How to destroy an IMAC in three easy steps

:D In all seriousness, the machine is fubared. The user account will not load, it simply hangs and hangs and hangs. I tried to press STOP after I realised what I had done, but it ignored me until over 10,000 items had been copied to the desktop.

I can log into OTHER accounts, but I have folder protection enabled on my master account and as a result can't "get in" to delete those files....

I'm guessing there is a command system somewhere which may help....either way, what an EEJIT! :D

G.
 
Did you manage to sort it using the Root user yet?

I know this doesn't help now but next time select all then command+delete :)

Also, doesn't capture NX have a clear cache function?
 
Gary, using terminal (applications, utilities) you should be able to change into the user directory and desktop using sudo with an admin user, then again using sudo, delete all the files in question.

sudo cd ~<user>/desktop
sudo rm *.nef

replace *.nef with whatever the file is

depending on the implementation of rm you might want to use rm -f to force otherwise it'll ask you to confirm the deletion on each file...

sudo will ask you to confirm your password, and gives elevation of authority for that command to an admin level user.
 
Guys,

No time to sort just now as client coming shortly for viewing.....but thanks for all suggestions.

Capture NX has a known bug with regards to the CACHE (or so I have read). It was running like a DOG, so I was simply attempting to speed it up....

Out of curiosity - how exactly would Windows react to having 10,000 or so files on it's desktop?

G.
 
EdinburghGary said:
Guys,

No time to sort just now as client coming shortly for viewing.....but thanks for all suggestions.

Capture NX has a known bug with regards to the CACHE (or so I have read). It was running like a DOG, so I was simply attempting to speed it up....

Out of curiosity - how exactly would Windows react to having 10,000 or so files on it's desktop?

G.
Click to expand...

With windows you're covered. It would probably have blue screened after the 5th file :lol:
 
Good luck Gary
 
I could do it in one easy step...
Just give me a hammer :exit:
 
karmagarda said:
Does an imac have a safe mode?
Click to expand...

Yes it involves not pressing the power button:)

Safe mode:

Sit in front of Mac

Admire attractiveness of exterior design

Stand up

Go and have a cup of tea

Sorry to hear of your problem Gary.
 
Good luck with this! I am not sure any operating system, unless installed on some kind of super computer, would have coped with this. You may have been best letting it complete the operation though. Sometimes halting such a thing can really muck it up!
 
Your problem may be trying to put the files onto a pc (which does have a recycle bin).

What you need to do is put them in the trash and problem solved.
:D

You may be able to boot up from the system disk and use disk utility to repair permissions and check disk. It may help. If you get access, you can go to home folder > users > whatever your username is > desktop folder and try deleting them from there (may be easier to see). Just do them in batches to avoid the system getting its nickers in a twist.

I'm sure you can sort this out.

Graham
 
Next time "right click" and "send to recycle bin"...:p

EdinburghGary said:
Guys,

No time to sort just now as client coming shortly for viewing.....but thanks for all suggestions.

Capture NX has a known bug with regards to the CACHE (or so I have read). It was running like a DOG, so I was simply attempting to speed it up....

Out of curiosity - how exactly would Windows react to having 10,000 or so files on it's desktop?

G.
Click to expand...

In all honestly, probably the same.:thinking:
 
oh... don't try and list the files in the directory... it's probably in excess of the file count defined in the kernel parameters in unix... you may end up waiting for ages for the list, if it even runs properly.
 
Do you have another Mac? Maybe a laptop? and a firewire cable?

Then you could put the iMac in "target disc mode" (hold T when you switch it on) which will allow you to view the hard drive as an external drive on another mac via firewire. Then you could navigate to the desktop folder and delete. You'll probably need to enter your password etc.
 
Does it hang in safe mode? Just thinking... it would probably hang in windows safe mode, but then again, you could load it in safe mode command prompt only...

Is there a safemode with command prompt only on an IMAC?

Is there an administrator override account or something? Or I think you said this account was the administrator account...

Hmm... generally speaking it's always safe to have a second administrator account ready in case something screws up with 1 account... like this... hindsight, eh!
 
So maybe your clipboard is just geeet full? Is there anyway you can purge another users clipboard?
 
Log on using one of the other accounts and execute the terminal commands to locate the files and force delete that way. It might take a while if the files are spread across various folders. Alternatively you could reinstall the system and have it move the previous installation to an 'old' folder. That way you can retrieve the files you want (RAW's, docs, etc,...), back them up and execute a clean install afterwards. This then would clean the 34,000 cache files. Following this I would look into a way of automatically deleting cache files every week or month.
 
Thanks for the heads up Gary, I will make sure that I don't do something similar in the future :D
 
Jim.R said:
Enable the "root" user: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1528
It knows and sees all so should be able to clean your desktop up :D
Click to expand...

You sir, are jeffing awesome :D

screenshot20100506at345.png


Thanks everyone else too, I never got to try your suggestions. If anyone does the same stupid thing (unlikely), you now know Jim.R's fix is the way to go :)

Gary.
/strokes iMac & kicks PC. I still love her. :love:
 
menthel said:
Good luck with this! I am not sure any operating system, unless installed on some kind of super computer, would have coped with this. You may have been best letting it complete the operation though. Sometimes halting such a thing can really muck it up!
Click to expand...

muh, linux would have. Have had servers with 4 million files in a directory before.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top