Trash items "in use"

Question

Trash items "in use"

I have two empty folders (both contain 0 k)in my trash that won't delete. They're not locked and on the Get Info page for each of them it says I have permission to read and write. I've tried Secure Empty Trash, holding down the Option key, re-booting, running disc permission repair from both the computer and the start up disc.
I'm out of ideas.
Any help out there?

G5 Tower, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Jan 30, 2008 10:37 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

petrock

Level 3

980 points

Jan 31, 2008 12:18 AM in response to SimonPhotographic

launch /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and type:

lsof <path to problem folder>

and paste the results in a reply and post it up. You can get the path by drag/dropping the folder to the terminal window.

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Answer 2

Jan 31, 2008 6:08 AM in response to SimonPhotographic

It says:

-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

Thanks for helping with this. I know it's a minor thing, but it's annoying...

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Answer 3

petrock

Level 3

980 points

Jan 31, 2008 11:35 AM in response to SimonPhotographic

Looks like you entered an invalid character. Instead of copy/pasting the command, just type it manually, then drag/drop the folder in your trash to the Terminal window to get the path. Note: you shouldn't enter the text, that is just a place holder to tell you where to put the path to the problem folder (i.e. ~/Trashes/ProblemFolder).

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Answer 4

Jan 31, 2008 12:03 PM in response to SimonPhotographic

Okay, I think I got it right this time. This is the response I got:

Volumes/LACIE/.Trashes/501/erica\ marco
-bash: isof/Volumes/LACIE/.Trashes/501/erica marco: No such file or directory

Thanks again...

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Answer 5

petrock

Level 3

980 points

Jan 31, 2008 12:11 PM in response to SimonPhotographic

Close...

Its lsof, not isof (its a lower case 'ell', also there needs to be a space between lsof and /Volumes

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Answer 6

Jan 31, 2008 3:02 PM in response to SimonPhotographic

Wow, you have the patience of a saint.
Okay, I tried it again. Here's the entire window:

Last login: Thu Jan 31 12:59:24 on ttys000
Franks-G5:~ franksimon$ lsof /Volumes/LACIE/.Trashes/501/erica\ marco

I'll understand if this is getting a bit old and you don't want to deal with it any longer. I really appreciate the help.

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Answer 7

petrock

Level 3

980 points

Jan 31, 2008 3:07 PM in response to SimonPhotographic

SimonPhotographic wrote:
Wow, you have the patience of a saint.
Okay, I tried it again. Here's the entire window:

Last login: Thu Jan 31 12:59:24 on ttys000
Franks-G5:~ franksimon$ lsof /Volumes/LACIE/.Trashes/501/erica\ marco

I'll understand if this is getting a bit old and you don't want to deal with it any longer. I really appreciate the help.

Its no problem. I would, however, expect some kind of output from lsof, like:

Franks-G5:~ franksimon$ lsof /Volumes/LACIE/.Trashes/501/erica\ marco
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
<some app name> 4551 franksimon 22u REG 14,3 1494 805956 /Volumes/LACIE/.Trashes/501/erica\ marco

Did you press the return key after entering 'lsof /Volumes/LACIE/.Trashes/501/erica\ marco' to run the command?

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