How to trash untrashable files
We recently upgraded an iMac to Big Sur, but not without some obstacles. One of those obstacles was this particular Mac had a Backups.backupd folder on it, on the root level, so despite this computer having an external TimeMachine backup, somehow it ended up a TimeMachine backup folder on it. This was preventing Big Sur from installing, but once we got that folder into the trash, Big Sur installed normally.
Now, the problem is emptying the trash — most of the files contained within that Backups.backupd folder emptied, but a handful (perhaps 25 or so) resist all attempts to be swept clean with errors such as "files are in use", "operation not permitted" or "directory not empty".
I've figured out how to take ownership (recursively) of the folders (in Terminal) and all of their contents with the "sudo chown" command but all variations of rm -rf are blocked one way or another.
What else must I do to "free up" these files, so they can be trashed? Attached is a screenshot of the files/folders that are resisting.
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
