Hello community! This is my first post looking for some help...

• I own a Nokia N900 (Maemo), I copied some music from PC to N900. Not sure how/why some files were copied as "read-only".
• After some time, I tried to erase all MP3 files from N900, most of them went out, but some of them couldn't be deleted. These files are tagged as "read-only" also the folder has the same restriction.
• Mass storage & PC Suite Modes on PC didn't work (attributes/properties are shaded, so no-go). Deleting them directly from N900 using File Manager application didn't work also. I am running with Administrator privileges on PC if it could be the issue.
• Surfing on the web, I found some similar stories; some of them were successfully answered (like this). I tried same solution on my device as follows disconnecting it from PC and running Xterminal on device;

 $ root (enter)
Nokia-N900:  # umount /dev/mmcblk0p1 (enter-nothing happens apparently)
Nokia-N900:  # fsck.vfat -aw /dev/mmcblk0p1 (enter-after 1 or 2 seconds the screen shows the follow lines)

dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
/dev/mmcblk0p1: 5222 files, 182765/442377 clusters
Nokia-N900:  #

What does it mean? After it, I reboot the device and try again to delete files with no success. They still as read-only with shaded properties not available for modification when reconnect the USB cable for PC Mass Storage or PC Suite Mode

Any advice?

look through this web site, specifically the cd, ls & rm commands. They will allow you to navigate, list file content and delete files in x terminal

You also need to instal rootsh from the repos so you can gain root access with the command sudo gainroot

http://ss64.com/bash/

Thank you Raif

You advice was very useful. Here is how I proceeded;

• To download rootsh from Maemo repositories
• To open Xterminal and to write the follow;

~ $ sudo gainroot
/home/user # cd MyDocs
/home/user/MyDocs # ls -a
/home/user/MyDocs # cd .sounds
/home/user/MyDocs # rm -r directory
/home/user/MyDocs # exit
~ $ exit

Where directory was the name of the folder containing read-only files.

Of course the result was that read-only audio files were removed successfully!


Lessons learned;

• Definitely, you must download rootsh in order to gain "full access/privileges" (it is how I understood in my newbie level) to modify/erase files on system. Otherwise if you try just using simple Xterminal privileges, you certainly will find same files but you won't be able to delete them.
• I spent some time searching the folder containing the problematic audio files. It was hidden denoted by ".folder", so make sure to include the "-a" in your search to list hidden files and directories (I know, i know... this is a super basic recommendation)
• Ask always for help, some issues are really easy to solve, so don't act impulsively... some friends recommended me to reset/reimage/reflash fully the device... other people mentioned that my 36GB card was damaged and it shall be replaced... wtf?

Thank you for reading!

Comprehensive posts mate.

You could also have installed filebox, which is a must for every user in my opinion, and browsed the folders and just deleted them. Filebox allows you to browse with root access and also to see hidden folders if you wish.

The solution you used taught you something so that is a bonus too.

Honestly, I never run FileBox as root. I have it, and use it for my file browsing, but I wouldn't want to have point-and-click root destructive powers. That said, if UIs are your thing, yes, you can run FileBox, or half of the other file managers in the repos (though I like Filebox the most myself), with root privileges.

Major props for learning though. Most people don't bother.