Cannot delete folder drom USB stick

[petenkaye]

Not sure where to post but I'll try here.....
I have a PPC 1.85GHz iMac still running 3.9
Problem: a USB stick did not eject properly and a folder with its name remains on the Desktop. The drive icon has gone. The folder will not move to to Trash although a shortcut does. Just cannot delete it. Info says the folder has the same values as the USB stick did. (see att)
Help please, one of you good folk!
Thanks, Pete
PS present problem is that i cannot load a USB stick at all now. Drive does not show up.

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

Not sure where to post but I'll try here.....
I have a PPC 1.85GHz iMac still running 3.9
Problem: a USB stick did not eject properly and a folder with its name remains on the Desktop. The drive icon has gone. The folder will not move to to Trash although a shortcut does. Just cannot delete it. Info says the folder has the same values as the USB stick did. (see att)
Help please, one of you good folk!
Thanks, Pete
PS present problem is that i cannot load a USB stick at all now. Drive does not show up.

Please check that your iMac's date and time settings are correct, if not reset, and then retry the USB stick.

 

[petenkaye]

Please check that your iMac's date and time settings are correct, if not reset, and then retry the USB stick.

Time and date are fine. USB stick will not mount. Sigh....

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

Time and date are fine. USB stick will not mount. Sigh....

Hmmm, I'm sorry to hear that the date setting wasn't the answer. I noticed in your attachment that the date is January 1, 1980 12AM, and figured that was the reason the USB stick wasn't being recognized, --a date conflict, something which I've found prevents files being read, etc. I'm sorry I couldn't help.

 

[petenkaye]

Hmmm, I'm sorry to hear that the date setting wasn't the answer. I noticed in your attachment that the date is January 1, 1980 12AM, and figured that was the reason the USB stick wasn't being recognized, --a date conflict, something which I've found prevents files being read, etc. I'm sorry I couldn't help.

I had not noticed that spurious date. Odd. The Macv is present time. Thanks for your time - appreciated! Any idea where (another forum, maybe?) I could take this?
Cheers,
Pete

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

I had not noticed that spurious date. Odd. The Macv is present time. Thanks for your time - appreciated! Any idea where (another forum, maybe?) I could take this?
Cheers,
Pete

Hi again, I did a search and found similar threads on MacRumors forums and Apple Discussions from the past 5 or so years. Unfortunately, although some threads were solved, there was no consensus. Some were cleared up with a simple Reboot, others reset the NVRAM, for some people it was a problem with Onyx or Growl software.

Take a look at this thread:
http://www.mac-help.com/t9509-solved-undeletable-folder.html

--And because there was a date error, you may possibly need a new battery:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Good luck!

 

[petenkaye]

Hi again, I did a search and found similar threads on MacRumors forums and Apple Discussions from the past 5 or so years. Unfortunately, although some threads were solved, there was no consensus. Some were cleared up with a simple Reboot, others reset the NVRAM, for some people it was a problem with Onyx or Growl software.

Take a look at this thread:
http://www.mac-help.com/t9509-solved-undeletable-folder.html

--And because there was a date error, you may possibly need a new battery:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Good luck!

Thanks again. I checked out that link and it did not help/work. The clock on the Mac is correct, so I do not think changing the battery is an issue. In view of the dodgy date on the folder I wonder if I were to reset temporarily the Mac clock to 1980 might I then be able to eject the folder? I say "eject " because when I try and dump it the drive eject symbol replaces trash. Only a short cut ends up in Trash. I am not happy about resetting the Mac clock - could be a can of worms?

 

[chown33]

The time and date is a red herring. All it means is that the date wasn't set when the folder was created (or modified, or whatever). That was then, this is now.

In any case, there is no problem at all with deleting folders that have really old modification or creation dates.


So the last thing that wasn't date-time related was "the USB will not mount". Is that correct?

Try launching "Disk Utility", an app located in your Utilities folder. Then insert the USB stick. Does Disk Utility recognize the USB stick at all? What does it show (i.e. post a screen shot)?

If Disk Utility recognizes the USB stick, select the stick and click the Info icon in the toolbar. Post a screen shot of that.

Then select the first item (called a volume) contained on the USB stick, and get Info on that, Post a screen shot of that.

If Disk Utility doesn't recognize the USB stick at all, then it may be too damaged to recover. You'd probably have to erase it completely. Is there data on it you need to recover?

I have a PPC 1.85GHz iMac still running [U]3.9[/U]

I assume this means the OS version is 10.3.9.

 

[petenkaye]

I have a PPC 1.85GHz iMac still running [U]3.9[/U]

I assume this means the OS version is 10.3.9.

Yes!

Well, knock me down with a feather, I followed your directions, the drive showed up fine; I then ejected it and it obeyed and...........the unerasable file has gone too! I had not thought of remounting the same USB stick in case I made it worse. Another USB would not mount at all - not even a "the USB will not mount" message. Now everything works. Thanks so much for your time and to those of you who also responded to assist. It has made a great difference to me. Best wishes to you all.
Pete