[fab1An]

Hi,

I have some files with strange names on my harddisk for some time now and don't know how to delete them. Some of them also stay in the trash, so that there's no chance to empty it completely.



I already tried:
- deleting normally in Finder (brings up »unknown« error -43)
- force empty trash-script (no effect, files stay in trash)
- compress the files (error: no file reference)
- delete via terminal (problem: files not shown there)
- overwrite (problem: how to type these filenames?)
- File Buddy 8 beta (no effect)
- DiskWarrior 3 (no effect)

Since the files are not shown in terminal (no, they're not hidden), I guess they only exist in OS X but not in Darwin or something like that... very strange...

Any suggestions?

[Chris O'Brien]

Well, wether in the terminal or not, you're still browsing the same file system.

It sounds like you don't have permission to do anything with them - 1.you can't delete them, 2. you can't view them in the terminal. I reckon you should go as root and have a look and see if you can see them.

type sudo ls into the terminal, then type in the adminstrator password when it asks. You should then see the files and be able to remove them using sudo rm filename. You could also use su to set user to the root account so you don't have to keep typing sudo...

I hope that helps a little.

[tooki]

1. If you rename the files, can you then delete them?

2. Try using a cache cleaner to clean up. It's possible that references to no-longer-existent files are still around.

tooki

[fab1An]

Originally posted by Black Book:
Well, wether in the terminal or not, you're still browsing the same file system.

It sounds like you don't have permission to do anything with them - 1.you can't delete them, 2. you can't view them in the terminal. I reckon you should go as root and have a look and see if you can see them.

I hope that helps a little.

I did that already. Tried to list the files and also to delete the parent folder via sudo. Nothing. :-(

tooki wrote:
1. If you rename the files, can you then delete them?

2. Try using a cache cleaner to clean up. It's possible that references to no-longer-existent files are still around.

1. Tried that first, of course, but the result is the same »unknown error« (error -43).

2. I Used the (famous?) Panther Cache Cleaner for this task, cleanes every cache possible (»deep cleaning«) and also tried PCC's trash-options with no effect.


The strange characters in the filenames were german... uhm... Umlaute (ä, ö, ü, ß etc.) before. Does that bring up any new ideas?

[fab1An]

Is there any place where OS X, well the GUI or something in between, stores additional file informations? Because in terminal these files do not exist.

[vinster]

Originally posted by fab1An:
Is there any place where OS X, well the GUI or something in between, stores additional file informations? Because in terminal these files do not exist.

You might just want to backup important information, but not the directories with the strange files, format and re-install then.

[fab1An]

Originally posted by vinster:
You might just want to backup important information, but not the directories with the strange files, format and re-install then.

Well, to be honest, that's what I DO NOT want to do. I still hope, that there's another way to get rid of these »files«.

[Developer]

Boot into OS 9 and trash the garbage files there.

[fab1An]

Originally posted by Developer:
Boot into OS 9 and trash the garbage files there.

Thanks!
That solved one part of the problem! The files, that weren't deleted yet, are gone now. Great!
But there are still some files with their names containing the same strange characters, which stay there egen when I empty the trash »by force«.

Can I finde these files in OS 9, too?

Edit: Okay, could not move them from trash to the desktop, but to the external fw-drive. So I think I can delete these now from OS 9, too.

[El Mariachi]

I had the same problem.
I just started up from the DiskWarrior 3.02 cd and fixed all my partions.

DiskWarrior fixed the name on the files.

When I booted back into OS X I could empty the trash with the files, and they were all gone.

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by Developer:
Boot into OS 9 and trash the garbage files there.

OS 9 to the rescue again. This is exactly why keeping OS 9 around is worth a couple hundred MB.

[fab1An]

Originally posted by bradoesch:
OS 9 to the rescue again. This is exactly why keeping OS 9 around is worth a couple hundred MB.

I agree totally... now. :-)