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Cannot Delete File

D

dontpanic

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 21, 2004
167
0
So i just did some updates to itunes, java and...safari....then firefox suddenly won't startup after the restart required by the safari update, fine i think, i'll just reinstall it

can't reinstall the programme, it says "the operation cannot be completed because the item 'components' is in use"

so i try and delete it altogether and the same thing happens, i try and go into the firefox package and see what this components thing is and my computer grinds to a halt, chugging away with the spinning pinwheel as i tear my hair out, it sorts itself out after a minute or so when i'm able to relaunch the finder

i had this problem before but with spotify, suddenly i tried to update it and it went haywire saying "the operation cannot be completed because the item 'resources' is in use", i ended up trying all the solutions i could find on the old internets and none of it worked, empty the trash, restart, secure empty trash, use the terminal, none of it worked, then eventually my computer just pissed completely and wouldn't start at all, tried to get some stuff off in firewire target mode but the disk wouldn't let me access the files, so i ended up wiping everything and starting from scratch hoping it would be gone, but the same thing has come back about a week after i wiped it

is this some problem with my hard drive do you think? i don't want to have to reformat it all again
 
yeah i tried everything i could think of and find

it seems like such a ridiculous problem, but it seems like i have a problem with the actual disk since i tried repairing it last time from the install disks and it wouldn't even do that
 
yeah a load of red writing about something, can't remember exactly what it said, but that was the point when i got fed up of trying to fix it and reinstalled everthing, and it's worked fine until now and i've got the same symptoms

is it even possible to change the hard disk on an imac...? it's a late 2006 c2d 2.0ghz
 
When you reinstalled, what option did you choose? Archive & install? Erase and install?

Yes, it's possible to replace the hard drive. It's not technically user-replaceable, but your computer is probably out of warranty by now anyway. I don't think that should be necessary, though.
 
Just go to Disk Utility and verify disk, and it should refresh your memory of the HD errors.

If you have a lot of HD errors, and never repaired them, likely the problem will keep coming back until the machine refuses to boot.

Basically if you don't want to fix them, simply back the computer data up to both time machine and a live copy (simply data as files) and prepare for the machine to refuse to recognize the drive and possibly lock up bad enough that you cannot even boot to the DVD (happens if the boot file looks corrupted.)
 
BlueRevolution said:
When you reinstalled, what option did you choose? Archive & install? Erase and install?

Yes, it's possible to replace the hard drive. It's not technically user-replaceable, but your computer is probably out of warranty by now anyway. I don't think that should be necessary, though.
Click to expand...

erase and install, i thought starting a fresh would be the best option...obviously i was wrong
 
okay i repaired the disk again, it actually completed it this time

i was getting the following a lot as it was reparing

invalid node structure
invalid record count
incorrect number of thread records
invalid directory item count
invalid volume file count
volume bit map needs minor repair
invalid volume free block count
volume header needs minor repair


anyone with an idea what all this means?
 
Something to try for the Firefox issue it to start it in safe mode. To do so, open Terminal and run this command,
Code: 
/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -safe-mode
 
also now when i start my system up it's unbearably slow to do anything

another reinstall here we come

luckily i have my trusty netbook :(
 
Has the dot inside the spyglass for spotlight in the top corner stopped flashing/vanished.

The computer will be dog slow until spotlight finishes indexing the drive.
 
this will be useful the next this no doubt happens, i've decided to start from scratch again

are these errors from a failing hard drive?

Sun Baked said:
Has the dot inside the spyglass for spotlight in the top corner stopped flashing/vanished.

The computer will be dog slow until spotlight finishes indexing the drive.
Click to expand...

i didn't even appear for ages, it seemed to start quickly, got the background and mouse pointer, did something for ages there, loaded up and the top bar came up and then was slow when everything was appearing, skype came up, tried to close that, bad idea, worked something out for a few minutes etc etc

it certainly wasn't right
 
dontpanic said:
are these errors from a failing hard drive?
Click to expand...
They could be, so make sure you have adequate backup of all the files you cannot afford loosing.

It could also "just" be temporary problems, caused by power failure(s), severely flawed software (which cases freezes or kernel panics followed by hard shutdowns) or a number of other problems, and could be completely fixed with a disk repair (especially followed by a re-install of system and applications).
 
i've done it differently this time, i zeroed out all the data from the previous install and then verified the disk, it flew through with no errors or problems as expected, just reinstalling mac os x now, so hopefully, fingers crossed, it might work this time
 
okay that basically did not work, i tried it again, and reinstalled mac os x, after i downloaded the updates and it restarted it just wouldn't boot back into os x

i had some file come up on the grey screen with a question mark in it, and a symbol they have on the no smoking signs, the circle with a line across it

i try verifying the disk and it said

invalid sibling link
volume check failed

error: the underlying task reported failure on exit

1 volume could not be repaired bcause of an error

what am i to do? replace the hard disk?
 
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