I can't empty the trash, I get this error code (-8003)

Question

I can't empty the trash, I get this error code (-8003)

How can I force empty the trash, or get around this problem?

iMacIntel duo core, Mac OS X (10.6.6), plain vanilla

Posted on Jan 22, 2011 8:07 AM

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Answer 1

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Jan 22, 2011 8:12 AM in response to Richard Strachan

The most common cause of this error is trashing data from your Time Machine backup using the Finder. If you did this, you have probably destroyed your entire backup and the easiest way to recover will be to erase the backup drive and start your backups over from scratch. If you did not do this, let us know.

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Answer 2

Jan 22, 2011 8:27 AM in response to thomas_r.

Tom, thank you for this info. I don't remember trashing data from Time Machine using the Finder. The PB in question is a spare that doesn't get used very often, I take it on the road when I have to go to a meeting or something, otherwise it just get's shut down for months at a time. But I will erase my back up drives and start over and see what this is all about. The file I can't get rid of is an old version of Adobe Acrobat, if that helps.

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Answer 3

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Jan 22, 2011 8:32 AM in response to Richard Strachan

Well, if you didn't put anything from a Time Machine backup in the Finder, don't just go trashing all your backups! That's only the _most common_ cause of this problem, not the only one!

If this file was not from a Time Machine backup, see:

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

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Answer 4

Jan 22, 2011 9:45 AM in response to thomas_r.

wow, what a cool link! Thanks Tom. problem solved.

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Answer 5

Mar 29, 2011 9:43 AM in response to thomas_r.

Ok, so I did move some items from Time Machine (an external hard drive) to the trash and now I can't empty the trash. How do I fix this?

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Answer 6

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Mar 29, 2011 3:21 PM in response to UltimateWines

See #E6 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).

Message was edited by: Pondini

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Answer 7

Mar 30, 2011 4:40 AM in response to thomas_r.

the link to the xlab was very helpful. Thanks.

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Answer 8

May 3, 2011 8:15 AM in response to thomas_r.

Thanks for the TrashIt link too. It solved my problem :-)

Graham

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Answer 9

May 4, 2015 9:51 AM in response to itsafrogslife

Can anyone tell me why I keep getting error -8003 or -36 when I try to copy my Time Machine backups to another drive? Since I was running out of room on my Time Machine drive, I was in the process of deleting all copies of my old Outlook 2011 Identity (using Time Machine, not the Finder), when the process abruptly stopped and the drive was no longer accessible. The only way I can mount the drive is to power it up after booting my system - (I've tried this on two different systems) - then using Disk Utility to attempt a repair on the drive. Disk Utility can't repair the drive and says I need to backup my data, then reformat the drive, which is why I'm trying to copy my backups to another drive. For reference, my Time Machine backups are on one partition of a two partition drive, and the other partition mounts just fine.

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Answer 10

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

May 5, 2015 8:23 AM in response to davidskys

Try using Disk Utility's Restore tab to copy the files. Note that it reformats/erase the destination drive.

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