with AppleCare?

 

[Kyle Nerder]

what tool do I use in ToolTech Pro? I got it and I am ready to fix like I have never fixed before. LOL

 

[Kyle Nerder]

still with TechTool Pro, I can't delete it

 

[HiRez]

still with TechTool Pro, I can't delete it

I'm not recommending you delete the file with TTP (that's not what it's for), but to run a thorough examination of your entire hard drive. If it finds and can fix problems, that may or may not allow you to then delete the file (well, supposed file...it seems that it's not really a file anymore).