Can't empty Mojave Trash. Tried all known solutions.

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Level 1

18 points

Can't empty Mojave Trash. Tried all known solutions.

That's it. Installed Mojave, ended with a large folder full of Sierra files. After a few months Mojave working OK, I moved the old Sierra files to Trash. Now they won't go away. "Operation not permitted" Mojave thinks these files are 'in use'.

Rebooted several times in different modes, from different drives. Tried the two Terminal sudo operations and some downloaded apps--no luck. I can offer more detail but this should be enough to work with.

Tell me you know something the other gurus have missed!

– thanks, tom

iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS 10.14

Posted on May 12, 2019 2:04 PM

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Answer 1

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macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

May 12, 2019 3:21 PM in response to tswell

No, I don't think it will do that. It shouldn't have done it in the first place, that's not the way an upgrade/update works. That usually is the result of an archive & install.

But thinking about it some more, I think it is System Integity that's preventing you from deleting it.

Reboot into Recovery (command-r)

Choose Terminal and enter :

csrutil disable

Press return.

Then reboot and try the Trash.

To reverse it again enter:

csrutil enable

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Answer 2

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

May 12, 2019 2:57 PM in response to tswell

That confirms that the system sees them as in use. You might try running the 10.14.4 Combo Update.

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1996

The Combo Update is a fuller install, as opposed to an incremental "delta" update, so it should overwrite any files that are damaged or missing. It does not matter if you have applied it before. It should preserve all your data and settings but that said you should always have a backup.

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Answer 3

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

May 13, 2019 11:44 AM in response to tswell

That's bizarre. I have no idea where it's picking up those Trash items. All I can think of is to do a clean install onto an external drive and then if it has no Previous System folder or items in the Trash to clone it your internal.

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Answer 4

tswell Author

Level 1

18 points

May 12, 2019 5:24 PM in response to macjack

That was an adventure! It may have got rid of 1.6GB of files. A few remain. This is a list of remaining visible contents:

Previous System Sierra
Library
SystemMigration
History
Migration-DE05F0E0-C035-464D-B901-7B1027130D93
QuarantineRoot
Applications
Utilities
Console.app

All of these are folders within the above folder, except the last. All are zero bytes.

When I try to empty these from Trash I get:

The operation can’t be completed because the item “Console.app” is in use.
The operation can’t be completed because the item “Utilities” is in use.
The operation can’t be completed because the item “Applications” is in use.
etc…

It seems there is much more in the trash than I can see…

I should mention that there were hundreds, maybe thousands of files in there.

This may be good news; I tried to open the Trash and got this message:

You can’t open the Trash because it’s being emptied.

(It's been 5 or 10 minutes, so maybe it will all go away soon. It's taking a very long time so I'll send this now.)

THANKS macjack !

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Answer 5

tswell Author

Level 1

18 points

May 12, 2019 2:52 PM in response to macjack

Yup. Tried a couple times. Last time I got these results:

sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/

response:

.Trash//fpsd/dvp: Operation not permitted

.Trash//fpsd: Directory not empty

And ten comments like this:

.Trash//Previous System Sierra 1903/Library/SystemMigration/History/Migration-DE05F0E0-C035-464D-B901-7B1027130D93/QuarantineRoot/Applications/Utilities/Console.app/Contents/Resources/Console.help/Contents/Resources: Directory not empty

and thousands like this:

.Trash//Previous System Sierra 1903/System/Library/Image Capture/Tools: Operation not permitted

ending with:

.Trash//Previous System Sierra 1903: Directory not empty

.Trash/: Directory not empty

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Answer 6

tswell Author

Level 1

18 points

May 12, 2019 3:07 PM in response to macjack

Interesting. I'm on 10.14.4 now, of course. And regarding backups- that's the reason I want to clear this 1.6GB Trash- It's backup day! Two hungry external drives are eager for the latest files and they don't need this Trash.

I don't understand how an Update will clear the trash. The system will still think those files are 'in use'. They will not be overwritten. Worse, the Update will probably create another huge folder of files that are outdated. It will be called Previous System Mojave, and it will also be undeletable.

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Answer 7

tswell Author

Level 1

18 points

May 12, 2019 6:02 PM in response to tswell

The Trash appears to have 1 file of size zero nested within many folders. In fact, it seems all the original 1.6GB of files still in there and the System thinks it is using them. Still can't empty Trash.

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Answer 8

tswell Author

Level 1

18 points

May 12, 2019 2:32 PM in response to dialabrain

Never used Time Machine. Just installed Mojave. The installer seems to have created that folder. It's a clever idea for in case I needed to go back to Sierra, but what a nuisance! - thanks, tom.

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