Negative values when emptying the trash

I'm doing a secure version of emptying the trash. The "Items to delete" status has now reached a value of -2 (yes, it went from 0 to negative 1 to negative 2). Any idea what's going wrong here? It's still going.

This solved my problem.
Re: Trash going into negative?

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When emptying the trash, the counter goes up...

What's going on when emptying the trash, the counter goes past zero on the way down and then proceeds into the tens of thousands of negative numbers? I am trying to get rid of back ups on my external disk.
Thanks

David Wilson24 wrote:
But now, I just want to get the trash cleared so that further actions will work as far as future "emptyings".
The count going negative is normal, in a way, when deleting TM backups. Not a problem.
If the trash won't empty, hold the Alt/Option key while selecting Finder > Empty Trash... from the menubar.
You shouldn't ever need to delete backups, however. Let Time Machine delete old ones when it runs out of space.

Keeping some items when emptying the trash

I've gathered a lot of trash since I got my MacBook last year and would like to clean up. Is there a way to select files from 2008 and delete those trash items only? Or can I lock 2009 trash items and then use the empty trash button to delete the other items? I seldom access a trashed item, but it would be comforting to know the more recent junk is still there ... just in case.
I use Time Machine for a backup, so I assume that if this doesn't work, I could access an earlier version of the trash basket to find and recover a deleted file. Or could I?
Thanks,
Charles

Hi Charles;
Trash is an extremely poor place to store anything. Time Machine like most good backup tools ignores Trash when it backs up so you will not be able to recover anything that was in Trash from it.
To answer your original question there is no simple way of doing what you are asking to do. Probably the best thing for you to do is create another folder and move everything out of Trash. This will get backed up. Then you can go through and move files to Trash and empty it immediately.
Allan

IPhoto crashes when emptying the Trash and then quitting iPhoto

When I empty the iPhoto trash and then quit iPhoto, it crashes every time. When I reopen it the trash is again full.
Also, the items in the trash are blank squares.
Any ideas?

Ronniebel:
Have you tried the usual maintenance procedures? Repair disk permissions, repair the disk with Disk Utility while booted into the system installation disk that came with you Mac, run Tiger Cache Cleaner's medium cleaning routine or OnyX to clean out the various user caches and the cron maintenance scripts.
Also download and run BatChmod on the iPhoto Library folder with the settings shown here, substituting your account name for mine. You can either type in the path to the folder or just drag the folder into that field.
Another possibility is to run iPhoto Library Manager and use its File->Rebuild Library menu option to rebuild the library.
Next, move the iPhoto Library folder to the Shared folder and set the access so other users can read and write. Then log into another account on you Mac, fire up iPhoto with the Option key depressed and locate and open the library in the Shared folder. See if you can delete the trash there and operate normally. If you can then it's something to do with your other account. If you can't then it's the library itself.
Good luck.

Problem emptying the trash

Hi
I have a problem when emptying the Trash on OS X Lion
It just says "emptying however many items" and it just stays like that for ages, i've left for hours and still nothing, which forces me to have to reset finder
I've tried holding option to empty the trash but still the same thing happens
Any suggestions?

Select  ▹ Force Quit... from the menu bar, then select Finder and press return. From the Finder menu bar, select Finder ▹ Preferences ▹ Advanced and uncheck the box labeled Empty Trash securely. Try again to empty the Trash.

How do I disable the emptying the Trash warning with Mac OS X 10.5?

Seems like when I was on Tiger I did something (maybe in terminal?) to get rid of the nag button when emptying the trash.

Finder -> Preferences -> Advanced -> uncheck the box.

I have sent a file to the trash bin. When I come to empty the trash bin everything goes out except this one particular file and I get a note saying the file is 'in use' but it is not. How can I delete this file from trash?

I have a Macbook Pro with OS X Lion 10.7.2. I have sent a work file to the trash bin along with many other files. When I empty the trash this one particular file remains and I get a message that this file is still in use. I have tried returning the file to my documents, opening it, closing it and then sending it to trash and again I try to empty trash but the same message comes up - Q - How can I trash this file permanently?

First just try logging out and back in. Whatever is holding on to it may not be running after the logout thus freeing it so you can trash it after logging back in.
You might also try Trash It!
Lastly, look at the following for suggestions:
The X Lab: Solving Trash Problems

I imported an hour of video into iMovie HD and cut it down to a 33 sec clip, and emptied the trash. When I save the project, the file size is 20Gb. How can I save just the 33 sec clip?

I imported an hour of video into iMovie HD and cut it down to a 33 sec clip, and emptied the trash. When I save the project, the file size is 20Gb. How can I save just the 33 sec clip?

Non-destructive editing is an important feature of iMovie HD 6.
iMovie preserves the entire copy of every clip you place into your movie in case you change your mind at a later stage.
So, if you have cut out one minute from a 45 minute clip, iMovie will have stored two complete copies of that clip. This is why is helps to set import as 3-5 minute clips rather than one huge chunk. As DV runs at 13GB per hour your project files can get very big.
One workaround is to complete the editing of a section of the movie, then export that to Quicktime: highlight the clip/s, choose Share-Quicktime, turn on Share selected clips only, and choose Full Quality from the pop-ip menu.
Once you have saved the stand-alone clip to your hard drive, you can re-import it into your project using the File/Import command, and delete the original long clip/s from the project.

Error message: File can't be opened right now because it's being used by another task, such as moving or copying an item or emptying the Trash. Try again when the current task is complete.

I recently transferred some data from my external hard drive to my desktop, but there was an error transferring some of the files and it couldn't respond, and eventually i simply removed the external hard drive. However, the folder/files are still on my desktop, and when i try to move them or delete them, this error message appears:
“-folder/file name-” can’t be opened right now because it’s being used by another task, such as moving or copying an item or emptying the Trash. Try again when the current task is complete.
Since I removed the external hard drive before the files were finished transferring, there is no way for the current task to be completed. How can I resolve this and delete the folders/files from my desktop?

I just managed to resolve this by going to the apple sign in the top left, choosing force quit (or you could do option+command+esc), then i chose finder, and i clicked relaunch. After relaunching finder, the error message doesn't appear anymore, and I could move these files/folders, and delete them just fine.
Hope this will help other people who encounter similar problems in the future!

I get an error message when I try to empty the trash in order to clear up an external hard drive. I had been using it for time machine, have shifted that to a larger external hard drive, and want to free up the space for photographs. Any suggestions?

What should I do when I get an error message (error code - 8003) when I'm trying to empty the trash to clear up additional space on an external hard drive?

Yes. And you should not have moved that folder. Put it back. To move your iTunes library move the folder from User's Music.
tt2

Internal server error when trying to empty the trash in my contacts

I deleted my contacts and when I try to empty the trash it says "internal server error." Anyone know how to fix this?

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

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.

I tried to open a folder in my Documents. It does not show in any window but does show up when I am half way between windows. It did the same thing when I tried to empty the trash. It asked if that was what I wanted but I could't say yes because it was or

I tried to open a folder in my Documents. It does not show in any window but does show up when I am half way between windows. It did the same thing when I tried to empty the trash. It asked if that was what I wanted but I could't say yes because it was or

what is your question/issue here? did the folder have any content in it to begin with? screen shots of what you may be seeing?
if english isn't your native language, write it in what you are most comfortable speaking in to describe your issue.

IPhoto 6 quit when I empty the trash

Hi, I just installed the last iLife 06 and I've a problem with iPhoto. When I empty the trash iPhoto quits and when I relauch it I can see the number of element into the trash. If I click on the trash then it seems there are elements inside but without any thumbnails.
Is this a bug and how to be sure elements have been really erased ?
Thanks

Using the iPhoto menu to empty the trash instead of the contextual menu seems to relly empty the trash...

TS3297 How do I resolve error code 8003 when I try to empty the trash?

How do I resolve error code 8003 when I try to empty the trash?

Try this Discussion from the More Like This section...
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18549254#18549254

Negative values when emptying the trash

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