Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!ultra!rich
From: rich@ultra.com (Rich Fall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: My machine is possessed - Folder from Hell
Message-ID: <1990Feb6.213912.26834@ultra.com>
Date: 6 Feb 90 21:39:12 GMT
References: <15543@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU>
Organization: Ultra Network Technologies
Lines: 23

yang@mist.cs.orst.edu (Sherry Yang) writes:

>I am not sure if this subject has been discussed on the net before or not, but
>I have discovered this problem recently and hope someone out there can help me.
>We have discovered a folder on one of the MacIIs in our lab that has nothing 
>in it, but it will not let us throw it away.  It kept coming back with a 
>"File busy or folder not empty" message.  ResEdit and MacTools don't do the 
>trick either. Does any of you have any ideas on how we can throw the possessed 
>folder away?  Until then, it's appropriately named "Satan" on the harddisk.  

>Thanks advance for your help,

I had exactly the same problem with my Mac, and couldn't figure out what was
causing it.  Eventually (through exhaustive application of all the tools at
my disposal) I discovered that if I used the DiskInfo DA to report the size
of the offending folder, it was reported as containing "-2 files"!  Somehow,
and I still not sure how, the directory structure had been corrupted in a
way that undoubtedly made the Mac OS think the folder contained an incredibly
large number of files.  Thus, the "File busy or folder not empty" message.

My solution?  Use a backup program to save the hard disk, then reformat and
restore.  Some Mac hacker out there may know a better solution (and perhaps
why the problem occurs), but I don't.