Empty Trash error -8003

Not a solution but an avenue.
I get this error when trying to delete some folders. My files are on a external/firewire Raid.
A file by file worked except on a pkg file. Folders containing pakages (pkg, rtfd) seemed to be the problem (or part of). Deleting the files than the folder works and does not return the error code -8003.

The error seems inconsistent as a second trial (after put back) worked.

Follow up
A secured trash emptying works but is slow. I had over 100 000 files to delete, not an option. It seems the problem is related to plist, pkg and rtfd (or packages) in a folder hierarchy. A file by file usually works. A plist refused to be deleted, I opened the package, deleted an internal plist and everything deleted without a problem

When my 1TB firewire drive, that I use for my TM backups and storage of other stuff, started getting full, I wanted to wipe some stuff off. I didn't know that you could delete it straight from TM, instead of putting stuff in the trash, which I used to do. And before, it worked fine. But for some reason, on 10.6.2, the error -8003 came up. Tried every option I could think of that didn't require reinstalling the OS again. (Done it too many times lately.) Tried TrashIt! myself, and it still didn't work. So saw another suggestion and Repaired my external drive (didn't know I could do that!). Restarted, and wah-lah! Trash is currently emptying. Thanks to whoever suggested that!
So try Repairing if nothing else works. Worked for me.

I had the same problem and use ONYX to force empty me trash and it was a success. ONYX is free. Try it and let us know.

I noticed this error on my MacBook Pro running 10.6.2 last week after my entire machine just shut down in the middle of a web session that I was leading. I had items in the trash and added some more items before the end of the day when I normally empty the trash. After reading through all of the threads about not being able to empty the trash (it does seem to come up often), I opted for a manual process.

1. Move all items from the trash into a folder on your desktop, call it something like "Temp Trash Items".
2. Grab a group of items and send them to the trash.
3. Empty the trash.
4. Repeat this process until you get the -8003 error.
5. Put those files back into your temp folder and one-by one put them in the trash and empty it until you get the -8003 error. That's going to help you identify the problem file.
6. In my case, the two offending files just happened to be applications - one was updated by an in-app update process and the other was, oddly enough, Trash It.
7. Right-click or control-click on the icon of the offending item and select "Show Package Contents".
8. Start moving items into the trash and trying to empty it again.
9. I was able to continue this process until I was finally able to get rid of those two files (and all their contents) and now I can once again empty the trash.

No Terminal commands required, no need to use a utility, just takes a little time. I was able to run through all 97 files in my trash can in just under 10 minutes. This doesn't explain WHY I had the issue to begin, but at least all the items are now emptied and I can once again use my trash and can empty it without the -8003 error.

Hope this helps.

Message was edited by: MiamiJ

Message was edited by: MiamiJ

Message was edited by: MiamiJ

Message was edited by: MiamiJ

I am having a similar problem with the -8003 error code and an external drive. I was surprised that doing a search in the Apple tech documents yielded zero results. You'd think they would at least provide something to tell you what -8003 means!

I tried TrashIt and it did not help. This drive is my Time Machine drive but I also put one large iMovie file on it. I see that many of the files in the trash are from iMovie so that could be part of the problem. And I see the various messages here that suggest putting anything other than TM on this drive is not a good idea. So guess I'll have to break down and get another drive for that.

In the meantime, I am trying to repair the disk with Disk Utility and at first it said it would take about 20 minutes, but it doesn't appear to be making any progress and now says it will take 4 hours. I can't leave this overnight as I am using my MacBookPro in my office and need to take it home at night. So if Disk Utility cannot fix it and I move the iMovie file off the drive, is it better to reformat the drive and start over with TM or use one of the other options that have been mentioned in this thread? I have about 3500 files in the trash on this drive.

I found this issue isolated to application installation when the prior application is put in trash. Frequently in the last two weeks, I get error code -8003 and cannot empty trash if this prior version of the application is in trash.
Here's how I'm managing the issue (speak up if this is completely wrong, but it seems an innocuous solution to me.)
1. Move application file to desktop.
2. Use Finder to expand the file folders so you can see inside.
3. Move small batches of files and/or folders to trash and empty trash with each transfer.
4. If you get the error again, check to see if there are folders in the batch you just transferred. If so, repeat from step 2, opening the nested folders and moving batches again to Trash and empty with each transfer.

It seems that application updates are somehow hanging up when they deposit the prior version files to Trash. Hopefully this can be a fix in the next update of Snow Leopard.

You can also main menu from creativebe.com. It fixed my problem and does a lot of other stuff such as rebuild spotlight indexes (why I originally bought it) and run daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance automatically.

I spent ages trying to resolve this very problem. Nothing worked for me including TrashIt.

The only thing that worked was retrieving the files from trash and putting them back into the time machine, and then opening up Disk Utility and doing a complete erase of the back-up disk.

You'll lose your back-ups on time machine, but at least you get your Mac Back.

Make sure you set up time machine straightaway.

I had success using the terminal approach on snow leopard:

1. start up Terminal
2. execute "rm -r ~/.Trash/*" (removes each file/subfolder in your trashcan)
3. be happy

If you don't have sufficent permission to delete all files in your trashcan (which shouldn't be the case), prepend "sudo" to the command: "sudo rm -r ~/.Trash/*"
You will be prompted for your admin password.

terminal approach likely very good. I also was able to empty the trash by going into time machine preferences and moving the slider to "OFF" for a moment... emptied the trash successfully and the slid Time Machine back to on without even closing the preferences window!

I tried that command and it did delete my trash, but now all trash is immediately deleted. Is there anyway to return the function of the trash bin

Tried TrashIt and it didn't worked but Onyx did it without issue. Thanks for the suggestion!!

Onyx worked for me too.

"Main Menu" works great!

http://incrediblebee.com/mainmenu