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iMacUnsure

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 24, 2013
61
6
Southern US
I have tried and tried for the last hour. It's saying I do not have permission to remove some items but none of the items required any kind of permission and even if they do I do not know which one it would be. The items were downloaded onto a jump drive not the hard drive on the iMac.

I moved them to the Trash but they are still showing on the drive.
 
Last edited:
To force empty the trash when it's balky, do this...

Press/hold the Alt/Option key and click on "empty trash."

Before you do this, you might try restarting your Mac and see if the items will delete regularly. Sometimes this is all that's needed. But the above WILL force delete balky items with no negative results (as far as I've experienced). ;)
 
I've ran into this problem before as well.

The way I resolved it in the past is by doing a restart on my Mac and then emptying the trash.

- Kyle
 
I moved them to the Trash but they are still showing on the drive.
Moving something to the Trash puts in a folder called .Trash on the SAME drive. So files on an external drive will stay on that drive when you move them to the trash.

The Trash in the Finder is a collection of all trash folders.
 
to force empty the trash when it's balky, do this...

Press/hold the alt/option key and click on "empty trash."

before you do this, you might try restarting your mac and see if the items will delete regularly. Sometimes this is all that's needed. But the above will force delete balky items with no negative results (as far as i've experienced). ;)


thank you thank you
 
Well restarting it cured it the first time but will not cure it now. This is becoming a hassle. The files were not on the jump drive this time.
 
OK, I tried the "purge" test but when I do I get this:

Unable to purge disk buffers: Operation not permitted

The AHT says there are no problems found. I installed "Smart Utility" and it did not find a problem either. So I guess I can rule out an HD problem. Restarting has not helped either.

I have verified and repaired permissions as well. What else is there? Should I call Apple?
 
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