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Help needed: My files are immune to sudo rm -rf! Cant't delete!

springscansing

springscansing

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 13, 2002
922
0
New York
Alright, here's what happened. I copied my ATA drive to my firewire by draggin the ATA icon to the firewire drive. No problem. I did this to back up the data on the ATA.

A few weeks later, I copied over a new backup, and threw the old ATA in the trash, and deleted it... would not delete. I found out the folder causing the problem, and used sudo to delete the rest, but these files WILL NOT DIE.

All I have left is the ATA folder, with no (visible) files left inside. When I do 'sudo rm -rf, it will not delete. Here's from the Terminal:

[John-Nowaks-Computer:/Users/springs] springs# sudo rm -rf /Volumes/Firewire/.Trashes/501/ATA
rm: /Volumes/Firewire/.Trashes/501/ATA/????HFS+ Private Data/iNode1012410514: Operation not permitted
rm: /Volumes/Firewire/.Trashes/501/ATA/????HFS+ Private Data/iNode1025116014: Operation not permitted
rm: /Volumes/Firewire/.Trashes/501/ATA/????HFS+ Private Data/iNode102892365: Operation not permitted

[etc.. etc..etc.. for about 30 files]

Directory not empty
[John-Nowaks-Computer:/Users/springs] springs#

---

How can I delete this folder and the files in it? Something with chmod maybe? Any help would be appreciated. sudo rm -rf logged in as root doesn't seem to work.

It is okay if I delete those files, right?
 
I should almost mention that even if I make the HFS+ folder visible, I cannot move it, open it, or rename it in the finder, due to insufficient privilages.

This means I cannot ever empty my trash normally, and have to do it all via the terminal around the ATA folder.
 
You should get that cough checked...might be the start of something nasty. ;)

Here's a couple of suggestions:

Try renaming the files. When I've run into files w/ ?s in the filename in the past they've been troublesome for me to delete.

Try changing the owner/group and permissions on the files. (chown, chmod)
 
Originally posted by Rower_CPU
You should get that cough checked...might be the start of something nasty. ;)

Here's a couple of suggestions:

Try renaming the files. When I've run into files w/ ?s in the filename in the past they've been troublesome for me to delete.

Try changing the owner/group and permissions on the files. (chown, chmod)
Click to expand...

I already said I am unable to rename it. I do not have sufficient permissions. I have tried chmod and chown, but neither seem to work.
 
Re: Well

Originally posted by MacAztec
Make sure you have root access. Right click on a file and get info.

Change everything to (me)
Click to expand...

As you could see from what I posted from the Terminal, I had root access.

And I am unable to change permissions in the finder. That's the whole problem.
 
Originally posted by springscansing
OS 9 doesn't show the file, and I want to learn how to do it in X.

I won't be able to boot to 9 much longer.
Click to expand...

9 doesn't show the .Trash or the subfolder?

Last I checked it did...

And on wanting to know how to do it in X, you've run into a very rare problem that a file isn't deletable by root. You didn't have any odd characters in the filename, did you?
 
First off, make sure you are using the latest version of OS X (10.2.4).

Second, try repairing your permissions from your Jaguar Disk 1.

Third, you may have some invisible locked items in that folder. If you have a freebie invisible file finder on your computer, search inside the folder to see if there are any files there. If so, Control-Click on them, show the package contents (if applicable), and unlock any locked items within the Contents folder. Then try removing the folder.

Fourth, if all suggestions here fail, post your question at www.thetechpub.com/phpBB2/ (register first) and make sure you mention your OS, computer and applicable RAM.
 
Go to versiontracker and grab Cocktail. It has a delete locked items feature. If it's in the trash, cocktail should be able to delete it.

Last resort, take the files out of the trash boot in to 9 and delete them there.
 
Originally posted by Kid Red
Go to versiontracker and grab Cocktail. It has a delete locked items feature. If it's in the trash, cocktail should be able to delete it.

Last resort, take the files out of the trash boot in to 9 and delete them there.
Click to expand...

It's not a locked items problem, as you can see if you look at the terminal log.

Also, like I said twice before, I cannot move them.
 
i find it more usefull to switch into root, instead of the root for one command junk that is sudo.

i have to agree with above poster, run your repair permissions utility first.

and next time, utilize partitions correctly. if you just copy a data partition, you don't get these problems. there is no point in copying all of your system files back and forth. now you know why ghost and other real utilities where invented for what you tried to do.

need more help??? Google is your friend
 
How is your disk partitioned? I find it useful to put my general "junk" folders on a separate partition from any programs or system files, and it makes it much easier when something like that occurs. Just wipe out only that partition, format it, and drop your folders back into place.

Also, they're in the trash right now, right? Is it possible for you to restore them at all, or do you still get errors?

Also, I'm not sure of what those files are actually for, but is it possible that they're being used by the OS in some way? I can't remember how many times I've tried to delete things that are being used, and I get some sort of "permission denied" error or something to that effect. If it is possible, try shutting down whatever is using those files and try again.

Also, I'm not coming from a Mac background, so bare with me, but is there any sort of "safe mode" type thing in OSX? If so, boot into that and try it.
 
Originally posted by springscansing
It's not a locked items problem, as you can see if you look at the terminal log.

Also, like I said twice before, I cannot move them.
Click to expand...


jeeze you seem a little venomous about
peoples replies....i hope someone can help
you with this....i know i myself get a little
nasty when my computer screws up...at least
you got replies from people TRYING TO HELP.
hope they can. but what ive noticed with your
troubleshooting (ive been watching the outcome
of your troubleshooting threads) you seem to
be a little quick to try something without
knowing if its the right thing to do....maybe take
a step back and talk to people about your
problem then once your confident about which
direction with your troubleshooting to take, you
can proceed. it might cause less aggravation.

by the way...i have my disk in two partitions...
one for the os and applications which is 10gigs
and one for my docs.....this allows me to reinstall
if i need to without having to back up all my
docs before hand. it comes in handy. oh and if
you want a better idea of whats going on with
your ram...check out memory stick at version
tracker. it shows that even though the system
is using most of your ram, a lot of it is actually
just holding info in ram but will release it if you
really need it, for instance, you open another
application. anyway. good luck and take care.
 
if you have all your data backed up to a FW drive, is it too evil to just format and reinstall OS X and then copy over your user prefs, files, dowloads, apps and everything?
 
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