Strange File in Trash Cannot be Deleted

I have this file in my trash:
"␀␀␀õ␀␀.␀␀"
I am unable to work out where it came from. It has been there for several weeks and will not delete with the usual means mentioned in the forums. I have also tried Trash It without success.
Does anyone recognise this file? And anyone have any ideas how to get rid of it?
Thank you,
Jake

Yes, I am sure you are right. I have gone back to the command prompt and run the correct command line:
"chkdsk C:/r"
However, when I reboot Parallels, it keeps freezing during the check/repair stage and never completes. Looks like I will have to re-install my Virtual Machine...
Thank you again for your help,
Jake

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Strange file in trash and it won't empty

I have a strange file in trash and it will not empty.
There is an alias file that has a strange name and a date of dec. 31, 1903. It will not go away when I empty. I put other files in the trash to see if they would be deleted and they do, but the other will not be deleted.
In the name of the file there is small characters that say "null" then õ's as well.
I took a few screen shots and posted them on photobucket, Take a look. Any suggestions or theories?
This is a first
Link is http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd228/pschmidt63/
phil

pschmidt63 wrote:
I have a strange file in trash and it will not empty.
There is an alias file that has a strange name and a date of dec. 31, 1903. It will not go away when I empty. I put other files in the trash to see if they would be deleted and they do, but the other will not be deleted.
On the Mac there are actually multiple Trashes. The user Trash ".Trash" in user's home folder, and multiple (depending on number of volumes in machine) ".Trashes" folder(s) one each in root of volume. In the ".Trashes" folder there can be a trash folder for the user.
It looks like you have a corrupted/illegal character file which you can't delete via the UI. Via the terminal you may be able to. But... you have to go to the "trash" where the file actually is - and it may not be in "~/.Trash". But in the Mac desktop you will see it in your Trash icon.
Have a look at my post here
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5864381#5864381
and the rest of the thread.
Get into Terminal and check your home trash folder, see if the file is there then go to the other trash folders ".Trashes" and look for it there and kill it with "sudo" command as shown in my other post here.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5864569#5864569
*Can you let us know if this solves it for you* - as I am interested to know if this is definite fix.
Cheers

Strange Null file in Trash that wont delete.

I have a strange file in my Trash that I can't delete. It has a name of "␀␀␀␀␀␀␀.␀␀␀". It appears as if all the characters are Null.
These are the actions I have taken:
1. Using Tech Tool Pro, performed file system check. Now problems found.
2. Using Terminal, changed directory to .Trash, performed ls -A and no files were found.
3. Attempted a delete (rm) of all files in trash. No luck. File remains.
4. When I select file and do a Get Info, the file disappears and the Trash Icon shows empty, but opening the trash again brings this strange file back.
5. Tried renaming the file but the rename fails with an error -43.
6. I booted from another disk and rand Disk utility which found and corrected incorrect file count problem. Still the file persists, and the verify of the disk now returns no errors.
7. Ran verify disk permissions. No problems found.
I believe the file first appeared after installing Leopard 10.5.3 update, but I'm not sure if this is related.
Any help would be appreciated.
Jeff Cameron

Thank you! That was it.
Although my Windows Partition is FAT32 instead of NTFS, after booting XP, I found a null file in C:\.Trashes\501\. I could not delete it there either. My next step was to run CHKDSK C: /F, which converted the 501 folder into a file, which I could delete.
Booting back into OSX, the null file was now gone.
Thanks again for your help.
Jeff

Cannot move files to trash; they are deleted immediately!

I can no longer move files to trash and then empty the trash. If I select "move to trash" or drag a file to the trash, I am notified that the file will be deleted immediatley.
How can I change it so that the files remain in the trash until I choose to empty it.
Also, I have gone to "get info" for the trash, and when I try to give myself permission to read & write, I am prompted to give my password, which I do, but then it says "operation could not be completed ... unexptected error, code 136.
Any ideas.
Please help.

That message is typical behavior when deleting files from a server, but I suspect your problem isn't going to be answered with that. What do you mean when you say "I try to give myself permission to read & write" for the Trash? Your Trash can is normally an invisible folder called ".Trashes". And by default it should be read and write.

Strange file in Trash

Hi, I have a file that i cannot delete from the Trash. it is labeled with 5 rows of slanted dots followed by a period, an N with a tilde over it and one quote. the date modified is 12/31/1903 at 5PM.
when i try and delete it it returns immediately, when i Get Info it disappears and re-appears immediately.
does anyone know what this could be ?? maybe an intrusion or virus?? how might i get rid of it?
Thanks
Mike

sounds like a windows ghost. do you have bootcamp? If so boot into windows and repair the drive using [chkdsk|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107297].

Strange file in Trash that just won't go away.

Since installing Snow Leopard, I have a strange file in the Trash that I can't get rid of. It appears to be a zero KB "Alias" file with "unknown" permissions. At first glance it looks as if it's called \\\Õ\\.Õ\ but the diagonal lines are actually the word "Nul" made up of a superscript 'N', a normal 'u' and a subscript 'l'- all in very small font size.
I can't drag it out of the Trash to see what it does. It's info window holds no clues, apart from the "unknown permissions" thing.
I have tried repairing permissions and have since upgraded to 10.6.1 and repaired them again.
Any suggestions on what this file is - and on how to lose it would be gratefully received.

Bob Bridges1 wrote:
Since installing Snow Leopard, I have a strange file in the Trash that I can't get rid of. It appears to be a zero KB "Alias" file with "unknown" permissions. At first glance it looks as if it's called \\\Õ\\.Õ\ but the diagonal lines are actually the word "Nul" made up of a superscript 'N', a normal 'u' and a subscript 'l'- all in very small font size.
I can't drag it out of the Trash to see what it does. It's info window holds no clues, apart from the "unknown permissions" thing.
Are you willing to use Terminal to try to eliminate that file? If so, launch Terminal, then type the commands below.
WARNING: In general, the "rm" command can be very dangerous. That's why the commands below (1) show what's there to be deleted and (2) ask for confirmation for each file to be deleted.
cd ~/.Trash
ls -a
file *
The "ls" command should show you three things: a single period, a double period, and your mystery file. The "file" command should show you the mystery file and an explanation of what type of file it is. If you're feeling nervous, you might want to mention here the reported type. If all is well so far, type this command
rm -i *
You should be prompted for deleting that file. If you like what you see, press the "y" key, then press the <return> key. If you see anything that makes you nervous, either (1) type control-c or (2) press the "n" key, then press the <return> key.
If the system refused to delete that file, then (if you're feeling brave), type this command:
sudo rm -i *
That command will prompt you for your administrative password, then prompt you to delete your mystery file. The same responses apply.

Strange file in trash that won't go away?

I have a strange file that appeared in my Trash the other day. I tried to empty the trash multiple times, but it won't go away. Secure empty trash doesn't help, as it just gets stuck. Double-clicking on the file, getting info on the file, or dragging the file out of the trash just results in the item disappearing, only to reappear shortly thereafter. Here is a screenshot of the filename, as it is very strange (I am posting it as a picture so there are no font issues):
Click on the image if it doesn't appear.
I have no idea what's going on. I tried repairing permissions to no avail. Should I run a disk utility such as Techtool or Diskwarrior? Is this a virus? Could this be related to my weird Time Machine issues (where Time Machine will come up with an error, see below for picture)?
Click on the image if it doesn't appear.

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.

Can't get rid of Strange file in Trash

There is a strange file in my trash that i cant get rid of. It's called "␀␀␀õ␀␀.␀␀"
If i click get info on it the file disappears, but anytime i send a file into the Trash or open it up it reappears
Any help would be appreciated

this worked for me and I had the same file name as you described.
you must have win installed.
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.

Cross-post: strange file in trash

In my trash I have found a file associated with iTunes/iPod: iPod2,12.2.1_5H11aRestore.ipsw
I didn't put it there, and don't know why it should be there - the trash was empty not long before, and I haven't restored my iPod for years.
My questions: is it safe to trash it? If not, where does it properly belong?
Thanks in advance for any help. This is a cross-post from the iPod Classic forum

Yes, you can delete it. It's a discarded backup that was produced when you last synched your iPod.

Undeleteable file in trash, cannot empty wastebasket completely.

Hi, quick question. I have file that has been sitting in the waste basket for a long time, and it will not delete when I try to remove it. I did a search but came up with nothing. The file name contains a bunch of characters that will be difficult to reproduce on this page, so I took a screenshot. Here is the link:
http://members.shaw.ca/adam92.1/random/trash.png
Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

No wastebaskets on Macs, only trashes.
Start with http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

Dragging file to trash, warns of deletion

At my job as a graphic artist, we have new 24" iMacs with Leopard. We have a server. When dragging to the trash a file I no longer need from a shared folder, I get a dialog warning me that the file will be deleted immediately. Why can't I have the file remain in the trash until I want to empty it? This only seems to happen with files from shared folder, not for files from my computer directly where it stays in the trash as normal until I wish to empty it. My workaround is to have a "Shared Trash" folder on the desktop for the files I'm done with, but don't wish to delete yet.

Because when you're deleting the file on the server you're deleting it directly on the server. In order for it to go to your trash it would first have to be copied to your local Mac and the be put in the trash...which isn't very efficient.
This is the way all network shares (drives) work. Both in Windows and on OSX. It's just the nature of the beast.
Only files on that are stored on your computer will make it to trash.

Strange File in Skype Process

Can Skype explain the presence of a file running as a process with a .tmp extension?
The file SKYDC1E.TMP is the file in question running out of the Windows\TEMP Directory.
Is this a legitimate Skype process?
Where one would expect the SKYPE executable to be the legit running process in its own directory.
It was detected by one of my security programs as a code injector.

pschmidt63 wrote:
I have a strange file in trash and it will not empty.
There is an alias file that has a strange name and a date of dec. 31, 1903. It will not go away when I empty. I put other files in the trash to see if they would be deleted and they do, but the other will not be deleted.
On the Mac there are actually multiple Trashes. The user Trash ".Trash" in user's home folder, and multiple (depending on number of volumes in machine) ".Trashes" folder(s) one each in root of volume. In the ".Trashes" folder there can be a trash folder for the user.
It looks like you have a corrupted/illegal character file which you can't delete via the UI. Via the terminal you may be able to. But... you have to go to the "trash" where the file actually is - and it may not be in "~/.Trash". But in the Mac desktop you will see it in your Trash icon.
Have a look at my post here
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5864381#5864381
and the rest of the thread.
Get into Terminal and check your home trash folder, see if the file is there then go to the other trash folders ".Trashes" and look for it there and kill it with "sudo" command as shown in my other post here.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5864569#5864569
*Can you let us know if this solves it for you* - as I am interested to know if this is definite fix.
Cheers

Cannot move any files into trash to delete them. I get a Trash warning box saying "The Finder cannot complete the operation because some data in 'file name' could not be read or written.(Error code - 36)".Macbook has so much data it is almost not working

Cannot move any files into trash to delete them. I get a Trash warning box saying "The Finder cannot complete the operation because some data in 'file name' could not be read or written.(Error code - 36)".Macbook has so much data it is almost not working.
I have tried reseting to factory settings by removing battery and holding down the power switch for more than 5 sec but this does nothing.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I think with so much unwanted data on the desktop and other places the whole os will crash very soon.
Thanks, Rick

The hard drive may be dying anyway, or the directory damaged because it is so full. You should never let the hard drive get over 85% full.
A -36 error is a read/write error.
All you did with the power is reset the SMC. Does nothing to reset everything to factory settings.
Do you have your original 10.4 installer discs for the MacBook?
Is your data backed up?

Cannot secure delete items from trash: 180 items (pictures, files, folders) remain even if I check "remove all items"

I cannot secure delete items from trash: 180 items (pictures, files, folders) remain even if I check "remove all items". Macbook Pro, 10.6.8

Maybe the items are locked.
Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Shortcuts for working with items in the Finder
Shortcuts for working with items in the Finder Command (⌘)-Shift-DeleteEmpty the Trash without any warning or when it contains locked filesCommand (⌘)-Shift-Option-Delete
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/cdb_cpmvfky.html

Photos that have been deleted to aperture trash cannot be viewed. Any assistance is welcome in fixing this bug. The showing all files option is selected in the filter. System is 10.8.4, aperture version 3.4.5

Photos that have been deleted to aperture trash cannot be viewed. Any assistance is welcome in fixing this bug. The showing all files option is selected in the filter. System is 10.8.4. Aperture version 3.4.5. Used to be able to view the files then all of a sudden they have stop appearing. Once the aperture trash is emptied the files can be viewed in the system trash. Becomes quite annoying if you want to review the aperture trash files before deletion.

Photos that have been deleted to aperture trash cannot be viewed ...
The showing all files option is selected in the filter.
Cookiemonster, previously Frank Caggiano's magic helped in this situation - have you tried the double, double Caggiano as described here?
Images not appearing in browser, search filter is cleared
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3062
In the most recent version I cannot get this trick to work, however. But try it anyway, maybe it is just my macthat has an issue.
Did this happen directly after the update? Where is your library located, on an external or an internal drive? Are your originals managed or referenced?
I'd try next to check, if this is caused by the library, by creating a small test library and trying to trash pictures there. If it works well in a new library try to repair the database and the permissions on your regular library. See:
http://documentation.apple.com/en/aperture/usermanual/index.html#chapter=27%26se ction=10%26tasks=true
Regards
Léonie

Strange File in Trash Cannot be Deleted

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