Emptying Trash Refuses to Work?

Emptying Trash quits everytime I try to empty the trash.

didn't work. And everytime I try to empty the trash it restarts my computer.
I also tried holding down OPTION key while I chose Empty Trash, no good.

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System sound (like when empty trash) miserably stop working in Lion 10.7.2

I have upgraded to Lion10.7.2 on my Macbook Pro early 2008 Intel 15 inches, and the update went fine except one annoying problem I found so far.
This problem also occurred in 10.7.0 and 10.7.1 and it seems that no fix has been made in 10.7.2
The problem is when I drag file to Trash and empty it, there should be trash empty sound effect, and this has been with us since Tiger.
In 10.7.2 it work as expected, but when I close the lid to get it to sleep, once I open the lid, the system sound is gone without no reason.
When I play music from iTunes, or when I change volume level, the sound effects work as usual, but empty trash sound stop working miserable.
I have to shut down, press Option-Command-P-R and power on to reset PRAM then system sound like empty trash come back. Again, afpr may be half a day, it's gone again
Any friend here has solution for this? The com.apple.soundprefs.plist file, if you delete it, in Lion, it is not recreated again, and it's gone forever. SO delete plist file is not a solution.
Help please

I found a workaround to my problem accidentally.
As the system sound like empty trash or file drag sound stop working miserably, after close the MBP lid to sleep, after it awake, system sound just stop working.
Before this, I have to shut down my MBP, reset PRAM by press Option-Control-P-R and power on, to get the system sound back
But I found that the workaround whenever the system sound stop working thad do not require reboot is:
1. Go to System Preference-Sound
2. Change Play sound effects through: Internal Speakers to Soundflower 2ch) in the drop down list.
(Soundflower has been installed by a software called iShowU HD (screen capturing software))
3. Slide to change Alert Volume from the original position
4. Switch back to Internal Speakers from Soundflower 92ch) in the drop down list
5. Change Alert Volume by moving slide bar back to the desirable position
Immediately, the sound effects that stop working will start working again.
This just work for my case. I don't know it will work for ther people that have the same problem as me or not.
And if possible, can some expert here give me explanation why doing the above make system sound effect to work again? mI want to know the cause, and definite solution to the problem
Advise and suggestion please. Thank in advance

Secure Empty Trash Setting not working HELP!!!

Im trying to turn off the secure empty trash I dont know how it got turned on
but its not working
Ive tried going to Finder > Preference > advanced > uncheck the secure empty box
but it doesnt work it keeps asking me if im sure to delete the item
I dont want secure empty trash i like keeping the files for a while just in case
HELP please

Click on the item in the Finder's sidebar with the house icon and verify that you are able to write to this folder in the Ownership & Permissions section of the Get Info window, and that it isn't locked; if it is already set this way and you get that error, 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
The first command in the second set will prompt you for your administrator password; nothing will appear in the Terminal window while it is being typed. In either case, click on the Finder icon in the Dock with the Control and Option keys pressed, and relaunch it.
(55512)

Secure Empty Trash doesn't work

Working in Mavericks on an iMac 27. Secure Empty Trash starts but disappears and nothing is deleted. Is it safe to use Erase Free Space in Disk Utility?

danimal303 wrote:
So it won't help me at all. I don't quite see any use for it, a good reason not to use it. But I have some 560 000 files in Trash and they won't budge.
When you delete a file (without Secure Empty Trash), all the data of the file still exists on the file system free list. It will remain there until the file system reuses the space. Erase Free Space is a way to address this, after files have been deleted.
It is only really useful as a once in a while event, such as someone forgot to use Secure Empty Trash for a file with sensitive data. And Secure Empty Trash is very time consuming, and worse it is if you have an SSD, this wears out the SSD faster.
A better approach is to use FileVault so that a deleted file is instantly securely deleted because it was always encrypted.
Since you are attempting to use Secure Empty Trash, then I would try this from the command line using the 'srm' command. "man srm"
srm -f -r -v ~/.Trash/*
The srm command will perform a secure erase. The -f will keep it from prompting for approval. The -r will recurse through and directories of files in the trash. The -v will display the progress while deleting so you can see how things are going, and have an idea of how much progress you are making.
Be very careful with srm, as if you point it at the wrong directory it could delete something you care about, or a lot of somethings.
If there are files that srm -f will not delete, then you bring out the sudo command. But be VERY CAREFUL with sudo, as you can delete a lot more than just a few files you care about.
sudo srm -f -r -v ~/.Trash/*
Password: you enter your account's password here, assuming you are the admin of the Mac.

Empty trash, finder not working

I have a imac G5 w i sight. I just installed leopard and when it came to the reg screen on the internet. it could not find the internet, so i quit. now when i try and start the mac the screen comes up but "finder" not running. other programs run. I tryed re-installing it and it needed 11 gb room. not usually a problem, but i could not empty trash. is there a way to fix this problem.

Hold down the option key and try again. Your task will be a lot faster if you remove from the Trash all items that don't really need to be deleted securely.

Empty trash has stopped working

Running 10.7.6 Lion.
Was doing a big clean up
Of the hard drive and the Trash would not empty.
Any advise appreciated.
Thought that perhaps I should just upgrade to Mountain Lion.
But, I'm happy with Lion; except for this.

empty the trash bin regularly, or it might take ages to empty.
First method:
click the Trash bin while holding Alt(option) key; the Trash bin opens, and, while still holding the Alt key, from the Finder menu click "empty trash".
Second method:
use a Terminal command, and it will be empty very quickly:
open Terminal and copy/paste following command in it then hit enter:
sudo rm -Rf ~/.Trash/*
Quit Terminal from the menu.

My "empty trash" sound quit working...any idea why?

Aside from Mail problems, nothing else is a problem. I've not added any programs. Is there a setting somewhere for this?

Ive seen this before a few time. Reset your PRAM. This reset the sound to default.
Press and hold ALT, CMD, P and R as you power it on
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Can't Empty Trash

When I drag a file to the trash, and then try to empty it, I get a message "The operation cannot be completed because the item "Safari" is in use." If I close Safari, I still get the message, and it happens regardless of the type of file.
Also, when I open the trash to see if the file is locked or something, the trash shows and empty folder "Safari" instead of the file that I dragged to the trash. A search in Spotlight shows the file as being in the trash.
Using "Trash it" works, but I'd like to fix the problem. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance
Oh, it's an iBook G4 1.33 GHz, 1GB ram, OS 10.4.9

Option-empty trash and secure empty trash don't work and give the same error. Here's what happens:
1. I drag a file to the trash (a Word document, for example)
2. I click on the trash and select "empty trash" and get the error message
3. If I open Trash, the Word document isn't there, but there is an empty folder called "Safari"
4. If I search for the Word document in Spotlight, it lists is as beingin the trash.
5. The app "Trash It" does work in emptying the trash, but not Option-empty trash or secure empty trash.

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.

Emptying Trash is a problem...

Recently I've not been able to see 'Empty Trash' in the Finder.
What I can see is 'Secure Empty Trash".
Both work and there are no issues, other than I have to key 'T' in Help to find 'Empty Trash".
I'm sure that I'm missing the obvious but I'd appreciate a helping hand.
Many thanks.

Thanks very much for your swift and simple solution.
It's easy when you know how.
Very best regards.

Secure Empty Trash just gets stuck

Secure Empty Trash doesn't work. it just gets stuck/crashes. Why is this?
10.9.5 mavericks

from Apple docs worked for me. Mine was \\\\\\\.\\\ derived from installing Windows.
If there are several locked files in the Trash, you can unlock them all at the same time at the command line. Follow these steps:
1. Open Terminal. It's located in /Applications/Utilities.  Type: chflags -R nouchg  Note: Type one space (not pictured) after nouchg in the line above, so that it ends in "nouchg ". Do not press Return yet. 
2. Double-click the Trash icon in the Dock to reveal the contents of the Trash. If necessary, arrange the Finder window so that a portion of the Terminal window is still visible.
3. Press the Command-A key combination to select all files in the Trash.
4. Drag the files from the Trash to the Terminal window.  Note: This automatically enters the pathname for each file. This eliminates the need to individually empty multiple Trash directories, particularly when multiple disks or volumes are present. 
5. Press Return. No special text message will be shown indicating that the command was successful.
6. Empty the Trash.
If the Trash does not empty or if you see a message in Terminal that says "usage: chflags [-R [-H | -L | -P]] flags file..." you most likely did not type the text in step 2 as indicated or did not leave a space. Repeat the steps if this happens.

MacBook Pro 10.7 very slow to empty trash

I have 32 items in my trash and it's been trying to empty the trash for over 30min. now.
Here is what I've tried:
1. Option > Click > Empty Trash ; Didn't work
2. Restarted computer > Empty Trash : Didn't work
3. Shutdown compuer > Empty Trash: Didn't work
4. Booted up off recovery jump drive > Ran Disk Utilities > Fixed HD > Fixed Permissions > Rebooted > Empty Trash: Didn't Work
5. Emptied font cache > Restarted > Empty Trash: Didn't Work.

Go to /Applications /Utilities/Terminal and launch it.
At the prompt, copy and paste this command
sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash
Press Return.
You will be asked to enter your admin password. It will be invisible.
Enter it and press Return.
Log out and back in or restart.
Let us know.

Secure empty trash wants to kill all files

Trying to open up space and speed up my iMac by emptying trash, which has worked fine in the past.
Now, with 376 items in the trash bin, when I hit "secure empty trash" it tells me it is killing 12K+ files.
Why is it doing that, and how to I get rid of the trash without erasing the whole disk?
Addendum: Now it's up to 32K+ files. Does this mean it is trying to overwrite every file I have ever deleted? Also, "Secure empty trash" is the only option available. No plain-vanilla "empty trash" to be found.

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

Secure Empty Trash difficulties

Anyone have a guess why Secure Empty Trash has stopped working in my Admin account, yet still works perfectly in the other four standard user accounts on the family Mac?
In my Admin account, starting a Secure Empty gives me the progress bar which just hangs there...forever. The hard drive is crunching away like crazy but the progress bar barely moves. Eventually, it will empty. But we're talking something on the order of 15 minutes or more to delete no more than 4 files. The size of the files seems not to matter. It will take aeons to secure delete 200k as well as 2M. The crunching of the HD is very concerning.
I've searched this board and found very little to go on. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
JimC
G5 dual 2G Mac OS X (10.3.9)

JimC,
Perhaps Solving Trash Problems, by Dr. Smoke may provide some clues for eliminating your difficulties.
;~)

Emptying trash error message

Perhaps someone else has experienced this. It doesn't always happen but sometimes when I try to empty the Trash, I get the following message:
The operation can't be completed because the item "DS.store" is in use.
So I'll do a secure empty trash and it works but I wonder what this means. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Sorry. I've posted this answer in the wrong topic. As for you ask for, don't bother of it. The file DS.store is usually invisible, and tracks all of icon's positions on the desktop. For some reason, it is in the trash. Do you use some program to manipolate these files?

Emptying Trash Refuses to Work?

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