I moved my backup files from an external hard drive to my iMac. It is running High Sierra.
When I try to empty the trash I get this message "The operation can’t be completed because the item “folders” is in use."
Any ideas on how I can get rid of these folders?
iMac 27″, macOS 10.13
You should never manually delete or move Time Machine backups to the Trash.
The only fix, is to use Disk Utility to erase the whole Time Machine backup drive and start over.
see > Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
You should never manually delete or move Time Machine backups to the Trash.
The only fix, is to use Disk Utility to erase the whole Time Machine backup drive and start over.
see > Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
Thanks so much.
I disconnected the external drive. All the folders in the trash were gone! That is what I was looking for.
I will erase the hard drive and see how that goes.
Thanks again....You have saved me a lot of time.
You can not delete those backup folder from the trash, as long as that Time Machine drive is connected to the iMac.
One way, is to disconnect that external drive and then never reconnect it to the iMac.
The other way, is to completely erase the external drive as I mentioned above.
Thanks.
My main problem is my iMac has the backup folders in the trash on the iMac.
I'm not that concerned with the folders on the external drive. I can get a new hard drive.
I am in the process of cleaning up my iMac hard drive of years of neglect. I am making as much room on my iMac drive as I can.
How do I empty the trash on my iMac and get rid of the backup folders in the trash?
You're welcome.
I want to thank you again.
I did everything you told me to do and it worked. Bravo!!!
Glad to help, you're welcome.
Time Machine folder will not empty from the trash.
