Empty Trash error -8003

I'm not sure why I'm wasting my time answering you (you're obviously a far more mature person and more intelligent about these things than I am) but I did try the Unix command solution and, in spite of it's risky nature, it did not work for me. Trash It was by far the most simple and may I say, elegant solution. Drag the download to your desktop, double click it and all your error inducing files are deleted.

This will be my last reply to this post.

Quit wasting your time.

I also just used Trashit! and it worked right away! I was having the 8003 error code.

I just donated $5 to the guy!

F

Trash It is an AppleScript app, and as such, it almost certainly uses code very similar to one solution that was posted, involving a Unix command. If that particular solution didn't work, nothing would.

(1) Error -8003 is not documented by Apple (and it's "-8003", not "8003"). The number suggests Carbon (which is supposed -- but only supposed -- to be gone from SL), that is, a Finder error. But, even if it were documented, it might not tell us much. It could say something like, "Cannot delete file or folder", which would leave us pretty much where we are. It seems likely that there is more than one possible cause for this issue. If so, that could explain why not all methods work in all circumstances.

(2) Applications mentioned in this thread (such as TrashIt, Onyx, Cocktail) work by means of AppleScripts calling tools built into the system, with the authorisation granted by the user. IOW, they do exactly what a knowledgeable user can do from Terminal; the stress being on knowledgeable.

The expert user likes to be in control and to know exactly what is being done, so clearly these apps are not for him. But the less knowledgeable user runs the risk of doing serious damage with just a small typo, so using these apps is probably safer than dabbling in Terminal. So, if you just want to be productive without worrying or learning about what's under the hood, by all means use TrashIt, or Onyx, or whichever one works for you -- and do pay the shareware fee or make a donation; after all, they saved you time and money.

But, if you are willing to spend some time and effort learning how to do stuff for yourself, try CLIX.

boydfromcalgary wrote:

[...] For a coder you should learn to spell [...]

[...] in spite of it's risky nature [...]

Mon cher Boyd (from Calgary), as you are such a keen orthographer, I'm sure you'll be glad to be reminded that the correct English 3rd person singular possessive pronoun form is "its", not "it's", which is a contraction of "it is" or "it has". Mote and beam and eye and all that...

O Gawd, I'm busted again! We should move half this thread over to a new languages thread.

btw, did your grade school teacher ever mention that you should never start a sentence with the word "but"? We could go on like this for ever! I obviously can't resist.

CLIX does look pretty cool though, thanks!

boydfromcalgary wrote:

did your grade school teacher ever mention that you should never start a sentence with the word "but"?

I'm afraid not. She couldn't have, poor dear departed old soul, because she didn't speak a word of English. You see, English is not my mother tongue -- or, to use the barbarous lingo of this debased and fallen age, it's not my first language.

As to beginning a sentence with a conjunction -- well, that's a matter of taste, and, as we all know, de gustibus et coloribus... I'm of the opinion that what was good enough for the KJV (eg, Gen 2:6) and Shakespeare (eg, Tempest, Act V, Sc 1) is more than good enough for me.

Yes, I had the same error -8003 when I tried to empty the trash that contained the deleted back-up files of Time Machine off an external (Western Digital) hard drive. "Trash it" software could not empty the trash either. Since back-up files cannotbe modified, I could not put them back on the external hard drive in their appropriate location. I had to erase the external hard drive (which obviously emptied the trash from the files that I could not delete otherwise) and start afresh. I think this is the cleanest way of doing this without messing up your back-up (this is something that you may discover at the worse time, like when you need to restore your computer from the back up!!!).

Apparently, like several people mentioned, you should NOT delete back-up files of Time Machine using the Mac finder. There is a specific way of deleting such files that the "Help" menu of you Mac details, and I quote:

To remove a backed-up file or folder:

Click the Time Machine icon in the Dock.

If the Time Machine icon isn’t in the Dock, look for Time Machine in the Applications folder.

Use the arrows or the timeline along the right side of your screen to browse through the backups Time Machine has created.

The windows behave just like Finder windows, so you can open folders, click items in the sidebar, and use the search field in the upper-right corner of the window.

When you find the item you want to delete, select it, and then open the Action menu (looks like a gear) and choose Delete All Backups for the item.

Worked like a charm, quick, easy, painless! Thank you sir.

Thanks, found the error code and it directed me to "Trash It".... worked like a charm...

SOLUTION - make a folder on Desktop, open Trash and select all items CMD-drag into the folder - trash is now empty. Repair permissions - then trash the folder & empty.

Here is what I did to fix it.

1. In trash, click the "Kind" tab at the top.

2. Created a new folder on your text top and put all of the applications from your trash in it. I had to enter my password to do this.

3. Empty the trash with the remaining items.

4. Try to put the applications back into trash one at a time and delete them.

5. If you cant empty the trash then click on the triangle on the application in your new folder and drag one of the subfolders at a time to the trash. Then empty the trash.

It takes a little time but it worked for me.

John

If you havMacKeeper installed it is another option to delete items from the trash, even when getting the -8003 error.

Just open MacKeeper and then open the trash window on your desktop. Click on Shredder in MacKeeper and drag the itmes out of the trash into the shredder window then click shred. It is slow but it will remove the items from the trash.

Very bad advice. See Beware MacKeeper.

(Note that my pages contain links to other pages that promote my services, and this should not be taken as an endorsement of my services by Apple.)

Go to; http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

They have the ultimate solution (see below). SInce I did this (to the recommendation of

baltwo San Diego, CA, I was able to delete back-up files from my locked external harddrive (that I use for Time Machine back-ups) and had no problem emptying the trash to remove such files permanently from my external hard drive.

Going through this process re-establsihes proper ownership and permissions of the Trash file, so that you have the freedom of deleting even locked files form it with no error -8003.

Voila!

Empty and recreate an account's Trash

The following procedure will "kill two birds with one stone." It will both:

1. Empty the Trash of an affected account.
2. Create a new ~/.Trash directory, with correct ownership and permissions, for that account.

Perform the following steps in the order specified:

Steps 1-6 remove all files in the affected account's Trash as well as deleting the hidden and invisible ~/.Trash directory for that account. The remaining steps result in recreating the affected account's Trash, with proper ownership and permissions.