I am having trouble completely emptying my trash on my mac. It says items are in use, but they are not. How do I force these items to be removed?

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Level 1

8 points

I am having trouble completely emptying my trash on my mac. It says items are in use, but they are not. How do I force these items to be removed?

I have copied dvds that I own, for backup copies, onto the desktop of my macbook. Then I've placed a copy into iTunes for viewing later. Once the copy is over in iTunes, I delete the copy of the movie on the desktop and it goes to the trash. I do this because 1) I don't want to clutter up the desktop and 2) I don't want multiple copies of the movies on my hard drive. When I go to empty the trash, it says these items are in use and will not remove them from trash. Why is that? They are not in use as far as I know. How do I force them to be removed from trash?

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), iOS 7.0.4, Apple Tv

Posted on Jan 6, 2014 6:36 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

BobRz

Level 5

6,138 points

Jan 6, 2014 6:45 AM in response to LowdenFamily

Read this, see if it helps:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2025381/mac-troubleshooting-what-to-do-when-the- trash-won-t-empty.html

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Answer 2

LowdenFamily Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 6, 2014 6:56 AM in response to BobRz

Thanks BobRz! I quit both applications just to cover my bases and it cleared just fine! Thank you!

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Answer 3

Jan 6, 2014 6:57 AM in response to LowdenFamily

I had a similar problem. I think it was caused by deleting an app while it was still running. I should have shut the app down before deleting freom the applications folder. When I tried to empty trash I received message:

"The operation can't be competed because the item something.app is in use."

Go to utilities, open a terminal, change directory to the hidden Trash folder and remove the offending item in use. Example:

cd ~/.Trash

sudo rm -rf item

Next time, maybe try quting iTunes before deleting and see if it makes any difference.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2025381/mac-troubleshooting-what-to-do-when-the- trash-won-t-empty.html

Another approach might be to use the iTunes folder named "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3832?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

-Ed

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