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Cannot delete folder from trash

P

parkerlewis

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 23, 2009
12
0
Hi everyone,

I have tried everything and I cannot delete this folder from my trash. It's an empty folder because everything inside it is already deleted. I get this message when I try to empty trash.

"The operation cannot be completed because the item "xxx" is in use."

- I have tried going into Terminal and typing "sudo rm -rf" etc etc. Get the message "directory not empty".

- Tried secure empty trash.

- Tried using Cocktail.

- Tried using Permanent Eraser.

- Tried holding down "option" and emptying.

- Tried logging out, logging in then emptying. Tried restarting and emptying.

Nothing seems to work. I've looked through every thread on every forum I could find on google.

I can move the folder back to my desktop. I can rename it. It's not locked or anything.

Also, I tried emptying it in safe mode, but I can't seem to start up on safe mode!!! I turn off the computer, turn it on, hold down shift after I hear the startup noise, release shift when the grey apple logo comes up, and then it just shuts down on me. I can't boot up on safe mode!! It's so weird!

I'm gonna try repairing disk permissions, but before I do, is there something I'm missing here? Anything else I can try?

I'm on a PowerBook G4. Running Version 10.4.11. Everything is up to date.

Thanks for any help!
 
Yup. Dragged it to the desktop, did rm -rf. Still get the same message. I even put it into another folder on the desktop, did the same thing. Same message.
 
The OP says he used sudo.

What does lsof tell you?
Code: 
lsof | grep <filename>
 
Yeah, I tried sudo. Didn't work unfortunately.

lsof doesn't tell me anything. I type the filename, press return, it waits for a while, then without saying anything it just goes down to a new command line. I tried it for other files, they seem to work fine!
 
Hmm, so nothing's using it.

How about - this shows any flags set on the files or folders in the folder where you run it:
Code: 
ls -lO

And do you have developer tools installed? There's another command called GetFileInfo that comes with the developer code.

Edit: I experimented a bit with the developer tool SetFile, and I can still empty Trash even if the file/folder busy flag is set. So even if your folder's busy flag is set, it should still be removable if lsof shows nothing.
 
A wild thought: if you have two Macs on the same LAN, can you see it on the other Mac and delete it from there?
 
I don't know if I did this right, but this is what comes up when I do "ls -lo"

Code: 
total 8
drwx------   10 User  User  -  340 Mar  9 21:21 Desktop
drwx------   69 User  User  - 2346 Mar  8 16:46 Documents
drwx------   42 User  User  - 1428 Jan 30 23:31 Library
drwx------   12 User  User  -  408 Jan 27 19:22 Movies
drwx------    6 User  User  -  204 Jan 31 11:37 Music
drwx------    7 User  User  -  238 Jan 11 18:10 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x    5 User  User  -  170 Aug  6  2008 Public
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root   User  -   55 Dec 18  2007 Send Registration -> /Users/User/Library/Assistants/Send Registration.setup
drwxr-xr-x    6 User  User  -  204 Aug  6  2008 Sites

Don't have developer tools installed.

Also don't have 2 Macs either.

EDIT: So should I install developer tools and try that then?
 
i have had several experiences like this in the past. Finally found a app called "Trash It!" for mac. This will force trash everything i have thrown at it. Be careful it will trash anything! Simple Google search should find it for you.. Hope this helps.
 
Tried Trash It! It doesn't work. I don't get an error message or anything. It says "All done!" but the folder is still in the trash! Same thing with Cocktail. No error message, everything runs smoothly, but the folder isn't deleted!
 
parkerlewis said:
I don't know if I did this right, but this is what comes up when I do "ls -lo"

Code: 
total 8
drwx------   10 User  User  -  340 Mar  9 21:21 Desktop
drwx------   69 User  User  - 2346 Mar  8 16:46 Documents
drwx------   42 User  User  - 1428 Jan 30 23:31 Library
drwx------   12 User  User  -  408 Jan 27 19:22 Movies
drwx------    6 User  User  -  204 Jan 31 11:37 Music
drwx------    7 User  User  -  238 Jan 11 18:10 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x    5 User  User  -  170 Aug  6  2008 Public
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root   User  -   55 Dec 18  2007 Send Registration -> /Users/User/Library/Assistants/Send Registration.setup
drwxr-xr-x    6 User  User  -  204 Aug  6  2008 Sites

Don't have developer tools installed.

Also don't have 2 Macs either.

EDIT: So should I install developer tools and try that then?
Click to expand...

Are you in the folder containing the problem folder? Is the folder in that list? Is it the Send Registration link, since the others are all standard OS X folders?

If that's the problem folder, try typing in Terminal "sudo unlink Send\ Registration" and it should be gone.

Oh, and it's "ls -lO" ... upper case o.
 
When I do "ls -lO" this is what comes up:

Code: 
ls: illegal option -- O
usage: ls [-ABCFGHLPRSTWZabcdefghiklmnopqrstuwx1] [file ...]

It only works when I do it in lowercase.

And when I type a filename next to ls -lo, it says "No such file or directory"

And the folder is in the trash and it's not on that list. It's not the Send Registration link. Is there something wrong with that too? I don't even know what that is.

Anyway to give some more detail, the folder I am trying to get rid of was a folder in the iTunes Music directory. I got rid of all the .mp3s in it, but the folder remains. I tried restarting without the iTunes Helper running, it still didn't delete. Dunno if that will help with solving this.

Gah, I'm just about ready to give up. I'll repair permissions before I go to bed and I'll report back in the morning.

Thanks anyway!
 
Doh, sorry. You're running 10.4 - I didn't read closely enough. The upper case o is for Leopard.

Anway, cd to .Trash in Terminal and type ls -lo
 
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