Emptying ".Trashes" folder

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Emptying ".Trashes" folder

Hi, can anybody tell me how can I empty this bloody folder?

I ran the whatsize software and it tells me the capacity of my disk is 60gb (which is right), that i´m using 5gb (which is also right) and that my available disk space is 30gb (that's the problem)....

So... searching for the missing free space i started up using mac os 9 and found this invisible folder ".Trashes" containing a lot of files i thought i had deleted before... and i don't know how to empty this folder. I even tried emptying it using the Terminal applitcation but it didn't work.

Any help?

iMac Intel, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Mar 15, 2008 8:39 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 15, 2008 9:27 PM in response to TrentLane

Look at your Trashcan in the Dock. If it's not empty then select Empty Trash from the Finder's Finder menu. If that doesn't work then open the Terminal application and enter or paste the following:

sudo rm -rf /.Trashes/*

Press RETURN. You will be asked to enter your admin password which will not be echoed.

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Answer 2

TrentLane Author

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Mar 16, 2008 8:28 AM in response to Kappy

Tried that and got the message:

sudo: No match

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 16, 2008 8:43 AM in response to TrentLane

Which should mean there's nothing to delete in .Trashes. Are you sure that's where you found actual files? There's also a .Trash folder that's located in the Home folder.

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Answer 4

TrentLane Author

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Mar 16, 2008 9:08 AM in response to Kappy

Yes. I started up using Mac os 9, opened the old iTunes (of mac os 9), and in the library i found all these mp3 files that i can still play, but when i ask to see the song file, it tells me it can't be done because the file is in a invisible folder. However, i can see the file location, which is "Macintosh HD:.Trashes:501:iTunes:iTunes Music:.....". As i can't see none of that in mac os x i'm guessing i have to delete these files in mac os 9, but don't know how to.

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 16, 2008 9:24 AM in response to TrentLane

Ahh, then you didn't provide the full path information. Open Terminal and do this:

cd /
cd .Trashes/501/iTunes/'iTunes Music'
ls -l

This should list the contents of the iTunes Music folder.

rm -rf *

This should recursively delete all files and folders in the iTunes Music folder

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Answer 6

TrentLane Author

Level 1

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Mar 16, 2008 2:50 PM in response to Kappy

It Worked! You're a genius.

Thanks a lot

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