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error code -50 - unable to delete file

D

dhartlen

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 27, 2010
51
0
I placed an .mp3 into my "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder and it's now stuck. It won't remove itself after adding into the library and it keeps generating duplicates of the song in iTunes (were over 100 dupes earlier).

When I try to manually delete it, I get the following error:

The operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50).​

It's not locked and I'm not sure how to solve this ... any suggestions?
 
This should do the trick. Follow the instructions to the letter though! Make a mistake with rm in Terminal and you'll be sorry...
 
Thanks everyone. Will be able to try this/these in a few hours. Much appreciated. Will update how it goes for future troubleshooters as well.
 
Here's the error I got when trying to move it to the terminal after running "sudo rm -R"


/Volumes/Public/iTunes/Automatically\ Add\ to\ iTunes.localized/01\ Happy\ New\ Year.mp3
-bash: /Volumes/Public/iTunes/Automatically Add to iTunes.localized/01 Happy New Year.mp3: cannot execute binary file​

Any ideas?
 
UPDATE: repaired disk and permissions (although I do not believe this ran on the network drive and I still can't figure out how to do this).

Also created new admin account and tried deleting with it and still got the same error.

:confused:
 
Sedulous said:
Is the problem isolated to this particular file or any file?
Click to expand...

Initially I thought it was just one .mp3 sitting in my "Automatically Add To ITunes" folder, but now realise it is also impacting some of the files in the "not added" folders as well.

I have been able to rename the folder and create a new one that seems to be working, by the OCD in me would really like to delete the problem ones as well.
 
dhartlen said:
Initially I thought it was just one .mp3 sitting in my "Automatically Add To ITunes" folder, but now realise it is also impacting some of the files in the "not added" folders as well.

I have been able to rename the folder and create a new one that seems to be working, by the OCD in me would really like to delete the problem ones as well.
Click to expand...

My concern is that the disk is going bad. But if you say it verified then it may be something else. Perhaps some weird kind of problem with the troublesome files being marked as still being copied. Is it possible to change the name of any of the files in question? Can you connect to this disk from another computer?
 
Sedulous said:
My concern is that the disk is going bad. But if you say it verified then it may be something else. Perhaps some weird kind of problem with the troublesome files being marked as still being copied. Is it possible to change the name of any of the files in question? Can you connect to this disk from another computer?
Click to expand...

Question about verifying: All of my iTunes library and media is located on a WD network drive. When I run disk verification on my MacBook Air, it doesn't see the network drive, just the HD in the MBA. How can I run a check on the WD drive? FWIW, I ran the verify already.

I am able to connect to the drive via WB remote access on my iPad and as far as I can tell, just this one folder is affected.
 
dhartlen said:
Question about verifying: All of my iTunes library and media is located on a WD network drive. When I run disk verification on my MacBook Air, it doesn't see the network drive, just the HD in the MBA. How can I run a check on the WD drive? FWIW, I ran the verify already.

I am able to connect to the drive via WB remote access on my iPad and as far as I can tell, just this one folder is affected.
Click to expand...

That would make it more difficult to verify the integrity of the disk. I am fairly sure only local drives (except for time capsule) can be verified. For now, just try to see if you can change the name of an affected file. Maybe it is something as simple as weird file ownership.
 
Sedulous said:
For now, just try to see if you can change the name of an affected file. Maybe it is something as simple as weird file ownership.
Click to expand...

Here's a fun response: "Try using a name with fewer characters, or with no punctuation marks."

But the thing is, I'm not. It says that no matter what I choose...
 
dhartlen said:
Here's a fun response: "Try using a name with fewer characters, or with no punctuation marks."

But the thing is, I'm not. It says that no matter what I choose...
Click to expand...

Is the file playable with quick view? If not, then I would guess there are bad sectors on the disk.
 
Open Terminal, cd to where the file is, type ls -lo and report back with what it says (copy and paste the line corresponding to the offending file).
 
Oligarch said:
Open Terminal, cd to where the file is, type ls -lo and report back with what it says (copy and paste the line corresponding to the offending file).
Click to expand...

-rw-rw-r-- 1 dhartlen 2829072 29 Dec 14:06 01 Happy New Year.mp3
 
JohnMantooth said:
The music is on a shared network? Perhaps you don't have permission to delete files from it?
Click to expand...

Network drive. The error is specific to this folder. I haven't had time to try accessing drive from another computer yet, but nothing else has worked. So weird.
 
Resuming where we left off. Type sudo rm -f 01\ Hap (that is zero, one, a backslash, a space, Hap) and immediately after the Hap, no space, hit the tab key, then the return key. If that fails, type ls -lod . (a dot) and report back with what it says.
 
Oligarch said:
Resuming where we left off. Type sudo rm -f 01\ Hap (that is zero, one, a backslash, a space, Hap) and immediately after the Hap, no space, hit the tab key, then the return key. If that fails, type ls -lod . (a dot) and report back with what it says.
Click to expand...

rm: 01 Happy New Year.mp3: Invalid argument

and

-bash: -lod: command not found (think I am doing something wrong, but I copied it...
 
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