I deleted my Time Machine backups using Finder, now the trash won't empty

photogirl67 wrote:

. . .

I use my external drive for my images (I am a photographer) and use time machine to back up my MacBookPro onto there as well.

Not a good idea, as you've learned the hard way. 😟

And especially bad in the same partition, as you can't just erase the TM partition.

Plus, how do you back up the images?

For best results, consider getting another external HD; one for the images, and one for TM. Then you can have Time Machine back up both your Mac and the external. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for details and considerations.

But my question for Pondini is this - if I use that command will it erase that entire drive, or just the trash on it?

Just the trash folders. I've reworded those instructions a bit, hopefully more clearly and safely, and put them in #E6 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

photogirl67 wrote:

Yeah well there wasn't a lot of info that came with Time Machine and it seemed pretty straight forward setting it up. I didn't realize until you said that just now that I should have a dedicated drive JUST for TM backups. Never heard that before.

Yeah, Apple's documentation isn't exactly complete or easy to find. 😟

So does each HD have it's OWN trash folder? I've tried to search for where the trash folder resides and can't see it.

Yup. And it contains one folder for each user account. But they're hidden (that's what the dot at the beginning of the .Trashes name indicates).

How do I know the right name for each drive?

Just drag it from a Finder window, per the revised instructions & samples in #E6.

Do I need to do it twice, once for each one?

Just the Time Machine drive (unless you're also having trouble with the other one).

photogirl67 wrote:

Thing is there are TM backups on both of the external drives.

Oh, sorry, I didn't realize that.

How do you quote in the reply? I can't see how to do that?

Click the quote icon in the toolbar at the top of the edit box (next to the smiley icon).

If you highlight something, it will quote what's highlighted.

If you do it after clicking Reply, and nothing in the edit box is highlighted, it will bring in the original post.

Great! Glad it's sorted out, and thanks for the feedback.

photogirl67 wrote:

Now it's happening again on both drives AND my laptop even if Time Machine hasn't been used since the last episode, and both hard drives are unplugged. Last time the laptop trash would empty if I unplugged them.

If there's trash on an external HD, it's not really emptied if you just eject and disconnect the drive. It's still there, just not shown as part of your normal trash until you reconnect the drive.

Now I've tried the Terminal procedure on the one drive and it did nothing.

Are you sure there was trash on that drive? If so, try copying the Terminal session here -- maybe we can spot something wrong.

What do I do? I need to empty my trash??

Sounds like there's more going on here than meets the eye. You might want to try the TrashIt app or review Dr. Smoke's X-FAQ on trash problems here: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

photogirl67 wrote:

. . .

Here I go again! This is crazy. I haven't even used Time Machine nor are those old drives even connected any more. I cannot dump my trash on my laptop yet again.

Try holding the Alt/Option key while emptying the trash.

If that doesn't work, what sort of files are in it?

I'm even using MacKeeper and it can't do it either.

They've apparently improved it some lately, but that has a terrible reputation here. 😟 I'd strongly recommend deleting it (not easy to do). See http://www.thesafemac.com/beware-mackeeper/ and https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4171