Bin contains files from external drive that cannot be deleted

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Level 1

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Bin contains files from external drive that cannot be deleted

Hi everyone!

As the title suggests, I have this awkward folder in my bin, that just cannot be emptied, any time I try, I get the "files still in use error". This is a partially copied folder that I attempted to write out to a hard drive, but the process was cancelled, and it does not show up in the bin when the drive is not connected.

When I try to access the contents, it does not respond, the info is as follows:

As you can see, it is not locked. On the hard drive, I cannot see the ".Trashes" folder, even when I show hidden folders (I see other hidden folders there, just not this one).

I have restarted the computer many times since, did First Aids on both the external hard drive and the mac's drive itself, nothing seems to help.

I would appreciate any advice on how to resolve the issue.

Thanks a lot!

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 13.1

Posted on Jan 26, 2023 7:39 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

68,982 points

Jan 27, 2023 3:31 AM in response to gbocsardi

gbocsardi wrote:

When I tried to command, even after the password the operation was not permitted, it appears that I can't access the folder even with sudo rights.

I think I know why that is...

Terminal needs to have Full Disk Access turned on.

Go to System Settings->Privacy & Security-> Full Disk Access

and make sure that Terminal is on the list and checked.

If it is not there, click the + button to add it (Terminal is in the Utilities subfolder of Applications).

Then try the command to remove .Trashes again.

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Answer 2

Jan 26, 2023 9:33 AM in response to gbocsardi

You may want to try removing the .Trashes folder altogether.

I am assuming that the name of your drive is "seagate_hdd", as shown in the screenshot.

Try this. In Terminal, paste the following line exactly - be careful, we are going to issue a command that will remove a folder completely, if it works.

sudo rm -rf /Volumes/seagate_hdd/.Trashes

type the password as requested (there will be no feedback, not even *** or ••• as you type; that's normal), and press enter.

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