# Hangs on "preparing to delete files"



## sludeking (Sep 24, 2007)

Hey,

I'm trying to delete the contents of the folder ".Trashes" on an external usb memory stick. When i select the contents and delete the window "preparing to delete files" opens and just hangs - nothing happens.

Why can't I delete these files. They take up 13GB of space which is really annoying because it leaves me with 633 mb of space on my usb memory stick.

I also tried using "batch delete" for mac, but when I navigate to the usb drive it can't see the hidden folder ".trashes" where the files I need to delete are located - even though I have set my mac to show hidden files.

Why can't I delete the files. See screen shot for hanging problem.

Please help


----------



## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

The contents of the .trashes folder are items that you placed in the trash, but haven't done an empty trash command yet. It's a hidden folder, and controlled by the system. It is not something that you should mess with, or else it can wreck havoc on your system, which seems to be what you are running into. If you told the Finder to Empty the trash, and then interrupted the computer, it can cause issues. Also if it failed to empty the trash, it should of given you an error as to why, like the files are locked, in use, or you don't have the permissions to. Have you plugged the drive into a different computer?


----------



## sludeking (Sep 24, 2007)

Ok. I tried doing some searches on this and came across doing a secure empty trash but that didnt solve the case either.

What i find strange is why it doesn't just delete the files instead of placing 13gb of unwanted files in a hidden folder on the drive (just seems a bit silly).

Anywho, regarding the contents of the .trashes folder. .trashes > 501 > unwanted files. 

Couldn't one just select all the files then cmd + shift + backspace to do a perma delete??


----------



## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

It places the files in the .trashes folder so that the computer knows that it can overwrite them. But with your issues, the best thing would be to reformat the drive. Make sure that any files you want to keep are somewhere else and then reformat it. That should correct your issue.


----------

