Can't empty trash in OSX10.6.8. Used Trashit unsucessfully. If I run sudo rm -ri ~/.Trash, terminal crashes

Can't empty trash in OSX10.6.8. Used Trashit unsucessfully. If I run sudo rm -ri ~/.Trash, terminal crashes. PowerMac G-5

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)
sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash
There is a single space between sudo and rm
" rm and -rf
" -rf and ~/.Trash
NO SPACES IN ~/.Trash
It may take a while, depending on how many items are being deleted. You'll know it's done when you get a new $ sign prompt.

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I can not get any updates and therefor not use Java as it only run updates for Mac 10.7. and later? How do i get the updates to install and use Java?

I can not get ny updates and therefore not use Java, as it only run updates for MAC 10.7. and later. How do i get the updates to install and use JAVA ?

In Snow Leopard you update Java from Software Update (in the Apple menu). You can check your version by opening Terminal and typing
java -version
(don't get creative and type anything else)
The latest version is 1.6.0_65.

Can't empty trash on a few files. Permissions?

Good Day.
I am logged in as Admin (Only acct on this machine) and there are several files in the trash that will not allow me to empty.
None of which are in use.
Tells me I don't have the permission to empty/delete which I do.
Can someone please advise.
Thank you.
Tom

Thank you Texas Mac....
Well, i used terminal and it appears that even the unix os cannot find
my Trash.. please see....
Tom-Aellis-Computer-3:~ tomaellis$ ls -al !/.Trash
-bash: !/.Trash: event not found
Tom-Aellis-Computer-3:~ tomaellis$ ls -al ~/.Trash
ls: /Users/tomaellis/.Trash: No such file or directory
Tom-Aellis-Computer-3:~ tomaellis$ cd /.Trash
-bash: cd: /.Trash: No such file or directory
Tom-Aellis-Computer-3:~ tomaellis$ sudo rm -ri ~/.Trash
rm: /Users/tomaellis/.Trash: No such file or directory
Tom-Aellis-Computer-3:~ tomaellis$

Library crashes/can't empty trash

I have this problematic library which I'm trying to salvage. I can't remember exactly what happened, but I think I "overloaded" iPhoto with too many photos which included JPG and RAW equivalents, so it crashed. I've tried all sorts of things including suggestions given here to fix it, but as I'm left with lots of "empty" images in addition to the normal photos (iPhoto seems to display those empty ones as normal photos as they have their filenames/keywords, but they just have the background color of iPhoto -there's nothing but empty frames there).
(Oh, before you mention trashing the iPhoto preference files etc. I can say that I have no problem with other libraries, so iPhoto itself seems OK).
...So I've found out that I really just need to save all the "real" photos in folders on my Finder desktop, then create a new library where I import those folders (I use "iPhoto buddy" which allows me to create several iPhoto libraries, which has allowed me to split up my photos into several much smaller ones -iPhoto seems to become pretty fragile if trying to handle a lot of photos and often crashes when I exit).
Anyway, the "ghost" (empty) images that show up in my albums also seem to make iPhoto work hard. Whenever there are any such empty images in an album I'm viewing, the Mac "beachball" spins for a while (probably about a minute or so, depending on how many empty images there are) not allowing me to do anything but wait. so I really have to delete those images (I think they're actually thumbnails of non-existing images) in order to make iPhoto respond, or exporting my "real" images will take forever to do.
I've found a solution on how to display only a few "ghost" images at a time: by creating a smart-album with the keyword "Raw image" along with the date range (keeping the date range small).
OK, so I'm able to display just a few "ghost" images at a time, which I choose to trash.
When I'm done with several files and want to call it quits for the time being I want to empty the trash which works fine.
But when that's done and I want to quit I get an error message saying that iPhoto has unexpectedly quit (or something like that). I also notice (by using the "Activity monitor") that iPhoto is using an awful lot of CPU power (80% or something, which turns my Powerbook fan on) when I try to empty the trash.
So when I restart iPhoto again all the files that I've trashed are still there and everything I've done has been reverted to the way it was before (I've understood that if iPhoto crashes all my editing is lost and I have to start all over again).
I don't know if the trashcan is the main problem, or if my library is generally messed up which just happens to crash iPhoto when I want to exit, but is there a way I can manually (i.e. via the Finder, accessing iPhoto's files/folders directly) empty its trash?
Is there anything else I can do to in order to fix some of these problems while I'm trying to export the photos to various folders on the desktop?

Yes, but the problem with the rebuilding is that the library usually gets altered in some way. I've spent considerable time perfecting my library with albums and folders, so what I want to do is just keep the damaged library unchanged so I can try to recreate a different library by looking at how my damaged one is set up.
But, the "ghost" images have to go. I've had a closer look at everything and I have a theory about what's going on.
The "ghost" images are probably thumbnails of non-existing images (probably the RAW files that I deleted a while back, creating a different library), and iPhoto probably crashed after I had deleted the images, but before the setup files was re-written (iPhoto seems to do this sort of thing while it quits, so if it crashes while quitting I get into trouble).
Now, I'm thinking that if the actual RAW images are gone, but iPhoto doesn't understand that (because the library setup files weren't updated with that information) it'll still try to create thumbnails, but from non-existing images.
I've found lots of zero length JPG files within the library folder (I used the "Find" function in the Finder to search for files less than 1 KB in that library folder).
So I've tried to delete all those zero image files (from the Finder), then restart iPhoto, but the "ghost" thumbnails are still there.
So I guess the trick is to make iPhoto rewrite its index file(s), but omitting the zero filelength JPGs for those missing RAW images. And all while NOT changing anything else in the library setup.
How do I do that?

My trash can shows empty and other issues with it...

Ok basically, if i delete anything on my mac it should go to my trash can right?
Well i have a few problems with that as follows:
1. Everytime i delete something or move something to the trash it asks me to enter my password everytime, then deletes it, this never used to happen and now all of a sudden it does, this started just before the latest lion update and ive tried everything i know to stop it doing it but failed.
2. When i do delete something, the trash can shows empty on my desktop, and when i open the trash there is nothing inside, so im not able to restore anything if required, so basically if i move anything to trash it just gets permanently deleted instead of storing it in trash first, again this started just before the latest lion update.
I was hoping the update would fix this issue but didnt change it what so ever, i have also tried repairing disk permissions and still no change.
Any ideas on what i can do to fix these problems? Im still new to mac so i dont know all the ins and outs, but any help on this would be appreciated.
Cheers all,
Carl

Boot from your recovery partition by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
When the recovery desktop appears, select Utilities ▹ Terminal from the menu bar.
In the Terminal window, enter “resetpassword” (without the quotes) and press return. A Reset Password window opens.
Select your boot volume if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select  ▹ Restart from the menu bar.

I somehow installed a version of Firefox which won't work on my "old" iMac G5 (10.5.8) so I trashed the program and now I can't get it out of my trash bin... Any help appreciated because now I can't empty my trash at all! Thanks.

I somehow installed a version of Firefox which won't work on my "old" iMac G5 (10.5.8) so I trashed the program and now I can't get it out of my trash bin... Any help appreciated because now I can't empty my trash at all! Thanks!!

You must purchase a new QT key for each computer.
Since you have a new iMac, you are entitled to 90 days of FREE phone tech support from Apple and you can use the Chat with a Support Agent. The online chat support _*is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.*_
If you've purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan, you're eligible for the duration of that agreement.

I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my IMac desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

Since you didn't mention what type of error message you were seeing, I'm going to guess on what is happening.
I'm guessing that since you threw away Time Machine backups, that Time Machine is probably active on your Mac. There is a chance then that the files you tossed are marked as in use. You can't delete files that are in use.
Try turning Time Machine off, then restart your Mac. Then try deleting them again.
Once done, turn Time Machine back on.
Tom

Can't empty trash on my i-mac OS X 10.6.8

I'm not able to empty the "trash" on my i-Mac 10.6.8. I have tried several options on the internet, but none have been successful. Help please.
Tom

Hello tpplus12,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
I understand that you are having difficulty emptying the trash on your Mac running Snow Leopard. To help assist you in this situation, I would recommend reading over and working through the steps located in the attached article.
You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash - Apple Support
Have a great day,
Joe

HT1526 I can't empty the trash and it says error code -8003. What can I do to fix this? I need to empty as my hardrive is nearly full.

Hey,
I keep trying to empty the trash on my macbook pro as it says i have just under 2gb of harddrive space left. I can't update my software as i don't have enough harddrive space left.
Every time i try and empty the trash it says that it can't empty the trash and gives an error code -8003.
Any ideas how i can fix this?
Many Thanks,
Charlie

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

HT1526 I can't delete any files, can't empty the trash bin, can't open my iTunes. Safari isn't working properly either. I keep getting the error message -50 when i try to delete anything...HELP!

I can't delete any files, can't empty the trash bin, can't open my iTunes. Safari isn't working properly either. I keep getting the error message -50 when i try to delete anything...HELP!

Hello, not too helpful, but...
enum {
paramErr = -50, /*error in user parameter list*/
Usually means a bvad or unacceptable Charachter in a File or Folder name...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA20831
Solving Trash Problems...
http://thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when trying to open Safari or iTunes.

Can't empty trash because of a code

I recently came across my MacBP automatically deleting all my files upon sending it to the trash. It basically prompted me to delete everything without placing it to the trash.
As a solution, i came across a piece of code (in a discussion already archived in this community), supposedly giving me the solution to use the following instructions and code:
open the Terminal in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and run the following:
mkdir ~/.Trash
If you get a message stating that the folder exists, run the following:
sudo chown $UID ~/.Trash
chmod u+rwx ~/.Trash
It acutally solved the problem but ended up giving me another problem - which is that i now can't seem to delete anything placed in the trash. The trash makes an emptying sound but the items are still there.
PLEASE HELP ME!!!! :-(
Thanks in advance!
- - - - Currently running OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 / 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 2GB Memory / 160GB HD

PS. Here's a link to the original instructions i followed within the community:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2205086?start=0&tstart=0

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

Can't empty trash in Aperture 3.2.4

I know that I'm kinda late to the game, but I just updated the OS on my MacBook Pro (2.16GHz Intel Core Duo) to 10.6.8 and then updated Aperture to 3.2.4. After updating both, I've been having a really strange problem where I can't empty the Aperture trash. Literally nothing happens when I try to. I don't even get the empty trash dialog box. There doesn't seem to be any other problems. I've tried fixing the permissions, rebuilding the database & restarting the computer, but nothing seems to work. Has anyone encountered this problem, or have any advice for fixing it? Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!
-Greg

I made a new library with just one photo and confirmed 3.2.4 does not empty the trash. Therefore I doubt this has to do with the library and more to do with the fact that Trash is not implemented correctly with 3.2.4. My theory is that while the GUI shows the picture moved into the Trash, the link and database structure is not aware of the Trash contents.
I dug around the Library package contents and compared 3.3.x to 3.2.4, they seem the same. There is no explicit trash folder, there must be a file or link implementation that keeps track of what is files are in the Trash and then deletes them from Master, Preview and what ever else Aperture uses per file. GREP and Strings don't turn up any obvious answer, the file permissions all look the same between versions. Empty trash will never work because the trash contains 0k even though the GUI shows the trash contains files. 3.3.x is working on 10.7 and can successfully empty the trash on my test library created with 3.2.4. But this requires updating the Library to 3.3 compatability which means to fix my library I will have to buy 10.7 then update Aperture then update the Library.
If there is any known solution to this problem, I would greatly appreciate advice on fixing the existing version instead of paying for a new OS in order to get the latest version of Aperture.

Another "I can't empty my trash!" problem...!

Hi All,
Sorry, but this is another "I can't empty my trash" problem.
Have scoured the internet trying all the remedies but can't seem to delete these stupid folders.
I've tried the option key, secure emptying, going into Terminal, Cocktail doesn't want anything to do with these files.
There are 5 left over folders from my external hard-drive. They don't appear to be locked anymore (Get Info panel says so) but Leopard keeps shouting "Insufficient Privileges" at me every time I try to delete them.
"/Volumes/EXHD/.Trashes/501/MUSIC", that's the direct path to the main folder that's being stubborn.
Please help me, all I want is a clear Trash Can!

tenorhorn wrote:
Hi All,
Sorry, but this is another "I can't empty my trash" problem.
Have scoured the internet trying all the remedies but can't seem to delete these stupid folders.
I've tried the option key, secure emptying, going into Terminal, Cocktail doesn't want anything to do with these files.
There are 5 left over folders from my external hard-drive. They don't appear to be locked anymore (Get Info panel says so) but Leopard keeps shouting "Insufficient Privileges" at me every time I try to delete them.
"/Volumes/EXHD/.Trashes/501/MUSIC", that's the direct path to the main folder that's being stubborn.
Please help me, all I want is a clear Trash Can!
Welcome to Apple Discussions:
Remember how the trash works. The trashed files are not necessarily on your Mac.
When you trash a file, it goes into the local (maybe hidden) trash folder on the harddrive. The desktop trash only contains a link to the actual file in the trashbin on the external drive.
The proper way to delete that trash would be to reconnect the external drive and then empty the trash, assuming that the external drive has not been modified.
You say you used the terminal - exactly what did you do?
In a terminal, enter the following commands
cd .Trash
ls -al
you should see a listing of the files in the trashbin.
On my machine here are the results for a trashed folder and file:
-rw-r--r--@ 1 nero nero 4 Oct 20 20:27 testfile.txt
drwxr-xr-x 2 nero nero 68 Oct 20 20:19 untitled folder
Notice that I own both files/folders and most importantly, I have write (w) permission on them.
Post back your results and perhaps we can diagnose the problem better.

Can not empty Trash

Hi there, I have recently had a corrupt iphoto library. I have extracted the pictures and created a new library. After doing this I deleted the old library, which is in my MAC trash (not iphoto trash).
I can not empty my trash and have searched everywhere online for a resolution, these are things I have tried ....help I need to dump this large library.
Thanks
1- Right Click - empty trash
     I get The operation can’t be completed because the item “iPhoto Library .photolibrary” is in use.
          I have searched this error message and tried using terminal to see what has this in use using the following - couldn't find anything
                    xxx-iMac:~ ryanromero$ lsof | grep iPhoto Library .photolibrary
                    grep: Library: Is a directory
                    grep: .photolibrary: No such file or directory
2 - I've tried doing Secure Empty Trash in which i get the below message
        The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items.
3- I have tried using terminal to empty the trash using the following command - It acts like it will delete it but the trash is still there.
     Ryan-Romeros-iMac:~ ryanromero$ sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/*
     Password:
4- I have also tried this which said it would delete the file but doesn't in terminal
     Ryan-Romeros-iMac:~ ryanromero$ sudo rm -rf /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto\ Library\ .photolibrary
Password:
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/._iPhotoAux.db: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/._iPhotoLock.data: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/._iPhotoMain.db: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/._Library6.iPhoto: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/._ProjectDBVersion.plist: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/._Projects.db: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/._DataModelVersion.plist: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/._tmSync.plist: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/._BigBlobs.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/._Faces.db-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/._History.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/._ImageProxies.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/._Library.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/._lockfile.pid: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/._Properties.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/BigBlobs.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/Faces.db-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/History.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/ImageProxies.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/Library.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb/Properties.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/apdb: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/DataModelVersion.plist/._ImageProxies.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database/DataModelVersion.plist: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Database: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/iLifeShared/apdb/._ImageProxies.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/iLifeShared/apdb: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/iLifeShared: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/iPhotoAux.db: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/iPhotoMain.db: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Masters: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Previews/Database/apdb/._ImageProxies.apdb-journal: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Previews/Database/apdb: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Previews/Database: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Projects.db: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary/Thumbnails: Input/output error
rm: /Volumes/Iomega_HDD/.Trashes/501/iPhoto Library .photolibrary: Directory not empty

First, never try to empty the Trash in the shell. It's dangerous and unnecessary, and as you've discovered, it doesn't always work.
It's possible that the external drive is malfunctioning, but before you draw that conclusion, quit iPhoto and try again to empty the Trash.

Can't empty trash in OSX10.6.8. Used Trashit unsucessfully. If I run sudo rm -ri ~/.Trash, terminal crashes

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