big big problem with hard-drive !!

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ok, i have 438Mb of hard-drive space on my macbook pro left, i have a file in my trash that is 4.2Gb, i cant delete it without getting a prompt every time my hard drive drops below 200Mb...any suggestions ???
 
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You must have some sort of out of control log file. What is the file called?
Have you done fun things like just plain old restart? How about the Terminal sudo empty trash trick?
 
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its a Linux ISO thats in the trash, i have restarted many times, and also tryed verify and repair disk permissions....i dont use terminal commands that much...what is the Terminal sudo empty trash trick..????
 
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Its not an administration problem, it is my laptop and i am logged in with all privelleges...its the fact that i am trying to trash a file thats much bigger than the available space left on my hard drive
 
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I suspect that the Terminal approach would bypass the trash can and allow you to do the delete.

No matter what however, you are critically low on disk space. Perhaps a better approach would be to either clean out your hard drive, a bit at a time, so that OS X lets you (!), OR get a larger/another hard drive. You may eventually resolve the immediate problem of deleting this one file in the trash right now, but you need to make more room long term, or you will continue to have problems.
 
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i am usually more careful, this is the first time it has happened, its just i was torrenting such huge files, and i am running boot camp so my space is split across xp and osx...

I am looking for a much quicker method than taking the hard drive out or anything like that....

as for "a bit at a time" if i was to delete 4.2Gb in blocks of 200Mb, i would have to do that 21 times!!!

i will try the terminal approach
 
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i am trying to trash a file thats much bigger than the available space left on my hard drive
"Trashing" something doesn't require any disk space. The item is "moved" is all. Only directory entries for the file change - from where the item currently is to the (fully real) .Trash folder. Presuming the item is on the same volume that is.
I suspect that the Terminal approach would bypass the trash can and allow you to do the delete.
Yes of course. "Trashing" a file isn't deleting it at all - it's merely moving it. It's a convention only.
i will try the terminal approach
Presumably someone has told you what this approach is.
Code:
sudo rm -fr THE_FILE_YOU_WANT_DELETED
Good luck.
 
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ok.. i tried the terminal thing, my trash is now empty !!!..restarted the machine, and it is still at 438Mb !!!..i know theirs no need to defrag, but i mite give onyx a go and see if it cleans anything up...

..if anyone else has anymore suggestions please feel free to say:D
 
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i used onyx to clean up things, but it hasnt done much for the drive....anyone have any other idea's..???
 
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i used onyx to clean up things, but it hasnt done much for the drive....anyone have any other idea's..???

http://www.derlien.com/

download the above program and use it. It's incredibly use full. It shows an inventory of everything on your drive in blocks and lets you deleted what ever. It takes a while to catalog everything once you start the program but it shows you everything

just be careful not to erase anything important...
 
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got the problem sorted...it was to do with File vault. i had file vault turned "On" and i tried to turn it off but it wouldnt let me cos of the low space on the hard-drive...i then restarted the machine and it started "allocating hard drive space" in other words File Vault was doing its thing...this took over an hour maybe longer (woke up this morning and the machine was off)...booted back up and hey my HD went back up to an acceptable 28Gb..

Its funny because File Vault was turned on, yet that prompt that comes up (Skip or Continue) when shutting down your machine never came up in all the time i have been using the macbook pro..every time i shut down my G5 that prompt comes up and i hit "Continue"...

Thanks to everyones suggestions....
 

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