Can't empty Trash error -50

Hi,
Trust this is the right forum.
If you can assist,I would appreciate it.I’m running Mountain Lion on a Mac Pro
1. I get an error -50 trying to empty the trash.
2. The trash is on an external drive (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
3. The disk utility reports the disk as fine, Though it doesn’t give me the option to “Verify permissions”
4. I also get a -36 error in trying to copy the data on the disk to another drive.
5 I note that while the get info shows 300 Gig free, which means usage is around 200G, the directories show zero bytes and appear empty, ie files names not visible
6. All of this happened after a download failed and I deleted the directory which is in the trash as zero bytes and am unable to get it out of the trash
7. The disk is effectively locked as I can’t create, delete or move any item, under Get Info, I have read and write permissions
8. When trying to eject the disk, I get "the disk ,,,, wasn't ejected because one or more programs may be using it
Note: Have tried using ONYX, Terminal - sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/
To no avail.
Cheers
Terry

Hi, I just tried something which I should have tried, but overlooked it. I deleted the application I was using at the time the download failed.
I then tried to empty the trash and presto, it emptied!!!
Cheers

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Can't empty trash error -8003

I am trying to empty the trash on my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.6.8. When I try to empty the trash using the "secure empty" button on the trash window (or the menu bar) I get error code -8003. What does this mean and how can I empty the trash?

Try holding down the option button while trying to delete the Trash. If that doesn’t work, here is some more information.
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Thank you, but I found nothing that seemed to apply. I found one other individual that described the very same scenario. Below is the post that matched my circumstances exactly.
halfromtn
Re: I can't use empty trash or secure empty trash. Feb 28, 2012 6:01 AM (in response to aalterkait)
Does this work for an Error Code of 8003 when I try to empty my trash? I had dragged a hard-drive back-up file to the trash and that is when this message occurred.

Can't empty trash error message -50

When I try to empty trash I get error message -50 which basiclly states that I can't empty my trash. What is error -50 and How do I get past it to empty trash.

Run through this list of fixes
Start with #12 and #6 if that does clear your issue, start from the top and work down.
Backup your files to a storage drive first (not only TimeMachine, as it might be corrupted and fail to restore)
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System sluggish / can't empty trash / error keeps logging every few minutes

I am having a peculiar problem. I'm on 10.4.10 with an iMac 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM.
This afternoon my computer starting acting very slugging, and giving me the spinning colored ball for minutes at a time. It seems to be trying to do something repeatedly. My disk permissions are clean, I've rebooted a few times. Then I noticed something appeared in the trash -- I didn't put it there. It's a single folder called Yahoo.AdiumEmoticon(Old). I use Adium with a Yahoo & AIM account to communicate with my coworkers every daily (I work from home). I shut down Adium and tried emptying the trash. It refuses repeatedly, even after reboots, saying that this folder is "in use." Sometimes it would say "An item called 'My Project Folder' is already in use. Do you want to replace it?" (Or something close to this.) This error, if I don't answer, stays on the screen for about 10 seconds, and then is replaced with "The operation cannot be completed because the item 'Yahoo.AdiumEmoticonOld' is in use."
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So I ran Console and checked system.log. It's showing that for the last couple of hours now, every minutes or so it logs this:
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Before all this started, I was in Parallels using Windows XP, where I do some of my business. In what might have been a moment of bad judgement, I decided to install Access 2007 there. It installed OK at first, but when I rebooted Parallels, I could no longer launch Access. It would crash. I then tried removing Access, and that would crash too, leaving it there. I couldn't re-install it either. So I quit Parallels, and ever since then I've been having this problem. Parallels is not loaded.
I'm going to keep poking at this but any help is appreciated. My Disk Warrior is too old to help, so I'm going to fiddle with Tiger Cache Cleaner and see what happens -- but this is over my head, so I'm afraid of making things worse.

So Tiger Cache Cleaner didn't do anything. Wouldn't force-delete the trash. Something is seriously wrong here. I downloaded TechTool Deluxe and burned it onto a DVD-R, then booted it off that. I ran a full diagnostic (minus surface scan) and it said that my volume structure needed to be repaired. So I attempted to repair, and it stopped after about a minute and said, "The Volume Structure Rebuild could not be completed." No explanation as to why. Gee, thanks.
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How can I empty trash? It won't empty. I received error code -8003.

How can I empty trash? It won't empty. I received error code -8003.

Usually rebooting clears it so you can empty the trash, otherwise:
Can't empty trash:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1526?viewlocale=en_US
How to Force Empty the Trash:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html#Anchor-Force-11481

Can't empty trash because of error code -8003

I can't empty trash which contains numerous items because of error code -8003. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Read other postings. Downloaded Trash It. Problem solved. EC

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You could try using TrashIt!
Here's a cnet article about -8003:
Here's another discussion on the same topic.
Here's a general article on solving trash problems.

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Have file in Trash and can not empty trash . Showing 63 files and tried to shut down and restart and still will not empty.Anyone know what can be done?

You are welcome. Glad I could help/
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I notice anytime I send someone an Excel spreadsheet & then dump that excel into trash I can't empty trash, why is this? I close down all excel worksheets. I even trash the sent mail that had the excel attachment. Why does it think there's still an open Excel running? Is there a simpler solution then having to use Mac Janitor or Onyx everytime I do this?

Sometimes the Mail application will hold up the process. I can't explain why, but next time try quiting Mail when you have that problem. Then you should be able to empty the trash.

Unable to empty trash error code 8003 appears ?

Unable to empty trash error code 8003 appears ?

I had the same problem - tried all sorts but nothing worked. Eventually I used a tool called Trash It! which did the job (though apparently it is only to be used as a last resort).
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Cheers
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Unable to empty trash error code 8003

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I had the same problem - tried all sorts but nothing worked. Eventually I used a tool called Trash It! which did the job (though apparently it is only to be used as a last resort).
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Cheers
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This should do the job without all the Ys. BUT you must be 100% certain you have entered the command EXACTLY as written below. One typo and you could lose all the data in your user. Copy/paste only and TRIPLE check it's entered properly in Terminal. The -f option, instead of the -i option will force empty and delete immediately. No questions. (rm is remove/delete, -r is everything inside the folder, -f is force, no questions)
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" rm and -rf
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I have begun getting error codes when I attempt to empty Trash. For example:
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Profinite wrote:
Since these two external drives had been backed up previously, this process must have resulted in Time Machine deleting the previous backups of these two external drives.
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Thanks
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sydneyjames wrote:
EJECT the external drive from the desktop, empty trash WORKED, then disconnect and reconnect the external drive USB to use it again.
That makes the trash on the external HD disappear from the trash shown on your Mac, but doesn't empty it.
I'm having to do this every time I want to empty trash so it's not solving the root problem, but at least I can empty the HUGE time machine backups.
You shouldn't have to delete Time Machine backups, as Time Machine will automatically delete the oldest ones when it needs room for new ones. If you do want to delete any manually,don't use the Finder. Use the Time Machine display. See #12 inTime Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
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Can't empty Trash error -50

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