Trash Can

Hi everyboby,
I am a recent convert from the pc stable and have been very pleased with the macbook pro that I now own.
This is probably bread and butter to the more experienced mac user, but I have a file of zero kb stuck in my trash can, it's file kind is alias and the file name is the following series of symbols, è§î¿·␀␀.␀␀␀ . Any help or suggestions, greatly appreciated.

Mysterious file in Trash Can

No idea what that might be. How did you determine that it's an alias? If through Get Info, then I assume it didn't tell you where the original is, correct?

You can probably safely move it out of the Trash and then try to open it. If you do, you might get an error dialog with a hint or two in it.

Trash

Thanks for the reply.
Have reinstalled op system, file still in trash can. Location on get info is /Volumes/BOOTCAMP/.Trashes/501, but still can't find it. Unable to drag it to the desk top to try and open.
Have also tried deleting the file while using each of the three sd cards that I have used in the past few days.
cheers

Could it be a file you deleted whilst running windows ?

Cheers ... McBie

Trash

Cheers,
Don't have windows on my macbook, trying to get away from it. Have also tried to empty trash while holding down various keys, option, command & shift, have also tried secure empty. Alas, to no avail !.
Thanks for all your thoughts so far.

nfw

Who knows a good Terminal command for cleaning out the Trash??

Make sure that you have a current backup, the rm command can delete the whole system if the path is incorrectly specified.

You can try this in terminal. (You can copy and paste the commands, I tested them and they work fine)
#1 Type cd ~/.Trash
#3 Type ls and see if you can see the file listed if it is type the next command. If not you will need to repeat #1
#2 Then enter rm -r *
#3 Check if the file is still there.

If the above doesn't work try this command. (If your account is an admin account)
#1 sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash
#2 Check if the file is still there.

If you get a "Are you sure you want to delete *the file*" when you try to delete something afterwards you have to restart the finder.
It can be done via the force quit window, found under the apple menu or you can type this into terminal killall Finder

Edit: Web article on solving trash problems
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

Trash

Hi,
i've been through the procedures listed in the last post "sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash", file is still there.
Think I might have to learn to love it in the longer term as I have limited computer knowledge & skills. I'll keep checking back here or I might take a trip over to the Apple Store in Liverpool.
Many thanks all.

Two things:

1. Apparently at some point this machine DID have Windows on it. That's what "Bootcamp" is all about. It could very well still be present.

2. Did you try holding the option key down while selecting "empty trash"? What happened?

Trash

Hi there,
I did install windows on this mac when I first bought it in Jan this year but removed it soon after because thats why I switched to a mac (cold turkey). The problem is only a few days old, I have tried holding down the option key (while standing on one leg, chanting as I face east) but the file still remains stubbornly in the trash can.
Thanks chas_m for taking the time to reply .
nfw

It appears this can be fixed from the widows side,
Boot Camp users may have files that do not delete from the trash | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

Trash Be Gone

Nice one McYucon.
As I deleted windows soon after I installed it I did not think it could be that. However I have recently put some mp3 files onto the mac from cd's that where originally written on a pc. Perhaps one of these files could have been corrupt.
This got me thinking that if I do not have or intend to have windows on the mac then I don't need Bootcamp, ejected the Bootcamp disc and voila, troublesome file has gone. ( I assume Bootcamp can be reinstalled if required in the future).
Many thanks to all who took the trouble to help, from a very happy mac owner.
regards nfw.