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Forcing Trash to Empty!!!

D

drumnkyle

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 8, 2007
26
1
I have tried every single way I have been able to discover to delete these files from the trash. Even the command from the terminal and these files will not delete. The error I'm getting is

rm: /Users/Kyle/.Trash/Adobe Illustrator CS2/Legal.localized: Directory not empty
rm: /Users/Kyle/.Trash/Adobe Illustrator CS2: Directory not empty
rm: /Users/Kyle/.Trash/Adobe Photoshop CS2/Legal.localized: Directory not empty
rm: /Users/Kyle/.Trash/Adobe Photoshop CS2: Directory not empty

This happened after I deleted CS2 and installing CS3. What can I do to get rid of these files???!!!!!???? HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!
 
You need to specify recursive delete to remove directories. Try typing:
rm -rf /Users/Kyle/.Trash/*

If that still doesn't work, try it as an admin user:
sudo rm -rf /Users/Kyle/.Trash/*
 
Still doesn't work!

I just tried both of those methods and they come up with the same error message. I am the only user name and I am of course the admin user since I am the only one. Any more suggestions?? Thank you for trying. This one is really hard!!!! I tried opening the file after removing it from the trash also and it says that the file doesn't exist. It has something to do with the files its linking back to are already deleted or something. I don't really know; it's quite strange!!!

Please help me!
 
Just click Finder -> Secure Empty Trash

Always works for me.
 

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janey said:
secure empty trash is just that..not force deleting, but securely deleting.
Click to expand...

Sometimes files in the trash refuse to be deleted by a normal Empty Trash, in these cases, I choose Secure Empty Trash and it always works.

If that fails, try a restart, or pulling the files out of the trash and back in again.
 
joshysquashy said:
Sometimes files in the trash refuse to be deleted by a normal Empty Trash, in these cases, I choose Secure Empty Trash and it always works.

If that fails, try a restart, or pulling the files out of the trash and back in again.
Click to expand...
"sudo rm -rf" ..or, rather, logging in as root and running "rm -rf" is one of those commands that will delete a file no matter what.

You can even run "rm -rf /" on a running machine as root, and have it start deleting all the files it can get its hands on, and it'll keep running until it deletes so many files it forces the computer to reboot because so much is missing. And then you result in a hosed system. :eek:
 
Let me set this straight!

janey said:
impossible.

sudo rm -rf /Users/Kyle/.Trash/*

should work. it's force deleting all files, regardless.
Click to expand...

I have tried both of these methods and have tried Secure Empty Trash and none of these work. I'm a little confused with the idea of logging in as root. Can you please elaborate on how I would do so, because I really want to delete these files and they won't delete NO MATTER WHAT!
 
I seem to recall that dragging something to the trash while holding down the option key will also force empty the trash.
 
drumnkyle said:
I have tried both of these methods and have tried Secure Empty Trash and none of these work. I'm a little confused with the idea of logging in as root. Can you please elaborate on how I would do so, because I really want to delete these files and they won't delete NO MATTER WHAT!
Click to expand...

Take everything out of the trash, put folders/files in one at a time if you can and try deleting them

anything that won't delete, try changing the file name, try restarting, try everything! i have no idea why this has happened though.
 
Check Versiontracker. There are some freeware utilities that say they will delete anything in the trash.
 
joshysquashy said:
Take everything out of the trash, put folders/files in one at a time if you can and try deleting them

anything that won't delete, try changing the file name, try restarting, try everything! i have no idea why this has happened though.
Click to expand...

I know it's crazy i'm not exactly sure why this happened but those were good ideas, yet dismally failed attempts.

maxp1 said:
Check Versiontracker. There are some freeware utilities that say they will delete anything in the trash.
Click to expand...

Tried all the applications I could find and didn't make any difference!

The General said:
Boot your Install DVD and go to Utilities>Terminal.

See if you can do it there.
Click to expand...

This is a GREAT idea!! I'm definitely going to try this and I really hope it works, because I was trying to look for some sort of keyboard shortcut to empty the trash before the computer starts, but none existed. I have to get my installation disc, and I will post if this worked or not!

Thanks to everyone for helping out!!
 
Also verify and repair disk permissions while you're at it.

Oh, and verify and repair the disk with Disk Utility.
 
Have you tried utilities like Delete It! or Trash It!, though I'm sure they're just frontends for terminal commands, they've always worked for me...
 
Sometimes a reboot is all you need. If that does not work, then can you cd into one of these directories in your Trash and run

ls -a

and type back the results? I am guessing there is a locked file deep in the hierarchy, which cannot be deleted. You may have to locate that and remove the lock.
 
bmb012 said:
Have you tried utilities like Delete It! or Trash It!, though I'm sure they're just frontends for terminal commands, they've always worked for me...
Click to expand...

Yes I previously mentioned that I have tried all of these solutions and the same results occur!

The General said:
Also verify and repair disk permissions while you're at it.

Oh, and verify and repair the disk with Disk Utility.
Click to expand...

That's an idea. I will do that and see what happens.

theBB said:
Sometimes a reboot is all you need. If that does not work, then can you cd into one of these directories in your Trash and run

ls -a

and type back the results? I am guessing there is a locked file deep in the hierarchy, which cannot be deleted. You may have to locate that and remove the lock.
Click to expand...

I don't use the terminal very much so can you please elaborate on exactly what I would type for this command you are talking about. Currently I have the two folders in the trash and within each folder is a folder named "Legal" and within that is a file that is in Veitnamese and is an HTML file. They are the same file but one is in a folder for Adober Illustrator CS2 and the other Adobe Photoshop CS2. You can look at my first post for other details on that.

Thank you everyone. I hope this gets resolved!
 
drumnkyle said:
I don't use the terminal very much so can you please elaborate on exactly what I would type for this command you are talking about. Currently I have the two folders in the trash and within each folder is a folder named "Legal" and within that is a file that is in Veitnamese and is an HTML file. They are the same file but one is in a folder for Adober Illustrator CS2 and the other Adobe Photoshop CS2. You can look at my first post for other details on that.
Click to expand...
Forget the terminal then, this new bit of info sounds very familiar. I remember others complaining about some file with a strange name or with strange letters refusing to be deleted. I think in the end they said Adobe's website posted a way to fix it. Maybe you have the same issue.
 
Solution

Reboot your mac as Safe Mode. How do you do this? Well, while restarting just hold the Shift key down until you notice that is taking to long, then you may release the key. Once you log on empty your trash. Reboot again normally and Hocus Pocus!

No terminal commands or external softwares.

:apple:
 
Known Adobe issue

Was this problem ever resolved?

Adobe has a technote on it http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=332657 and the cause. Basically, this happens if you installed Adobe CS2 before you installed 10.4.7.

I can't remember how I fixed it when I had this problem. I think I ran Disk Utility's Repair Disk Function (Use Verify Disk when booted off the same volume). Either that or I used DiskWarrior. One of these fixed the name entry, which allowed the files to be addressed, which then meant they could be deleted.

The basic problem is that these files have corrupted entries in the file system. This corruption prevents the system from doing a file path->file entry mapping. So you basically cannot get the file ID of the file to remove them. That's why you must repair the HD. It may be that only DiskWarrior can do this. I am pretty sure that's what I used after fsck kept yelling at me. fsck would see the problem, but be unable to fix it.
 
Edited. Need more information from user.

Open terminal. Change it to your .Trash directory with
Code: 
cd ~/.Trash

Please give us the terminal output from
Code: 
 ls -l -a -R


Both of these commands can be clicked and dragged into the terminal window for simplicity.
 
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