Can't Empty Trash Error Code -8003

Several times now I've installed Box.com's BoxSync app only to find out after it's installed that I cannot empty the trash. I use Box.com a lot for clients and turns out they're using it more and more but Box.com's installer needs some work and I've emailed them a few times to let them know with not results.

What happens is you install the app, toss the installer into the trash and hit Empty Trash or your favorite key combo (mine is COMMAND + SHIFT + OPTION +DELETE) and the Mac yells at you about how it can't do that and tosses up an error code of -8003.

Rebooting then emptying the trash doesn't help.
Holding down option when you empty trash (see key combo above) doesn't work.
Trying to securely empty trash doesn't work.

What I've had to do a handful of times now on different Macs with different versions of the OS installed to delete BoxSync (this applies to anything that refuses to be deleted) is this:

1. Launch the Terminal
2. Type EXACTLY and without quotes "cd .Trash" hit return.
3. Type EXACTLY and without quotes "ls -al" hit return and see all the stuff that's in the trash.
4. After you confirm what you want to delete is in the trash type EXACTLY and without quotes "rm " that's lower case rm and a space(bar), then type the first letter, paying attention to capitalization of the file and tap TAB to auto complete it. This is for FILES not folders or packages!
5. Hit return and it should be gone.

If it's a package like Box Sync Installer is then step 4 is slightly different. Type EXACTLY and without quotes "rm -rf " thats lower case rm a space(bar) a dash and lower case rf then another space(bar). Then type a capital B and tap TAB to auto complete it. It should look like this:

rm - rf Box\ Sync\ Installer.app/

Hit return and it should be gone. Finally.

TECHNICAL STUFF:

If you really want to find the offending file and don't have a ton of stuff in the trash you can move items back where they were, meaning back on the same volume, drive, folder or whatever, just not in the Trash. I put stuff from one drive into a new temp folder I name "TRASH THIS!" so they're not loose all over the place on that drive.

Then put them in the trash and delete them one by one. Eventually you'll hit a folder or file that won't delete. Recently I had a file that was actually a package that wouldn't delete and tossed up the -8003 error.

Here's what I did once I found the file that refused to be deleted.

- Launch the Terminal

- Type "cd" space-bar then drag the folder that has that file into the terminal, it'll fill out the path then hit Return.

- Type "ls -al" to list the files. (If you want to get fancy type "ls -FaGlh" for a nicer looking file list in the Terminal)

- Type this EXACTLY, "rm" space-bar, then the first letter of the file that won't delete, then the Tab key. Hitting the Tab key will fill out the rest of the file name saving you from typing or worse, mistyping it.

EXAMPLE:

If the file is called roughcut.mov type "rm" hit the spacebar and type "r" then Tab key. The Terminal will show something like:

rm folder/roughcut.mov

Hit Return and it should delete the file.

If it's a folder, from inside the folder that folder is in (see "cd" above) it's in, add a -rvf to the command. This will show you all the things it's deleting.

-r will delete folders and their contents
-v shows you all the stuff it's deleting
-f tells the rm command to ignore files that aren't really there

If you want to confirm every file before it's deleted I think you can add an "i" to the string of switches like "-rvfi"

Careful with all this, using the rm command can seriously ruin your day if you're not careful. To read more about rm type this into the Terminal and hit enter:

man rm

Deleting Photos from (the) iPad (aka the Over-Syncing™ Nightmare)

Still on the road here. Yay. Is a difference between Waffle House, Waffle King and Huddle House? I can't tell anymore.

One of the producers here who is using the Camera Connection Kit (to manage stills for this documentary that I'm to incorporate into the documentary and which are EASY to delete) and an iPad asked me how to delete photos from an iPad that were originally synced via iTunes.

I told them I dunno, because I don't understand Syncing since it seem to always copy and re-copy everything back and forth every time you make the slightest change to the iDevice which I call Over-sync™.

So I looked it up on The Google…

Hey look, I didn't even get that far before The Google helpfully helped me out with some help. Apparently this is one weakness in Apple's highly touted streamlined syncing methods.

Deleting photos from an iPad is far more complex than it ever should be. And I'm not alone in this.

There are two ways. (and you cannot delete individual photos from (the) iPad if you originally put them there via iTunes unless you connect (the) iPad to the original computer that placed it there which defeats the whole point of a "mobile" device)

Deleting photos that you acquired on the iPad WITHOUT iTunes:

1. Go to Saved Photos
2. Tap the Arrow button on the top right.
3. Tap on the photos you want to delete. It can be more than one simultaneously. You should see little checkmarks on the ones you've tapped on.
4. Hit the Delete button.

Deleting photos that you synced to the iPad WITH iTunes:

(Note this may not work for you, like, at all)

In iTunes, with the iPad connected:

0. Goto the "Photos" section/button at the top of iTunes after you click on your iPad in the left-hand list.
1. Toggle (meaning UNCHECK) the "Sync Photos from" check box. You'll see a window asking you to remove photos.
2. Hit Remove Photos.
3. Hit the Sync button.
4. Wait a long time while iTunes does all manners of things that have no relevance to just deleting a few photos you synced prior to this.
5. Double check to see that the photos are actually removed.

See what Apple is making you do here to delete photos? They're making you delete them by NOT SYNCING them to the iPad. Not syncing = Remove Photos in this case. Make sense?

Essentially they're saying "Don't sync the photos that you already have synced between your computer (iTunes) and the iPad and that will remove them because you don't want them synced." Not Synced is Not on Both. Not synced is not the same on both. Why is this so complicated?

THE ACTUAL SCREWED-UP WAY (I had) TO DO IT:

1. Launch iTunes
2. Connect (the) iPad
3. Click on the iPad listing in the left-hand list
4. Click on Photos at the top-right of iTunes
5. Leave "Sync Photos from" checked.
6. Select "Selected Folders"
7. Make sure NONE of them are check-marked.
8. Hit Apply in the lower right-hand corner.
9. Wait a while for iTunes to waste your time while doing some kind of time-consuming whatever-it-is-that-it-takes I-didn't-say-backup needless over-syncing™ to just delete a few photos.

(Hint: It syncs at this point which means copying everything all over the place again [from (the) iPad to your computer, mainly] in a long at-least-three-step-process which will include copying over all your Apps AGAIN).

How silly and confusing and un-Apple-like is that? Btw, syncing (the Big Sync button you need to hit) will copy over any and all apps you've installed on your iPad so make sure your computer has the space for all this stuff being copied (ie..synced) to it. The laptop here ran out of room for the iPad's 8+Gigs of Apps during a sync leaving no recourse to fix it outside of outright deleting stuff from the iPad itself, then starting again at step 1.

I'm thinking that (the) iPad needs something like 10Gigs scratch room on a hard drive just to perform a sync or something.

Btw, fun fact: Apple Mail won't stay launched if the hard drive is full.

Here's the iPad's user guide. Page 48 is all about photos and page 132 are photo settings.

From page 48:

"Delete a photo: You can delete photos from the Saved Photos album, which contains photos you save from email or the web. For photos synced from your computer, you need to delete the photo from the album on your computer, then sync iPad again."

Page 132 has nothing related to deleting photos.

See what Apple did there? Delete the photo from the computer to delete it from (the) iPad. WHAT THE?

Apple has a Knowledge Base article on this here.

"To delete photos from your device

1. In iTunes, select the device icon in the Devices list on the left. Click the Photos tab in the resulting window.
2. Choose "Sync photos from."
   • On a Mac, choose iPhoto or Aperture from the pop-up menu.
   • On a Windows PC, choose Photoshop Album or Photoshop Elements from the pop-up menu.
3. Choose "Selected albums" and deselect the albums or collections you want to delete.
4. Click Apply."

There seems to be no way to manually manage everything between (the) iPad and iTunes. The screwed up thing is that since you have to sync things to manipulate them, if you only want to NOT SYNC your photos (to remove them from (the) iPad) you could un-check other sync options like Apps, but then you run the risk of removing apps from your iPad during the sync! It's absolutely crazy.

I'm not even going to attempt it because the Producer would likely throw me out of this moving car (which I've started calling Serenity and they don't get the joke) through a closed window and keep my Slurpee suicide which they made me pay for myself. I saw you looking at it!

If you know what un-checking the sync app box does when you sync, meaning if it removes apps from (the) iPad let me know. I'm very curious.

Like for me, myself here, now, if you toggle sync books, iTunes will warn me about removing videos. WHAT? HUH?

Would it be so hard to just have (the) iPad mount on the desktop, you open it up, open the photo folder, select all and then trash in the Finder? Or hey, here's an idea...ALSO LET IMAGE CAPTURE MANAGE PHOTOS THAT WERE SYNCED VIA ITUNES? Can't we all just get along? Would that be so hard?

Now I remember why I hated my original iPod-has-to-be-synced-to-one-folder-and-if-you-change-or-remove-that-folder-the-iPod-ends-up-empty-I-hate-sync Shuffle.

This is so tricky and un-Apple-like that people who don't get it (and I am still one of them) end up making their own convoluted and detrimental workarounds like this:

"The way I get around this is to sync photos then go through them one by one on ipad maybe resize for better composition then take a snap shot by pressing home button and button on top of ipad for 1 sec this puts the ones you want to keep into the saved folder. then i sync my next batch of photos from a different folder this deletes the old ones and replaces with new photos and I repeate the process. "


p.s. once you over-sync™ to delete your photos, you'll find some .ipa files in your trash that can take up significant hard drive space.

Shift Delete Bug

Here's an interesting occasional bug in FCP:

I had two clips and their associated audio tracks highlighted. Then I hit Shift+Delete to perform a ripple delete. But one unassociated audio track refused to budge. You can see the result in the two following images.

Before the Ripple Delete


After the Ripple Delete


A restart of FCP fixed it which goes to show that something as complex as FCP can get confused sometimes.

Always make sure you set your auto-saves to a different drive than your project drive (preferably one with Time Machine going) and don't be reluctant to save and restart FCP when things get strange.

(the stills were pulled from a video my assistant took with his little portable camera, it's interesting to see the convex curves in the stills even though the editing monitor is a flat LCD, due to the lens on his camera)