Can't empty trash

[Tina Barry]

My husband put about 20 time machine backups in the trash. He thought that would give time machine more space for back ups! Ouch - can't empty the trash. Does anyone know what I need to do? Tina

 

[honestone]

What OS are you using? What is the exact Mac model that you have?

Also, what is the error message you are receiving?

 

[Tina Barry]

What OS are you using? What is the exact Mac model that you have?

Also, what is the error message you are receiving?

 

[Tina Barry]

Thank you for responding. MacOS X version 10.6.8 The error message was a - symbol and then 4 digits. I can't remember but maybe 8004. I wrote them down on paper but threw my paper trash away. Tina
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac7,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM71.007A.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.20f4
Serial Number (system): W8738688X85
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-001B63A25CC8

 

[honestone]

I don't use Time Machine for my backups, but here is what I saw via a google search of "Cannot Empty Trash under OS 10.6.8".

Apparently, for OS 10.7 and beyond, one cannot "easily" delete Time Machine backups. As for your issue, you could try a free program called Trash It! V6.0.1. Here is a link that talka about it:

http://www.nonamescriptware.com/

Also, here are all the "hits" from that google search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Cannot Empty Trash under OS 10.6.8&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

I've been there done that as have thousand others … for your information there is a correct way to delete Time Machine backups of specific files that can be found under the Cog icon when entered into Time Machine … select the file/files to permanently delete then choose "Delete All Backups"

As for the deletion of actual whole backups I just let Time Machine do that for me as my backup disc becomes full …

If you can't empty your trash as per honestone's advice you could always try this:

I wanna empty my trash !!!!

 

[Walrus666]

Unfortunately when they upgraded this site, it rendered the applescript links useless. Here's the actual applescript.

 

[Tina Barry]

Unfortunately when they upgraded this site, it rendered the applescript links useless. Here's the actual applescript.

I downloaded it but have no clue what to do next. I will wait to hear back from you. Thanks for your help.

 

[honestone]

I downloaded it but have no clue what to do next. I will wait to hear back from you. Thanks for your help.

You can download TrashIt! (http://www.nonamescriptware.com/). Once the download is complete, there will be a file entitled "Trashit.zip" in your downloads folder. I would suggest first dragging it to your desktop. Then, double click on that file, and it will create a folder entitled "Trash It! 6.0.1" on y0ur desktop. Double click on that, and there is another folder (actually two folders) entitled "Drag content to Desktop". Double click on that, and yiu'll see the Trash It! application. Just double click on that, and follow the screen "prompts".

I just tried it, and it worked.

 

[Tina Barry]

Changed my mind and hit "run". I opened the trash and all my little trash is gone. Unfortunately what is still there are about 50 time machine backup folders! My husband put them there thinking it would make room on time machine. They are everything on my computer x 50- must be millions of items. What do you think I should do now? Just leave them there?
Also, how do I make more room on time machine when I only have 1 backup (I had my computer restored last week at the apple genius spot- all other backups were deleted). Time machine still says it can't back up b/c not enough memory available (only 10.95 GB are available). I don't know what kinds of things I don't need to backup to make more room.

 

[honestone]

Changed my mind and hit "run". I opened the trash and all my little trash is gone. Unfortunately what is still there are about 50 time machine backup folders! My husband put them there thinking it would make room on time machine. They are everything on my computer x 50- must be millions of items. What do you think I should do now? Just leave them there?
Also, how do I make more room on time machine when I only have 1 backup (I had my computer restored last week at the apple genius spot- all other backups were deleted). Time machine still says it can't back up b/c not enough memory available (only 10.95 GB are available). I don't know what kinds of things I don't need to backup to make more room.

First of all, the "not enough memory available" actually means not enough disk space.

Secondly, what is the size of the drive/partition you are backing up to?

Third, I do not use Time Machine for my backups (much prefer SuperDuper!), but I thought Time Machine has the ability to "only" backup what has changed since the last backup. Again, though, I am unsure about that. Maybe someone else can "chime" in about that.

Fourth, I understand people use their machines for various reasons. Do you need to have Time Machine continually running and doing the backups (whatever the frequency is)? What would happen if you "skipped" some of those backups. Would that be "harmful" to your processing?

If you do not need "constant" backups, you might want to try the free version of SuperDuper!. It does not run automatically, and thus you would need to run it yourself. But, after doing a complete backup (actually clone) of your system, when you next run it, it will completely replace the prior backup with the new one (it actually deletes the prior backup first). That of course will use quite a bit less disk space than the issues you are having with Time Machine. And, doing a complete restore from a SuperDuper! backup is a breeze, and works like a charm.

However, if you need "versioned" backups (I don't), then either TiemeMachine, or the paid version of SuperDuper! (Carbon Copy Cloner is also good) is what you need.

By the way, within this same Mac OS X "forum", there is a thread (actually the first one on the list) entitled "Backup your Mac", and over 90% of it is about Time Machine (issues, solutions, etc.). Maybe there is something there that could help you.

 

[Tina Barry]

First of all, the "not enough memory available" actually means not enough disk space.

Secondly, what is the size of the drive/partition you are backing up to?

Third, I do not use Time Machine for my backups (much prefer SuperDuper!), but I thought Time Machine has the ability to "only" backup what has changed since the last backup. Again, though, I am unsure about that. Maybe someone else can "chime" in about that.

Fourth, I understand people use their machines for various reasons. Do you need to have Time Machine continually running and doing the backups (whatever the frequency is)? What would happen if you "skipped" some of those backups. Would that be "harmful" to your processing?

If you do not need "constant" backups, you might want to try the free version of SuperDuper!. It does not run automatically, and thus you would need to run it yourself. But, after doing a complete backup (actually clone) of your system, when you next run it, it will completely replace the prior backup with the new one (it actually deletes the prior backup first). That of course will use quite a bit less disk space than the issues you are having with Time Machine. And, doing a complete restore from a SuperDuper! backup is a breeze, and works like a charm.

However, if you need "versioned" backups (I don't), then either TiemeMachine, or the paid version of SuperDuper! (Carbon Copy Cloner is also good) is what you need.

Thank you for the info. Time machine backs up hourly for the past 24 hours. Daily backups for the past month, weekly backups for all previous months. Oldest backups deleted when disk becomes full. I would be happy with once a week but not sure if I can change that. I am going to check out SuperDuper! now.

 

[honestone]

First, I would think you can change Time Machine to do just weekly backups.

Secondly, if you decide to switch to SuperDuper!, you "should" be able to use Disk Utility to Erase, Format, and if necessary, partition the external drive you are using for your backups. The reason I say "should" is that maybe you need to do something else first to get rid of those Time Machine backups. Then, you would use Disk Utility to do the things I stated.

Here is a link to download SuperDuper!:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/13803/superduper

What's really good about it is that it creates a bootable backup, so that if you ever have issues with your machine, and you need to restore from a backup, SuperDuper! is perfect for that! What happens is that you boot from that (most recent) backup, and then erase/re-format (and if necessary, re-partition) your internal hard drive (via Disk Utility, contained on that backup), and then restore all your "stuff" from that backup. Once that is done, you can re-boot your machine from your internal drive.

I can tell you from direct experience that SuperDuper! has twice "saved my bacon", so to speak.

 

[Walrus666]

1. Double click the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt.zip.

2. Double click the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt that comes out of the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt.zip which will open the AppleScript Editor.

3. Click the Run button on the top of the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt window.

4. Type the administrator password in the password field in the window that appeared from clicking on the Run button on the top of the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt window.

5. Click the OK button.

6. Quit the AppleScript Editor.

 

[Tina Barry]

1. Double click the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt.zip.

2. Double click the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt that comes out of the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt.zip which will open the AppleScript Editor.

3. Click the Run button on the top of the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt window.

4. Type the administrator password in the password field in the window that appeared from clicking on the Run button on the top of the ForceEmptyTrash.scpt window.

5. Click the OK button.

6. Quit the AppleScript Editor.

 

[Tina Barry]

Changed my mind and hit "run". I opened the trash and all my little trash is gone. Unfortunately what is still there are about 50 time machine backup folders! My husband put them there thinking it would make room on time machine. They are everything on my computer x 50- must be millions of items. What do you think I should do now? Just leave them there?

Maybe you didn't see the above. I just tried it again and got this: rm: /Users/Tina/.Trash/*: No such file or directory

 

[Walrus666]

Tina,
Have you tried opening Trash, then holding down the command, option, shift and delete keys at the same time?

 

[Tina Barry]

Tina,
Have you tried opening Trash, then holding down the command, option, shift and delete keys at the same time?

I just tried it and it is preparing to empty the trash and it is at about 40,000 items at the moment. Will send a reply when something more happens. Thanks, Tina

 

[Tina Barry]

I just tried it and it is preparing to empty the trash and it is at about 40,000 items at the moment. Will send a reply when something more happens. Thanks, Tina

got the error code -8003

 

[Walrus666]

Let's give OnyX a shot. Download the Snow Leopard version.
http://www.titanium.free.fr/onyx.html

OnyX empty trash info.