Can't Empty the Trash

My G4 iMac is only linked to a 250 GB LaCie d2-Triple external drive for monthly back-up.
After several years doing this without much trouble, the most recent attempt at copying the USERS folder to LaCie drive did not work -
"Sorry, the operation could not be completed because an unexpected error occurred
(Error code - 128 )"
Looking at Finder list of what had been succesfully transferred showed the problem was probably associated with a corrupted PDF file.
In the folder in question, all the other files had an icon then the file name then .pdf
but the dodgy item had a slightly changed file name then .pdf BUT there is no icon!
When I click on the file name to try to get INFO it just disappears temporarily, so I cannot change its name.

My problem now is how to get rid of this corrupt file.
I have dragged it to TRASH so TRASH contains one folder which holds 2 normal .pdf files with icons and the corrupt pdf file which has no icon.

But TRASH will not now empty, in spite of the usual Option/Shift/Empty Trash menu dodges.
No error message - it just does not empty itself.

How can I get rid of these 3 files in the one folder in TRASH?

Hi there,

Have you tried logging out of your user account and logging back in? I've found this sometimes allows you to empty the trash of troublesome items.

Hope this helps.

Try http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/8214/trash-it%21

Could be a file in use error (can't remember the code).

Option-emtpy trash will force empty if my memory serves.\


(If that fails you may have a permission issue. Launch Disk Utility and repair 'em.)

Edited by ian_c (Tue 20-Jul-10 18:40:40)

I usually use the terminal when this happens. If the file is in the trash from a local disc just
cd .trash
sudo rm -rf filename

if the file is in the trash on another disc then you have to cd /Volumes/volumename/.trash
then sudo rm -rf filename

Thanks for various replies.

"I usually use the terminal when this happens. If the file is in the trash from a local disc just
cd .trash
sudo rm -rf filename"

Could you please clarify the exact typing needed as I am terrified of wrecking things with Terminal.

Using "SP" as denoting "space character" my reading of the suggestion is:


cdSP.trash
sudoSPrmSP-rfSPfilename

Can you confirm that is OK?

Thanks.

Have you tried regular force-emptying? Seriously do that before playing around in terminal with sudo.

if you are worried use

sudo rm filename

This should prompt you to confirm deletion.

the -rf option makes it recursive and deletes files without confirmation. It is a way of trashing a complete file system (e.g. rm -rf / will delete the complete file system if you are logged in as the superuser/root).

In reply to a post by DIOGENES:

Thanks for various replies.

"I usually use the terminal when this happens. If the file is in the trash from a local disc just
cd .trash
sudo rm -rf filename"

Could you please clarify the exact typing needed as I am terrified of wrecking things with Terminal.

Using "SP" as denoting "space character" my reading of the suggestion is:


cdSP.trash
sudoSPrmSP-rfSPfilename

Can you confirm that is OK?

Thanks.

Yes that's correct, you can also use it without the -rf as John2007 says.