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I created a new iTunes library on an external hard drive, and put the old music files in the trash. I’ve been trying to empty the trash but after 3 days of trying it is still not empty. Any quick solutions out there? Thx
iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 2 ports)
Hi Michael Kozlowski,
We'd like to share some suggestions to help with emptying the Trash on your Mac. Depending on how much content needs deleted, this can take some time and letting it remain emptying is a good start, but when this does not work as you intend, you can try this in Safe Mode. You can startup the Mac in Safe Mode following Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support as this will only load the necessary items for the Mac and this may help move this along faster. We hope this helps.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Hi Michael Kozlowski,
We'd like to share some suggestions to help with emptying the Trash on your Mac. Depending on how much content needs deleted, this can take some time and letting it remain emptying is a good start, but when this does not work as you intend, you can try this in Safe Mode. You can startup the Mac in Safe Mode following Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support as this will only load the necessary items for the Mac and this may help move this along faster. We hope this helps.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Not really my area. You might need to unmount the volume after a reboot, or boot into safe mode, or check the drive while in recovery mode. See How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility - Apple Support. A bit of Google-fu might show more useful information. It might be time to get another drive if this one is about to die of death.
tt2
Clearly I don’t understand how the “empty trash” process works. 2 days ago, I clicked on “empty”, and learned there was ~54 GB of stuff to be cleared out (mostly iTunes media). Today, there is still ~50 GB of that stuff remaining to be cleared out. I understand the emptying process overwrites files, but is there a faster way? It will be months before the trash is empty, it seems. Thx
Thank you.
Key omitted point: this trash bin is on an external hard drive, if that makes any difference. Thanks for any alternative approaches suggested.
It shouldn't take that long to empty the trash. It might pay to check the health of the drive with disk first aid.
tt2
Thanks. Using the iMac disk utility?
Yes.
tt2
Thanks again. Did so, and the operation failed (couldn’t unmount the disk). Is that situation addressable?
Deleting old large iTunes library (200 BG) from external hard dive
