Finder hangs/cycles when empying trash or copying files
When I try to empty trash, Finder gets stuck on the "Preparing to empty the trash" dialog (I left it overnight, and it was still there in the morning). There were only 2 small files in trash.
The same thing happens when trying to copy files (ie it hangs on the copy dialog box).
Using the command line to achieve these operations (ie rm -rf ~/.Trash, or using the cp command) works fine, as does using Forklift (a third party file management program) - so it seems something has gone funny with Finder.
I've tried the following to fix the problem (without success):
- Repaired perrmissions (all OK, other than one permission which Apple suggests you can ignore)
- Verifying and repairing the hard disk (all OK)
- Resetting the PRAM
- Deleting the Finder-related preferences in /Library/Preferences
- Started in Safe Mode (same problem in Safe Mode)
- Logging on as another user and trying to empty trash (same problem)
Anyone experienced this and managed to fix it?
OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)