Cannot delete a file from external hard drive

[pletsch]

I have 2 files that i want to delete from my hard drive. Every time i delete them, and send them to trash, and try to empty the trash (normally or secure) it makes the sound of deleting, but the files remain.

From what I understand from my digging is that my computer thinks they may be system files and won't delete them.

I've tried to use the terminal actions (ie. sudo rm -rf /Volumes ) but it gives me the response of "directory not empty"

My permissions for the external drive are "read and write"

The folders are both empty from what I can see.

I can't see "ghost files" as I don't have access to a windows computer.

Format for the external is FAT 32

I know its not a huge deal but still very frustrating.

Thanks for any help

 

[Big Ron]

I had a problem similiar to yours when I tried to use an older drive that I used to use for Windows Backup. The first method is simply to get someone with a PC to remove them - failing that -

My preferred method, probably not the most efficient but most effective was to:

Remove all the files of the drive that I wanted to keep.
Format the drive as NTFS
Format the drive as FAT 32

I agree its a bruit force approach but it works: Simply copy back what you want.