Cannot secure empty trash

[mdwsta4]

I recently updated the Photos app and OS X 10.10.3. Since doing so, Finder has been absurdly slow and crashes quite frequently. Last night I deleted all the videos from Photos and placed them on an external drive to free up some space. Once they were moved to the external drive, I deleted them from my laptop (both photos trash and the system trash). Unfortunately, my MBP didn't appear to actually delete them because my HD space is still counting them. Decided to secure empty my trash to see if that would help get rid of them. I attempted to do this last night and there are 164,000 files my computer is trying to delete. No problem I thought, I'd just let it run the course overnight. Checked this morning and only a couple hundred had been deleted. Let it run for the day and it still barely moved. Then Finder crashed so I had to start over. Still deleting files at a snails pace.

So the question is, how the hell do I clean up my trash and recover hard drive space?

Thank you!


Just to vent, I have never had as many problems in 13 years with Macs as I have with Yosemite and Photos. Photos crashes4 out of 5 times when I try to export images, Finder is constantly crashing, bluetooth loses connectivity, it's just problem after problem. Feels like I'm using beta software! *end rant*

 

[Taz Mangus]

I recently updated the Photos app and OS X 10.10.3. Since doing so, Finder has been absurdly slow and crashes quite frequently. Last night I deleted all the videos from Photos and placed them on an external drive to free up some space. Once they were moved to the external drive, I deleted them from my laptop (both photos trash and the system trash). Unfortunately, my MBP didn't appear to actually delete them because my HD space is still counting them. Decided to secure empty my trash to see if that would help get rid of them. I attempted to do this last night and there are 164,000 files my computer is trying to delete. No problem I thought, I'd just let it run the course overnight. Checked this morning and only a couple hundred had been deleted. Let it run for the day and it still barely moved. Then Finder crashed so I had to start over. Still deleting files at a snails pace.

So the question is, how the hell do I clean up my trash and recover hard drive space?

Thank you!


Just to vent, I have never had as many problems in 13 years with Macs as I have with Yosemite and Photos. Photos crashes4 out of 5 times when I try to export images, Finder is constantly crashing, bluetooth loses connectivity, it's just problem after problem. Feels like I'm using beta software! *end rant*

Try this:

• First reboot the computer and login back in.
• Open the terminal application in the Utilities folder.
• In the terminal enter: cd .Trash
• In the terminal enter: pwd
  The pwd command is done to make sure that your are in the .Trash folder. Please make sure that you are in that folder before to enter the next command.
• In the terminal enter: sudo rm -rf *

 

[mdwsta4]

Thanks for the tips. I did as you instructed, but it did not really clean out the trash. Looking through the commands that aran in Terminal, most say 'permission denied' at the end. Why would this be?

Try this:

• First reboot the computer and login back in.
• Open the terminal application in the Utilities folder.
• In the terminal enter: cd .Trash
• In the terminal enter: pwd
  The pwd command is done to make sure that your are in the .Trash folder. Please make sure that you are in that folder before to enter the next command.
• In the terminal enter: sudo rm -rf *

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thanks for the tips. I did as you instructed, but it did not really clean out the trash. Looking through the commands that aran in Terminal, most say 'permission denied' at the end. Why would this be?

Try Repairing Permissions in Disk Utility and reboot. Now try empty the trash through the UI. If that does not work, boot into safe mode (hold shift-key while booting), login and try to empty the trash.

EDIT: You need to enter the password for the admin user.

 

[LucasG]

Open up your terminal and enter the following:

cd ~/.Trash/
sudo rm -rf *

Enter password and check the Trash icon again.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Open up your terminal and enter the following:

cd ~/.Trash/
sudo rm -rf *

Enter password and check the Trash icon again.

It just occurred to me that the OP probably did not enter the password for the admin user and that is why they are getting permission denied.

 

[mdwsta4]

after typing the Sudo command, I am prompted to enter my password in terminal, but when I try to actually type something, nothing happens. I get an error that says 'sorry, try again'. Am I supposed to do something different in Terminal to actually enter my password?

*edit* to clarify, I am typing in my password, pressing enter when I receive the 'sorry try again' message. I went into the admin settings which I am the only user and listed as admin and ensured my password was correct. Still receive the same error.

Open up your terminal and enter the following:

cd ~/.Trash/
sudo rm -rf *

Enter password and check the Trash icon again.

It just occurred to me that the OP probably did not enter the password for the admin user and that is why they are getting permission denied.

 

[owleyes]

I'm having the same problem. Even the keystrokes don't seem to take.

 

[mdwsta4]

FWIW, did a few restarts, re-emptied all application trashes (iphoto, photos, iMovie, etc), ran CCleaner, and can now secure empty my trash. It does take a couple of minutes to do, but it appears to be working now. Freed up about 35GB worth of space that was outside of the normal trash.


Thank you for your help in pointing me in the right direction.

 

[tomnavratil]

after typing the Sudo command, I am prompted to enter my password in terminal, but when I try to actually type something, nothing happens. I get an error that says 'sorry, try again'. Am I supposed to do something different in Terminal to actually enter my password?

When you try to type your admin password in terminal it doesn't appear being typed, that's how it should be. You type your password normally though and press enter - that should be accepted. You only get "Sorry, try again" if the password is incorrect as far as I'm aware.

 

[mdwsta4]

Correct. If you see my edit above where I clarified my statement, I was entering my password knowing nothing would appear, but the error was still present. I confirmed my password in user settings.

When you try to type your admin password in terminal it doesn't appear being typed, that's how it should be. You type your password normally though and press enter - that should be accepted. You only get "Sorry, try again" if the password is incorrect as far as I'm aware.

 

[tomnavratil]

Correct. If you see my edit above where I clarified my statement, I was entering my password knowing nothing would appear, but the error was still present. I confirmed my password in user settings.

I see, apologies for that - I haven't read that correctly. That's strange, I've never experienced - good to know you've sorted it at the end.