Cannot delete problematic folder

Just to say that I have spent many hours today trying to fix this and I finally did it with the aid of an application called Path Finder (http://cocoatech.com).

I watched as a steady stream of files were deleted from an apparently empty folder - several hundred at a guess.

Anyway, I've had similar problems in the past on other drives so I'll remember what this nifty utility can do.

Thank you flamesong for the heads up on Path Finder!

I have literally for days tried to delete a folder with about 450'000 small files and kept failing. While I did make it past the 'preparing to delete' window, it would then be stuck at however many I had selected...the smallest number it got stuck was about 228 files (10 files at once deleted ok but also took a long time). I then downloaded the trial version of Path Finder from cocoatech.com and am now happily deleting away. Mind you, it's still slow enough for me to read every single file name but IT WORKS!!

So - thanks for the pointer. And hopefully Mac OS will one day be able to do that with the ReadyNAS on its own (I have a Pioneer).

I have just encountered the same problem only this time I cannot delete the folder with Path Finder as I had done before - when I do so, the folder disappears but reappears when I go back to the enclosing folder. I cannot move it or rename it. The folder has an é in the title (something it came with - I avoid accents etc. in file names) and suspect that this might be a cause of the problem. I tried several Terminal commands that I found on this forum and on the Apple Communities site but all of them came back saying that the file does not exist.

It all started, I suppose, when I tried to copy the folder from the share on my ReadyNAS Duo to my Mac HD and got an error. After several attempts, I decided that there was something wrong with the folder and tried to delete it. As far as I can tell, using Path Finder there are no invisible files in the folder but on the ReadyNAS share it says it is 5.8MB in size, though the 5.8MB is greyed out.

Every time I try to delete it I get an -8072 error and then I have to restart the Finder in order to unmount the ReadyNAS share.

I'd be extremely grateful for any advice which might help me get rid of this nuisance folder.

[edit] I forgot to mention that the folder does not appear in Mac Open/Save dialogue boxes - only Finder windows and certain applications like Path Finder.

Did you try enabling http for the share, and fix the problem via your web browser interface?

Thanks for the reply.

No, I haven't tried that. I have enabled HTTP share but I don't know where to go from there.

Actually, I figured out what I should do, I think (I just used the ReadyNAS root IP address and a web interface opened), but I still could not delete the folder.

http://nas/shares lets you browse the shares which are enabled for HTTP. (http://nas also will end up there). There are delete and rename controls in there. [EDIT - guess you found that].

There is also a way to reset permissions and owners of all files within the share. You do that from frontview admin (select the share from the share listing, and then go to the "advanced options" tab in the upper right).

Set the desired owner/group/permissions, and the checkbox underneath, then apply. The checkbox will clear immediately, but the operation isn't complete until a pop-up window appears.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I tried the permissions thing last night just before I posted but it didn't work (obviously). I'm pretty confused how Terminal says it doesn't exist and it doesn't appear in Open/Save dialogue boxes yet it appears in the finder.

A brief update. I have done a lot of messing around so I don't know what might have caused this but I am no longer getting the -8072 error when I try to delete the folder - it disappears for a fraction of a second then returns.

Maybe try an on-line support request at support.netgear.com?

BTW, did you try rebooting the NAS and trying again? If you have a backup, you could also try a volume scan.