Problems deleting songs from iTunes

[thomasp]

Hi,

I'm running OSX 10.4.2 on a 15" combo G4 Powerbook (1.5GHz), and the latest version of iTunes

I had a couple of 30min+ 270Mb AIFF files that I wanted to remove from my iTunes library, so I control-clicked on the file in the list and chose "Clear". When the error message came up asking me if I wanted to keep the file or trash it, I clicked "Move to trash". I did this for both files.

I've now got two 270Mb AIFF's in my trashcan, but when I go to "Empty Trash" in the Finder I can't empty the trash because it says that both files are still in use. The only applications running at this time are the Finder and the Dashboard.


I've also noticed that the computer is very laggy and generally running slowly since I trashed these files.

Looking in the Activity Monitor, the Finder is using 75%+ of the CPU and when I clicked on "Inspect" and "Open files and ports", I saw the following:

/Users/<me>/Desktop
/Users/<me>/.Trash
/Users/<me>/.Trash/1.aif
/Users/<me>/.Trash/1.aif
/Users/<me>/.Trash/1.aif
/Users/<me>/.Trash/1.aif
/Users/<me>/.Trash/2.aif
/
/Users/<me>/.Trash2.aif
/Users/<me>/Music/iTunes
/Users/<me>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music
/Users/<me>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Artist1
/Users/<me>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Artist1/Album1
/Users/<me>/Music/GarageBand

I had also tried editing one of the files in GarageBand, but found out it didn't like 270Mb, 30min music files...

I've tried rebooting the computer and that doesn't clear anything - the finder is still eating up CPU and those files still won't delete, and they are still open.


Any solutions on how I can get my computer back and free half a gig of space from my HD??


Thanks for the help

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Well "Secure Empty Trash" has helped me getting rid of troublesome files in Trash earlier. But I don't quite like the attempt you did with GarageBand, that might complicate things...

If that don't help, opening Termial.app and type the following command which should do the trick:

sudo rm /Users/yourname/.Trash/*.aif

Disclaimer: Using rm is "for ever" without any way back, and when used along with sudo it will delete whatever you tell it, even essential system files, so if you e.g. put a space between "/Users", "/Users/", "/Users/yourname" or "/Users/yourname/" and the rest of the path, like this "/Users/yourname/ .Trash/*.aif", it will delete your user folder and you can kiss all your stuff goodbye...

(Also, are you running the iTunes Widget?)

 

[thomasp]

Thanks for the tips

I actually managed to sort things out by force-quitting the Finder. That seemed to clear everything up.


And in answer to your last question, no I wasn't running the iTunes widget.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I actually managed to sort things out by force-quitting the Finder. That seemed to clear everything up.

That usually does the trick... But a restart should do the same...

Anyway, glad it got fixed...

 

[thomasp]

That usually does the trick... But a restart should do the same...

Anyway, glad it got fixed...

I tried restarting before I posted this thread (full shutdown), but that did nothing

That's why I was surprised that force-quitting the Finder worked.


I now know to avoid putting 270Mb files any where near GarageBand or iTunes - I'll convert them to MP3 next time