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File won't move to trash?

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PHARAOHk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 19, 2003
122
0
It is an avi documentary video and will not delete. I have tried everything. I am new to macs and dont even know what the console or terminal are for. I would hate to need a 3rd party program just to delete something! Help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
(((k)))
 
Re: File won't move to trash?

Originally posted by PHARAOHk
It is an avi documentary video and will not delete. I have tried everything. I am new to macs and dont even know what the console or terminal are for. I would hate to need a 3rd party program just to delete something! Help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
(((k)))
Click to expand...

By "everything," I'm assuming you've tried:

-- dragging it to the trash
-- Ctrl-clicking the file and selecting "move to trash"
-- highlight the file and press Command-delete


Is it just refusing to move the file? Or is it displaying an error message?
 
Yeah the error message says "preparing move to trash" but never does it. It says it's being used by another application but it isn't. I have cleared the download manager and all the things you mentioned.
(((k)))
 
I have also logged in as root and used some terminal commands from the apple site to no avail. I have changed the name of the file but nothing works. Is osx kind of a young os? Seems strange that you can't delete something. I like it better than windows so far but little things like this never happened to me before. I may call apple on monday to see if they can help.
(((k)))
 
Some files are just plain stubborn.

If you can't do the best thing, remove it (you can do a search for various apps through www.versiontracker.com or download.cnet.com), do the second best thing: hide it.

This is what I do when I can't delete a file, which either keeps appearing after it is deleted or will never delete. Move it to another directory, such as the Documents folder in your Hard Drive. (I don't think you will need to go to that folder very often anyways.)

BTW: Are you using the latest version of the OS (as of this typing, 10.2.5)? If not, download the update. It may not fix your current problem, but it will prevent others. It's always best to keep your computer up to date with the latest updates.
 
Open the terminal and type:

cd ~/.Trash
<hit return>

sudo rm -rf

put a space after the f and drag the item you want deleted to the terminal so that its path is automatically entered, then press return

give it your admin password and hit return
 
if you can, do it from OS 9. just go into 9 and move it to the trash. this has ahppened a few times to me, and it always can be deleted frfom 9 for some reason.
 
Did you try completely shutting your machine down and restarting?

If an application is using a file, shutting down will shut down the application, and restarting might not start it up. Now try to delete.

OSX will stop you from deleting a file that an application is using...
 
Bobw's recommendation worked! It wasn't even on the apple site. I tried from os9, as the root, logging in and out, shutting down everything with a little triangle under the dock, restart, I am using 10.2.5. Last question Bob: The item is not in the trash so does this maneuver just delete the item or did I do it right? I pressed return after inputting all of the above info at the end and nothing happened then I hit return again and now I can't find the file. Glad it is finally gone. So I searched and I think it is permanently gone. I am definitely going to learn a lot more about darwin. Thanks for the help.

(((k)))
 
OK - just one comment on Bob's command...

use rm -f instead of rm -rf

the 'f' means 'force' - ie "delete with extreme prejudice"

the 'r' means 'recurse'. This is useful with a folder, as everything under it gets deleted too. Be VERY careful with this though, since if you screw up, it won't just delete one file....

Pretty soon, every Unix user manages to 'rm -rf *' something that they shouldn't. Be careful, back up, and don't use sudo too much.
 
drop nuke will fix it in GUI

if you are stuck and would rather stay in the GUI interface try the program "drop nuke" it's available from versiontracker.com.
it will remove ANYTHING, be careful because when you drag a file or folder on to it, it's like using root access and it's gone daddy gone.
 
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