[Masters2010]

I can't seem to figure out how to delete a folder in my trash. My trash at the moment is comprised of iTunes Music -> doves.exe (unlocked), Edgar Meyer folder (locked), and The Specialty Story (unlocked). In the Specialty Story there are also two locked folders. I've tried doing apple-I and clicking unlock but it doesn't seem to work. I've also tried terminal mumbo jumbo I found on the apple site and that didn't seem to work either.

Could someone please help?

[CharlesS]

Hold down the Option key and choose Empty Trash. That will delete everything.

[Masters2010]

Thank you.

[Berylload]

And if that doesn't work you may find success with a tool called BatCHMOD, which will force the trash to empty, without having to mess about with the Terminal. I can't remember the link at the moment, but will post it if I can find it. VersionTracker will probably have it.

[Masters2010]

Wow, really weird. Anyways, the option empty trash worked but just a few minutes ago I dragged a movie into the garbage and emptied the trash only to find that the itunes music folder was once again in my trash. It wouldn't let me empty it using the option key so I downloaded the BatCHMOD app, force emptied the trash, yet the folder is still there. Any ideas?

[Art Vandelay]

Try Secure Empty Trash in the Finder menu. It can get by some files that others can't. If it's still there, run Disk First Aid on your drive. You might have some corruption. I've seen some files that just won't delete using anything. I had some files in the Adobe CS2 install that were untouchable by all tools but Disk First Aid resolved it.

[Masters2010]

Neither worked :/

[CharlesS]

Sounds like directory damage to me. Try running Disk Utility (or DiskWarrior, if you have it) on your drive.

[Hal Itosis]

Have you restarted yet? ...or, checked/repaired the disk with fsck
(in SingleUser mode) or Disk Utility (when booted from system DVD)?

Other than that... in difficult cases, it helps to "see" what we're dealing with.

Using Terminal.app, first grab a root shell (blue text is what we type):

Code:
$ sudo bash
Password:

(prompt changes from $ to #)
Then list all trash contents:

Code:
# ls -laioR /Volumes/*/{private/var/root/.Trash,Users/*/.Trash,.Trashes,Trash}

[might want to dismount external disks/iPods/etc.]

Copy/paste back-and-forth... then post results here.
[type control-D (or "exit") twice, to close the shells]

[Masters2010]

root# ls -laioR /Volumes/*/{private/var/root/.Trash,Users/*/.Trash,.Trashes,Trash}
ls: /Volumes/*/Trash: No such file or directory
ls: /Volumes/*/private/var/root/.Trash: No such file or directory
/Volumes/Patrick/.Trashes:
total 0
19 d-wx-wx-wt 2 root admin - 68 Apr 30 2006 .
2 drwxrwxr-t 31 root admin - 1156 Oct 18 23:14 ..

/Volumes/Patrick/Users/Patrick/.Trash:
total 0
2477900 drwx------ 2 Patrick Patrick - 68 Oct 18 23:15 .
454275 drwxr-xr-x 26 Patrick Patrick - 884 Oct 18 23:15 ..
patrick-wassermans-computer:~ root#

[Masters2010]

And I don't have diskwarrior, I already tried running disk first aid, and I don't know what fsck is. Thanks for the help!

[Masters2010]

And now it mysteriously disappeared after repairing disk permissions like four times. Odd....I'll let you know if it comes back

[Hal Itosis]

Permissions look perfect.
All trashes appear empty.

Probably Finder got confused.
[you sure you restarted?]

[zro]

I've seen the Finder ignore proper permissions on the .Trash folder. If I remember correctly I had to rm the .Trash folder, log out and back in to generate a new one that would empty as expected.

[Masters2010]

Well I figured out the problem, the mysterious appearance and disappearance of the folder in the trash occurs when I turn my external hard drive on and off. I repaired the external hdd with disk first aid, and, even though it said no repairs were necessary, I don't have the folders in my trash with or without the hdd attached. Thanks for the help everyone.