Can't empty trash - count of thousands?!?

pghkatrina wrote:

.. put old backups (from 2012) into my trash, causing a problem. ...

TM TRASH Issues... DELETING BACKUPS...

See Here > Should I delete old backups? If so, How?

From Here > http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

If the TRASH still won’t Empty...

See Here > http://pondini.org/TM/E6.html

There is Also this > http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

Open the Terminal utility and run the following command (be sure there are no spaces in the "~/.Trash" part of the command):

rm -rf ~/.Trash

In addition to the above command, type the following in the terminal followed by a single space (do not press enter yet):

sudo rm

Then drag tour external drive to the Terminal window, followed by deleting the trailing space in the file path that is entered, and then typing "/.Trashes" at the end.

When this is done, press enter followed by supplying your password when prompted. This should force the trash on the external drive to empty.

You won't see the password entered as you type it, but it will be entered. After you type it you can press enter.

Make sure there is a space after the "rm" component. It should look something like this when you execute it:

sudo rm /Volumes/externalHD/.Trashes

Ugh...sorry im a bit absent minded today. The command should have the same "-rf" flags as the previous one I mentioned, which will "force" it to "recursively" remove the Trashes folder and its contents (this folder will be replaced automatically):

sudo rm -rf /Volumes/externalHD/.Trashes

😎