[X4U] iPhoto trash

[SW]

So I'm doing some work in iPhoto and realize that I haven't emptied
it's trash in a while. I'm not sure when this first appeared but I
still forget to empty it. I go and look and there are 280 pics in
there.

   So I ctrl click on it, and select Empty trash. I get the warning (Are
you sure.... can't undo etc..) and I say yes to trash. The external
drive with the library on it whirs, and then stops. and the focus comes
back to iPhoto. But all 280 of my pics are still there in the trash.

   I tried and few things then a few more.

Restart the app.
Reboot
Delete it's plist
Repair permissions.

Backed up library.
Deleted all traces of iPhoto.(including all pkj receipts so I could use
Software update with no problems)
Re-installed from iLife disk

[ Interlude: I went into the custom install of iLife and unchecked
everything but iPhoto then ran the installer. All went well. Went
straight to Software Update to get current with 4.03 but the updates
did not appear. Went into my Applications folder and could not find
iPhoto. A search did not find it either. Tried the installer again and
then noticed that in the area where I unchecked the other parts of
iLife, iPhoto is listed as an upgrade. ran it again any way and it
still did not install it.
   Is it not possible to install iPhoto from the DVD? Only upgrade an old
one?
Moving on... A quick look at Apple's site shows that they only have the
Buy Now for iPhoto 4.0 so I improvise. I found a copy of 4.0 from an
old back up and dragged it over. A quick test showed that it ran. ]

Ran Software update to take it up to 4.03

Point iPhoto back to my original library on the external drive, and all
my 280 pics are still in the trash which still does not empty.


Move on to the Finder, I try to search for one of the files in the
trash by filename, visibility, etc , but no luck.
In Iphoto Library/Albums there is a file called Trash (generic icon). I
deleted this and restarted Iphoto and the trash is now empty. However
how can I confirm that his has deleted the actual files and not just
the references to them?

   (Possibly relevant... I had just imported a folder of about 140 pics
and was working on them when iPhoto seemed to become dog slow. This was
why I went looking for the trash inn the first place.)


Has anyone heard of this?
Any ideas?


Steve

G5 1.6 256MB
OS X 10.3.5
All up to date including the recent firmware update.
iPhoto 4.0.3
17G Available on the main drive
35G Available on the External partition.





There is no remedy for sex but more sex.