cant delete files.

[jattsoorma]

I have a external hardrive plugged in. when i delete files from it, it sends it to my macs trash can. When i try to empty my trash can it keeps saying all the files names and says "This operation can not be complete because ________ is being used" and all the files remain in my trash can. But when I unplug they hard rive they are they are gone. When i plug it bak in.. the files r back in my trash can

 

[old-wiz]

Each physical drive or partition has its own "trash can" - The OSx trash icon is for all drives/partitions currently mounted. If the files in the trash are all from the external drive and you dismount the drive, then the trash icon on the screen changes to empty and when you plug it back in, osx sees that there are entries in trash on the external then the icon shows trash present. The disk space on a drive/partition is not reclaimed until you actually empty the trash.

What files are you trying to delete and what version of osx are you running?

 

[BAC5.2]

Is the external drive formatted as an NTFS drive?

 

[jattsoorma]

I do think it is NTFS but im runningthis program called NTFS for mac OS X and it allows me to edit or add to the drive. im on version 10.6.8. 2.66 GHz intel core 2 duo

i downloaded a whole season of family guy. but it didnt work. so i deleted it. but it doesnt go away from trash can when the file is plugged in. it is not being used by any program.its been a month since its been saying thiss

 

[matrael]

If you're comfortable using the shell, you can fire up Terminal and use the rm command to remove the files without messing with Trash. man rm at a shell prompt for an overview of how the command should be used and what its options are.

 

[BAC5.2]

Try Tuxera. That works really well for me.

www.tuxera.com

 

[Nameci]

Hold the option key while clicking the "Empty Trash". Don't lift until the file is completely thrashed.