Help Please / Drying to delete items

Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Newbie here. Last night while trying to dump iphoto pics to external HD ... something happened. All of my desktop icons were gone. When I click on desktop, it shows the 20k+ photos listed in that folder. I have no idea how they got there, but it will not allow me to delete them from my desktop folder. It's giving me the warning that they may be being used by another folder. I can click 'ignore' and delete ... but I obviously don't want to click this 20k+ times. Any help ... go easy on me.
 
OP
H
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Newbie here. I just dumped a years worth of photos (20k+) from iphoto to an external HD. After the process, I noticed that my desktop icons were gone. When I go to finder>desktop ... It shows my previous desktop folders AND the 20K+ images that were dumped. I imagine that this is why me desktop is blank. When I go to delete I get a pop up telling me that "this file is being used by another program or location ..." Obviously I can hit the continue tab ... but there is no way I can do this 20k+ times. Does anyone have any idea what happened ... or what I can do to fix? Go easy on me ... :)
 
OP
H
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Also ... when I try to delete in a large batch ... the pop up will come up for each photo. Just letting you know that a batch delete doesnt work either.
 
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
217
Reaction score
8
Points
18
Location
England
Your Mac's Specs
rMBP 13 2.5GHz 121GB SSD
Doesn't sound like they successfully made it over to the external, maybe you drag + dropped them just short of the drive icon?
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
@heystorm:

Please do not cross post or post the same question twice. Your posts have been merged together as one.

Thanks.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top