Deleting large files cause a bomb.

T

timoooo

Registered
Hi all,

This problem has become like a bad dream. Whenever I need to delete any large file (anything over about 500mb) from my OS X boot partition, (while booted into OS X) I get a crash, like a kernel panic. The only way to delete anything large is to boot into OS 9.2. I've got a 40gb drive split into two partitions, the other containing OS 9.2. When I need to delete large files from the OS 9.2 partition, (while booted into OS X) there is no problem. I've had this problem since OS X 10.1.2, I think. Now I've got OS X 10.1.5. Norton utilities or the Apple first aid program can't find any error. Please help, it's infuriating.
 
Hi testuser, It's a G4 Dual 500 and it is in exactly the same state as when it left the factory, (40 gb drive (paritioned into 2 equal ammounts)) except for one thing, I've upped the RAM from 256 to 768mb.
 
Last time I bombed out while deleting a large file (12GB) it totally hosed my HD. After this, the HD would not mount under OS X (even in single user mode) and under OS 9 I'd get a message asking me to reformat the HD.

I went out and bought disk warrior (apple guru recommendation), booted off their CD and got everything back.

I'd look in that direction if I was you. :)
 
Are you getting a kernel panic ?
If so, see what it says. Does it say anyting about "kext" "modules" or the like.
I had the same problem after updating to 10.1.5. The culpable was a Symantec Kernel Extension. You should check that before you mess around with any "Repair Utilities". All except Apple's "Disk Utility" often do more harm than good....

Tell me what the scroll down text on your panic screen says and I might be able to help you out....
 
I've now got diskwarrior and have just run it for the first time. I'll let you know how I get on. I hope it's worked. It's a nightmare. You get used to a mega reliable and stable OS and then to run into problems and having to keep re-start is horrible.
 
I spoke too soon, 5 or 10 mins after running and sending the last messege, I had the same old thing happen.

Dekatophil, I am getting kernel panics. I spent about an hour copying down - letter for letter - what the kernel panic says. After doing that, I re-started and re-read your post and you don't tell me to do that so I kind of feel a bit silly now. Anyway, you're right, on the 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th lines, it mentions Kernel loadable modules in backtrace:
com.symantec.kext.DeleteTrap
Kernel loadable module dependencies:
com.symantec.kext.SymOSXKernelutilities (1.0.0d2)@0x etc...

Is this telling me that Norton is the cause of the problem? I hope so, this is doing my head in.
 
Sounds like you have some serious drive probs. In the meantime, to delete files in osx via the terminal, try this:
1) Launch the terminal, which is located in /Applications/Utilities/

2) change directory to the file you need to remove. Example:
cd ~/Documents/Accounting\ Stuff/

(the ~ means your home directory, and the '\' is the escape character so that the shell will properly process the space in the folder name)

3) Remove the file
rm Spending.doc

if you want to really shread the file (similar to FileFire and norton's government erase program), do this:

rm -P Enron.doc

Keep in mind that its much more dificult to recover files removed with the unix command.

Anyway, if the unix command is able to remove your files, then there is hope :)
 
Hi kilowatt, I'm happy with using Unix, I've been doing so for about 12 years but using the 'rm' command has the same affect as moving the file to the trash and trying to empty it, a kernel panic.
 
I'm really happy! I've sorted out the problem by removing everything relating to Norton from my drive. I've removed Norton Personal Firewall (I'm going to try Netbarrier) and Norton Utilities. Now I can trash huge files without getting a kernel panic. Huge relief. I've cleared about 3gb.
 
Sorry for not coming back to you earlier but the pages seemed to be unavailable for a while.
Congrats for being able to empty the trash again :)

So the culpable *was* the Symantec kernel extension. It would have sufficed to remove the SymOSXKernelUtilities file (located in /System/Library/Extensions).
BTW, it's bad style to use kexts excessively. A lot of people have complained about Symantecs usage of kernel extensions...
I hope they'll start making decent MacOS X software soon...
 
Hi Dekatophil, it's cool that you didn't get back sooner. I'm really chuffed that I've finally sorted out the problem, I'd had it for months and it was driving me mad, even more so because nobody else seemed to have seen it. You helped by actually making me read what the kernel panic text was saying. I feel stupid for not doing so before. Anyway, I can sleep easily at night now.;)
 
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