<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Stupid question, but have you tried rebooting and then tried deleting it again?<div><br></div><div>That usually works for me.</div><div><br></div><div>cjc</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On 01/07/2009, at 11:21 AM, Ralph wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "> Well, this one has me stumped. I hope one of you can help me.<div><br></div><div>As a small copy/print shop, we get files on USB sticks all the time -- sometimes from Macs, sometimes from PCs. (We use Macs exclusively for all our production tasks.) To speed things up, we usually copy files from the USB stick to the Mac's hard drive before working with them. Sometimes this means copying a folder or folders full of files.</div><div><br></div><div>Recently, we got in a USB stick that appeared to have Windows files on it (extensions like .exe). We copied data and graphic files off of the stick and onto the internal drive of an Intel iMac running OS X 10.4.11. When the work was finished, we tried to delete all but the final production file from our hard drive. Turns out that one of the folders we copied over had a buried folder in it called System that won't delete. When we empty the trash, we get the message, "The operation cannot be completed because the item '.plma' is locked." The folder, which appears empty, remains in the Trash.</div><div><br></div><div>When I try to drag this folder out of the Trash, it COPIES onto the desktop, leaving an empty "System" folder still in the Trash and another new, empty "System" folder on the desktop! Now, we have two folders that won't delete.</div><div><br></div><div>Any ideas about what's going on, and how to get rid of these items?<br><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div>Ralph Jones</div></span></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></body></html>