[schoolpsyc]

I went and deleted backups, not knowing that this was a no-no. I am really a windows person but have an iMac that is partitioned via bootcamp.

I have tried holding down option key, pulling files from the trash to restore them (wouldn't let me), and installing & trying trash it! software which just hung forever.

Now, the trash is loaded with a tremendous amount of data that refuses to be deleted. What can I do?

[Yankee Rose]

Hello:

Try forcing the Trash to empty using the Option key. This technique uses a hidden feature of Mac OS X to force the Trash to empty. Perform the following steps in the order specified:

Press and hold the mouse button on the Trash icon in the Dock. The context menu for Trash will display.

Press and hold the Option key.

Select Empty Trash from the context menu for Trash.

Release the Option key.

Hope that helps!

[schoolpsyc]

If only it were that easy. I thought I mentioned already trying that. It was tried along with every other easy option.

[Yankee Rose]

My bad .... you did mention prior. All apologies.

OK, try this. It will empty the Trash of an affected account and create a new ~/.Trash directory, with correct ownership and permissions, for that account.

Perform the following steps in the order specified:

1. If the affected account is protected by FileVault, log in to the affected account, then switch to and log in to your Admin account via Fast User Switching. Otherwise, log in to your Admin account.

2. Open Terminal, located in the Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities folder.

3. At the Terminal prompt, type one of the following commands:

If the affected account is your Admin account, then type the Terminal command: sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash

If the affected account is another user account, then type the Terminal command: sudo rm -rf /Users/user_name/.Trash (where user_name is the short name of the affected account).

Note that: There is a single space after each of the terms sudo, rm, and -rf in the command.

Assure you have typed the command exactly as specified before proceeding, as
typographical errors in this command can have dire consequences, including erasing your hard drive!

4. Press Return.

5. Type your Admin password when prompted, then press Return.

6. If the affected account is your Admin account, log out. If the affected account was another user account that is logged in via Fast User Switching, log out of that account.

7. Log in to the affected account. It will now have a new, working, and empty Trash.

Steps 1-5 remove all files in the affected account's Trash as well as deleting the hidden and invisible ~/.Trash directory for that account. The remaining steps result in recreating the affected account's Trash, with proper ownership and permissions.

Hope that helps.

[schoolpsyc]

This may be a dumb question, but I often am at a loss dealing with the snow leopard system. How do you log onto the administrator account? I only have the one account. There are no other users on the machine

[Yankee Rose]

No question is dumb. I figure better to be safe than sorry.

Since you only have the one account on the Mac, it would be considered the Admin account. So it's already logged in as that.

Hope that helps.