Can't empty trash of removable HD

Question

I can't empty the trash of my removable drive. At first it appears to empty it correctly (no error message, the sound is played), but the folder in question stays there.

I tried:

jan@MacBook-Pro /Volumes/JD 2 $ sudo rm -rf .Trashes/

which gives errors like the following:

rm: .Trashes//501: Directory not empty
rm: .Trashes/: Directory not empty

Anyways, I narrowed it down to a .svn file that can't be deleted:

root@MacBook-Pro /Volumes/JD 2/.Trashes/501/CD_10.2009/devel/funghos $ ls -altr .svn
-rwxrwxrwx  1 _unknown  _unknown  690 Oct 21  2009 .svn
root@MacBook-Pro /Volumes/JD 2/.Trashes/501/CD_10.2009/devel/funghos $ rm -f .svn
root@MacBook-Pro /Volumes/JD 2/.Trashes/501/CD_10.2009/devel/funghos $ ls -altr .svn
-rwxrwxrwx  1 _unknown  _unknown  690 Oct 21  2009 .svn

As you can see, no error appears, but the file doesn't get deleted. Huh?

@patrix: just tried, and no, it just doesn't say/do anything. — houbysoft, Jul 22 '12 at 12:26
@patrix: yea, even more strange is that a Windows machine was able to delete it just fine... — houbysoft, Jul 22 '12 at 18:16

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 23 '16 at 03:00

Connect your removable HD to a win
Show hidden files (folder option/ uncheck hidden files)
Try to delete .Trash folder in the root of the usb drive
If errors, use unlocker to delete
Plug in your mac again, you will see the annoying files/folders in Trash disappeared

cheers

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:45

0

This is due to the MNT_IGNORE_OWNERSHIP flag being set for the drive when mounted. The unknown user and group are exactly what show up when root views files on a drive for which permissions are ignored. When a user views the permissions, the files will show up as their own. I'm surprised you can't delete the .svn file from your own account (not root)

Please see this Ask Different Answer for more direction. Basically, you'll need to uncheck the "Ignore ownership on this volume" checkbox from an inspector on the drive info.

If you can't delete it from your user account, try setting yourself as the file owner with the ignore flag unset.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:45

Community

1

answered Jul 22 '12 at 04:53

ephsmith

2,235

Just tried, but there's no box for "Ignore ownership on this volume" -- screenshot – houbysoft Jul 22 '12 at 12:28
Ah, NTFS. OS X doesn't have native write support for NTFS, maybe the FUSE driver has some problems. Can you attach the drive to a Windows box? – nohillside Jul 22 '12 at 16:38
@patrix: Yes it worked on a Windows box, I posted it as an answer but can't accept yet :) – houbysoft Jul 22 '12 at 19:12

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 22 '12 at 09:42

0

You can do this instruction:

1- Drag the file from your Trash bin to the Desktop.
2- Launch a Terminal
3- Type

cd ~/.Trash && sudo rm -rf [your file path on the desktop]

4- Then press enter and enter your password

answered Jul 22 '12 at 09:42

Am1rr3zA

13,219
14
68
88

Eh, why do you change into ~/.Trash before running sudo? – nohillside Jul 22 '12 at 09:59
Dragging the file to the desktop = copying it to the desktop and deleting it in the old place, which doesn't work... – houbysoft Jul 22 '12 at 12:29

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 22 '12 at 14:41

0

I finally fixed the issue by deleting the file on a Windows machine. Must be a bug in OS X or something?

answered Jul 22 '12 at 14:41

houbysoft

9,182

not a bug — it appears none of the answers here are 100% correct, which is obviously why you resorted to using this route. – l'L'l Jul 22 '12 at 20:24

score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 22 '12 at 04:19

-1

If you can locate the file in Finder, can bring up the info pane (cmd-i) on that file and check its not locked or has incorrect permissions?

answered Jul 22 '12 at 04:19

hellothere

543

Can't empty trash of removable HD

5 Answers5