Cant Delete files on a External hard drive

Question

Level 1

5 points

Cant Delete files on a External hard drive

Can someone help me? i am trying to delete files from 4 drives and since i install ventura, this problem happen! after 2 or 3 times! at first i got:

And then! the only way to delete the files is plugging the drive to a windows computer and delete the trash folder.

Posted on Nov 14, 2022 3:52 AM

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Answer 1

ryane77

Community Specialist

Nov 16, 2022 7:34 AM in response to gumonx

Hi gumonx,

Thanks for following up. We'd like to have you boot your Mac into safe mode to test deleting from the external drive. Testing in safe mode helps to rule out possible issues with items that launch when you start up your Mac. Here's How to use safe mode on your Mac:

"How to use safe mode

Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:

Apple silicon

Shut down your Mac.
Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until you see the startup options window.
Select your startup disk, then press and hold the Shift key while clicking “Continue in Safe Mode.”
Log in to your Mac. You might be asked to log in again.

Intel processor

Turn on or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key as your Mac starts up.
Release the key when you see the login window, then log in to your Mac.
You might be asked to log in again. On either the first or second login window, you should see ”Safe Boot” in the upper-right corner of the window."

Once you boot into safe mode, see if you're able to delete the files. Then click Apple menu () > Restart to get back to normal. Let us know how it goes.

Take care.

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Answer 2

TammyW_03

Community Specialist

Nov 16, 2022 10:32 AM in response to gumonx

gumonx,

Since the behavior continues we recommend reaching out to Apple Support to look into this more with you: Contact - Official Apple Support

Thanks for participating in Apple Support Communities.

Best regards.

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Answer 3

gumonx Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 16, 2022 6:35 AM in response to AnnieL2

Hello There!

Those files are already in trash, external drive is in exFat format... i already check that out before posting here!

Even tiny files 2mb or less cant be delete from the external drive, also... when you copy some files on to a other drive and you put it on windows or linux computer, you get 2 files, one is the original file and the other files its a duplicate... (a duplicate for no reason? only happen on ventura!)

HERE are some screen shots... first i try to delete the files.. and yes, they are already in the trash.

.....

and....

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Answer 4

gumonx Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 16, 2022 6:42 AM in response to AnnieL2

So i plug the drive on a windows computer...

here is the example of the duplicates that ventura created...

.ARW are sony Raw photo format files! FYI.

and this is the example for deleting the files on windows computer:

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Answer 5

AnnieL2

Community Specialist

Nov 15, 2022 3:34 PM in response to gumonx

Salutations gumonx,

To clarify, are these files in the Trash in Finder on your Mac when you receive these messages or are they showing up in an attempt to move the files to the Trash on your Mac?

If it’s happening in an attempt to move the files to the Trash on your Mac, can you confirm which format the external hard drive is in that you’re moving files from? You’ll be able to find that in Disk Utility by clicking on the hard drive on the left.

We also noticed that at least one of these folders you’re removing is quite large, at 171.77 GB. For isolating purposes, could we test with a smaller folder or file and see if the issue persists?

Thanks.

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