Q: can't empty trash that has partial time machine back up in it
Hello again. I'm having a tough couple of days with OS X El Capitan. "It just works" is the opposite of what is happening for me right now.
Currently, I can't empty the trash of a partial time machine back up file. Last night I decided to put this partial time machine back up file in the trash and empty the trash, and then start a fresh backup since I had changed a lot to my system since my last backup had been going. At the same time I started time machine backing up again and left the computer alone.
This morning, the new backup appears to be "stuck" at roughly the same location that the old backup was at in terms of GB's (hard to really remember exactly) and the old backup file wont erase from the trash and it says "The operation can’t be completed because the item “2015-11-28-223526.inProgress” is in use etc for the file."
I have done everything that I can think of to delete this file. I restarted numerous time. I booted into safe mode. I turned off all programs, and disconnected the time machine back up disk from my time machine backups program. I turned off time machine.
I further did everything in this support article: You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash - Apple Support
Although disk utility no longer has a "Disk Utility's Repair Permissions" function I have run disk utility first aid on the drive.
I even did the advanced terminal method proposed for deleting locked files involving the command "chflags -R nouchg " but that also did nothing. I still can't delete the files and it still continues to say "the item is in use" etc.
What can I do to delete the files other than formatting the drive (which is not happening because it has other backups on it)?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.1)
Posted on Nov 29, 2015 5:48 AM