Ticket Options

Question Details

TICKET ARCHIVE -> Help!!: Hard Drive Full/can't Empty Trash

victory777 - Aug 19, 2005 - 8:00 pm

This May be my last message to on this iBook G4 with 40 GB of hard drive for a while, unless I get help fast from an inspired person! :-(

My hard disk said it has 1.5 GB free along side its icon.

But when I was writing my last email I got a message that the disk was full and I needed to empty it, but I can't!

I get about 500 junk mails a day, so I'm going under fast! :-/

When I tried to empty the trash I just got the spinning wheel and the computer crashed several times.

I have looked in Google and Apple Support and can find nothing on this problem. One discussion on Google said something about free space on the disk and using a program to get more free space.

When I try to select the hard drive to do a command-I and check info on it, I cannot select it, but get a spinning wheel for a few seconds.

I have been able to restart and also to fix permissions, but the trash problem remains the same. To say the least, it needs a good laxative!

I'll keep looking for help on the web, but I don't know how long the disk can last without emptying.

Any and all help will be appreciated.

MacIT - Aug 19, 2005 - 11:52 pm

If you still have your system running jump to Terminal. If terminal won't start, (which is a definate possibility), reboot your machine into single-user mode by holding down Command-S at restart.

Once logged in try to delete at least 5% of your diskspace.

Sounds like you should start with the Trash folder:

cd ~/.Trash
rm -r *

Be very careful with that rm command.... there's no confirming.

Terry

victory777 - Aug 20, 2005 - 6:20 pm

When I go to the terminal window and put cd~/.trash it says there is "no such file or directory"

Thanx, Ben

MacIT - Aug 20, 2005 - 6:53 pm

Ben,

Odd. Silly question but i noticed there is no space in the command you typed back between the 'cd' and the '~/.trash', there should be:

cd ~/.trash

if that doesn't work try this:

cd ~
cd .trash

The first command takes us to your home directory, the second one takes us into the Trash folder. If it works do the command (make sure it says you are in the trash folder)
rm -r *

If it fails again type:

ls

this last command will give a list of all the files in folders in your home directory. I'd like to knwo what it tells us.

Let me know how you make out.

Terry

victory777 - Aug 20, 2005 - 7:09 pm

I did what you said and got:
Last login: Sat Aug 20 18:17:42 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~ grace$ cd ~/.trash
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ cd ~
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~ grace$ cd .trash
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ rm -r*
rm: illegal option -- *
usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ...
unlink file
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$

Regards, Ben

MacIT - Aug 20, 2005 - 7:25 pm

Ben,

Thanks for the typed screens. Makes things easy. So it's just that last command that got a little messed up, we missed another space.

It needs to be:

rm -r *

looks like you were in the right spot though when your prompt said:

Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$

you may want to do the command:

ls

before you do the 'rm -r *'. The 'ls' command lists all the folders and files that are in that folder. (in this case Trash) That's just a double check that you are in the right folder and that these files and folders are expendable.

The rm -r * means: Remove every file and folder in this folder and below. If you were to do this in the wrong spot it can wipe your entire hard drive. That's why i'm being cautious.

After it's done, if the trash was taking up a good portion of files you should be able to go back to the desktop and start doing normal Trashing. Remember to try and keep 15% of your harddrive free. Making it get this full can cause corruption and data loss.

Let me know how you make out,

Terry

victory777 - Aug 20, 2005 - 7:36 pm

I forgot to tell you, I am on my daughter Grace's account and she is not the authorized user. I could get the terminal window in her account, but not in mine.

I probalbly need another command to use her account. I am trying to free up a big golive download I did recently.
Then maybe my account will work better.

I got:
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ ls
Adobe GoLive CS2 golive-8.jsx
Applications (Mac OS 9) golive. html copy
EarthLink Total Access 2004 golive. html copy 1
GoLive golive. html copy 1X
GoLive copy golive. html copy 1XX
GoLive_8.0_en-us.zip golive. html copy 2
GoLive_CS2_EnglishTryout.dmg golive.cer
com.adobe.GoLive.plist golive8-en_US-RET.csa
golive copyX golive8-en_US-TRYOUT.csa
golive-8
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ rm -r*
rm: illegal option -- *
usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ...
unlink file
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$

MacIT - Aug 20, 2005 - 7:36 pm

I'm re-reading what i worte you and i see your problem now of decifering where the spaces are. When i type it up i put a couple spaces to make it obvious but it looks like this web posting program deletes the extra spaces i insert.

So i'll just tell you. The command

rm -r *

has a space between the rm and the -r and a space between the -r and *.

Terry

victory777 - Aug 20, 2005 - 7:39 pm

Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ rm -r *
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2?

Ben

victory777 - Aug 20, 2005 - 7:45 pm

Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ rm -r *
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2?

I don't know the command for override.

Ben

MacIT - Aug 20, 2005 - 7:47 pm

Ben,

Did you think anything related to Adobe GoLive CS2 is in the Trash? If there is something then just hit the 'y' key to these prompts. If you think something is suspicious you may want to do that command:

ls

to see the files and folders it's trying to delete.

Terry

victory777 - Aug 20, 2005 - 7:55 pm

Its working!

But I have to do them one at a time.

There may be hundreds. Is there a way to delete all at once:

rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/ko.lproj/MainMenu.nib/info.nib: Permission denied
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/ko.lproj/MainMenu.nib/keyedobjects.nib? y
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/ko.lproj/MainMenu.nib/keyedobjects.nib: Permission denied
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/ko.lproj/MainMenu.nib: Permission denied
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/ko.lproj: Permission denied
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj? y
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/CrashGuardWindow.nib? y
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/CrashGuardWindow.nib/classes.nib? y
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/CrashGuardWindow.nib/classes.nib: Permission denied
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/CrashGuardWindow.nib/info.nib? y
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/CrashGuardWindow.nib/info.nib: Permission denied
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/CrashGuardWindow.nib/keyedobjects.nib? y
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/CrashGuardWindow.nib/keyedobjects.nib: Permission denied
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/CrashGuardWindow.nib: Permission denied
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/InfoPlist.strings? y
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/InfoPlist.strings: Permission denied
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/Localizable.strings? y
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/Localizable.strings: Permission denied
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/MainMenu.nib? y
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/MainMenu.nib/classes.nib? y
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/MainMenu.nib/classes.nib: Permission denied
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/MainMenu.nib/info.nib? y
rm: Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/MainMenu.nib/info.nib: Permission denied
override rwxrwxr-x root/admin for Adobe GoLive CS2/Adobe GoLive CS2.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeCrashReporter.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Adobe Crash Reporter.app/Contents/Resources/nl.lproj/MainMenu.nib/keyedobjects.nib?

Ben

MacIT - Aug 20, 2005 - 7:58 pm

hit Ctrl-C to stop the process.

Now put the word: sudo in front of the command like this:

sudo rm -r *

it will ask for the adminsitrator password. That should do it.

Terry

victory777 - Aug 20, 2005 - 8:11 pm

I did what you said and put my password [without caps lock :-) ] and it would not atke it so I put my daughters password and:

Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ sudo rm -r *
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
grace is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ sudu rm -r *
-bash: sudu: command not found
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ sudo rm -r *
grace is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$ sudo rm -r *
grace is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$

Sorry for so many problems!

Ben

MacIT - Aug 20, 2005 - 8:51 pm

Ben,

Ok let's try this new command. Sudo was suppose to give you admin privledges, but you have to be logged in as an Administrator account. The user you logged in as doesn't have permission to do the sudo.

Ok, so let's just do a:

rm -fr *

the 'f' means to try not to prompt you everytime.

Let me know and don't worry about the 'problems' ... we're doin ok.

Terry

victory777 - Aug 20, 2005 - 9:16 pm

It seemes to do throgh quite a few files but stopped here:

This is the last part-

rm: golive copyX/8.0/en_US: Permission denied
rm: golive copyX/8.0: Permission denied
rm: golive copyX: Directory not empty
rm: golive-8/golive-8.0_en_US.dat: Permission denied
rm: golive-8: Directory not empty
Ben-Garretts-Computer:~/.trash grace$

MacIT - Aug 20, 2005 - 9:36 pm

Ben,

Yah i figured we'd get a little of that at the end. Grace doesn't have the privledges to delete that application.

If you jump back to the Desktop and hit Command-I (ie. Get Info) on the hard drive, how much space does it say is free. Hopefully it's enough that you can start to delete normally now.

Remember you want to get to about 15% free, and never go less. You may want to boot up with CD and do a Repair Disk and a Repair Permissions.

Let me know,

Terry

victory777 - Aug 21, 2005 - 5:27 pm

I cannot still normally empty trash from my account or Grace's. I tried giving her full ownership and permissionof the trash and its contents, but still get a "permision denied'.

I used the Command S to go to single user mode, but it says: "composite device famly specific match fails" and i cannot make unix commands. Its not working right!

Is there a comand to open up my terminal window like on Windows as I can't double click on the terminal application.
Can't see it. Going to church now and back in 3 hours.

Ben

MacIT - Aug 21, 2005 - 7:10 pm

Ben,

As far as what you are able to delete, it's pretty much limited to your own documents and downloads, applications are limited to Adminsitrator accounts. Trying to delete them usually results in a prompt asking for the Admin and password, so probalby you and Grace were not Admin accounts?

What is exactly happening now. You can boot up into Mac OSX but none of the applications work, or just Terminal doesn't work? If you have kinda eratic things working all over the place there may have been data corruption and I would suggest is preforming an Archive and install as listed here. (This is if enough stuff got deleted.... hopefully you have 15% free disk space now?)

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/archiveinstall.html

It doesn't take long Once completed you should perform a system update. (but i think the link mentions that)

Terry

victory777 - Aug 21, 2005 - 10:01 pm

I can boot into my account and all the aplications wok except the finder, so I can't open the terminal window. :-(

There are not whole lot of erratic things happening; Eudora and Firefox work fine.

I only managed to empty about 400MB (1%) from Grace's trash with her terminal window.

I am on an extended vacation and do not have my installation DVD. :-( Maybe I can buy a tiger installation DVD? But if I had a way of opening up the terminal window, i may be able to delete more. All the big archives are on my account.

The 500+ MB application Golive, I drug from my account into Grace's trash, but can't delete it.

Ben

MacIT - Aug 21, 2005 - 11:16 pm

400MB probably won't do. We need more, ideally to get GoLive deleted we should pull it back out of Grace's trash and try to delete it from your account.

Hmmm and no install disk.

If i didn't know better i was thinking i was taking an Apple exam.

Ok, let's try a Safe Boot. See if through your account or Grace's, again the goal being to delete as much stuff as possible you don't need.

Here are the directions to go into safe mode.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393

Booting up like this may let you get into Terminal, but try the trash functions first.

Terry

victory777 - Aug 22, 2005 - 1:38 pm

Terry-

The safe boot worked fine. I still could not empty normally, but went to the terminal window on my account and did a rm -fr *

I will remember rm -fr * forever! Thank you! :-)

Everything is back to normal with 18% free space!

Can you recommend a 100+ GB internal hard drive for an iBook G4?

Best regards,

Ben

MacIT - Aug 22, 2005 - 2:09 pm

Ben,

Great to hear! I would still want to do that disk repair, but you need the install disk. The next time you find yourself beside the install disk make sure you think of it.

You could also buy a program like DiskWarrior that will do a once over of your harddisk and fix what it can.

That said, as far as a 100+ GB hard drive, last i checked the biggest hard drive that can fit in an iBook is 100GB, Fuj and Seasgate both make them. Although Seagate and Fujistu are going to be releasing larger models closer to winter.

You might want to consider going to an external firewire hard drive. If it's firewire you can boot from it and you will probably find it's cheaper. Not to mention you don't have the pain of replacing the internal.

Terry

Terry

victory777 - Aug 22, 2005 - 2:47 pm

Terry-

Thank you for the info on the hard drives and especially for your patience and rm -fr *.
You would pass any Apple exam!

I'll use an external firewire.

I'll do the disk repair as soon as I get my install disk.

Please give me your email, if possible, so we can stay in touch.

I'm repairing the permissions now with Onyx.

I have disk warrior at home also, but my brother, Rod, said he does not use it for Os X. That was 2 years ago, maybe its improved.

Thank you, again.

Ben

MacIT - Aug 22, 2005 - 3:26 pm

Ben,

There is a debate over whether DiskWarrior is needed in OSX, now that OSX does it's own defrag.

Where DiskWarrior also shines is if your harddisk starts to experience problems. Sometimes Mac's own Disk Utility can not fix what Disk Warrior can fix on your hard disk.

I was just implying that if you have the latest copy of DiskWarrior near by it could do the repair job that Disk Utility could do as well.

Glad everything woked out for you, i'm going to go ahead and close the ticket,

Terry

victory777 - Aug 22, 2005 - 8:21 pm

Terry-

Thanks again for all your help.

You saved me a lot of time and money.

Best regards,

Ben Garrett