[jasonscott71]

I'm trying to clear out (okay, DELETE) a 70GB folder of pics from my
main hard drive to an external because a) I am almost out of space and
b) I need to create room for my iTunes.
When I tried to delete the folder, I was asked to type my
admin password. I figured this was because of the size of the folder. I
did that, the password was correct, but IT STILL WON'T DELETE!
What gives? I've got this folder backed up in 3 places. I'm ready to delete it. Why won't it go away?

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
Does it just not respond? Does it show the color wheel ( "beachball" )? How long did you wait? I had a 3GB file that took an extreme amount of patience to delete. Lots of stalling of the FInder.

[jasonscott71]

It responds very quickly and no beach ball. It amkes the "click" sound that normall is made when something is put in the trash . . . but then just doesn't go in. The trash stays empty. It's really wierd.

[rab777hp]

I've had big files like that before, you hear the click and you have to wait a long, long, long, time, it gets unresponsive, and you just have to wait it out, even if it takes hours. Though that was only a few gigs, now 70 gigs, that's a whole other thing, expect to be there all day.

My advice, get up early and leave your comp. all day deleting it.

[Tom_Diola]

I agree that 70GB's is a whole lot of data to be moving to the trash especially image files . . .
Maybe about 3 hours to move it and then some time to empty the trash. . .

[jasonscott71]

I wish that was the problem. But I frequently delete 1GB folders in a matter of seconds. I don't know if the 4gb I have makes it so snappy or what, but by this scenario I should have to wait no more than, say, 10 minutes for a full delete. Even still, my compter has been on for hours and hours and it still didn't delete.

Maybe one of the files inside has some sort of lock. I'll have to check.

[rab777hp]

Try deleting the files inside a few at a time. You can narrow it down to a manageable size.

[mathogre]

IF you are command line compatible, you can open Terminal, cd to the appropriate directory, and do a remove command. However, you should ensure your machine is backed up. Running this command results in irrevocable actions. If you do this from the wrong directory, you can delete files you didn't intend to delete.

cd
rm -frv

[rab777hp]

Yes, you should definitely be backed up, using rm incorrectly can wipe your entire HD.

[jasonscott71]

Yeah, I think that's really the only way and is what I will do. I'm not relishing the task.



BTW, since I am trying to clear up enough space to add my iTunes library, does anyone know if I even have to do that and can instead just run iTines from an external?



Either way I need to get the 70 gigs of pics off, but I was just thinking, if I didn't have to add iTunes, maybe I can run it off the external.



I've just bought a new iPod and want to get it loaded ASAP. Can't run the pod off the Panther machine, hence the urgency to get the iTines library to my new machine, which only has 10GB space left--not enough for my music.

[rab777hp]

It's common practice to use an external HD to house your library, in iTunes go to iTunes>>Preferences and then to the Advanced pane, at the top there's a place to change where you store it.

[jasonscott71]

Thanks! I didn't realize that. What should I then do about laoding the ipod my form external?Maybe it's so simple I shoulod just try it and find out for myself. ;)



Thanks Rab . . .

[noahb]

When I have such a problem I boot from an external drive and then delete the offending folder. I try not to use Terminal because of the inherent risks. One misplaced space or errant letter and ... well you can just guess.

[rab777hp]

Everything iTunes and iPod related stays the same, it's the same syncing and playing and everything, you wouldn't know you were storing it on an external drive if there wasn't a giant grey brick plugged-in to your computer's USB port.