11-15-2010, 02:12 PM

I deleted something in my external HD that I want to recover. i haven't emptied the trash on my mac so it hasn't been deleted yet. However, unlike my Mac, I can't seem to find the trash on my external. How can I view trash on it?

11-15-2010, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by oxband

I deleted something in my external HD that I want to recover. i haven't emptied the trash on my mac so it hasn't been deleted yet. However, unlike my Mac, I can't seem to find the trash on my external. How can I view trash on it?

When you delete something from your external HD it goes onto the trash on your internal HD. So just go into the trash on your mac and recover it.

11-15-2010, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by s2odin

When you delete something from your external HD it goes onto the trash on your internal HD. So just go into the trash on your mac and recover it.

That's not really true. The external will have a hidden .Trash folder on it. That's why the external hard drive must be attached and mounted first before you can recover items from its Trash.

OS X will create a hidden Trash folder and other hidden files on any drive that is mounted, be it a hard drive or flash drive.

11-15-2010, 05:41 PM

As chscag says just boot from the external, assuming of course you have an operating system on it. Then find trash and remove article/s.

11-15-2010, 05:45 PM

It's there - try /Volumes/<name of external>/.Trash. Open up a Finder window, push Shift-Command-G and enter the directory of your external (while it's plugged in of course). So, if your external was called "myextdrive", you would enter /Volumes/myextdrive/.Trash

08-06-2012, 10:48 AM

Hello there,
I am screwed when i lost my files from trash , And there are many more time i lose it from, my volumes but i managed some how but this time when i lost my files from trash i am screwed as those files were my presentation files of school and i need those files back at any cost. Can anybody say how to recover mac trash . i downloaded the trial version of the software but couldn't do much so please suggest.

Regards
Steve

08-06-2012, 10:23 PM

If you could not find the files when the external drive was connected that is a bit odd. Have you added any new files to the drive since deleting the files you need? You might give Data Rescue 3 a try. It is not cheap but there is a demo that you could try before buying the software.

05-03-2013, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

It's there - try /Volumes/<name of external>/.Trash. Open up a Finder window, push Shift-Command-G and enter the directory of your external (while it's plugged in of course). So, if your external was called "myextdrive", you would enter /Volumes/myextdrive/.Trash

I followed the above instructions, but I get a message saying that I don't have permission to view the Trash folder. I am the Administrator.

I would appreciate help so I can delete about 50 giga in that file. I just want to make sure I want to delete it.

Thank you!

Gloria

05-03-2013, 02:34 PM

As long as you have full permissions over the drive, you should be fine. Do you have any problems accessing any other content on the drive?

What are you trying to delete? Manually viewing the trash folder is rarely needed.

05-03-2013, 03:39 PM

Where do I see, if I have Full Permission? No, I have no problem accessing anything else.

I am trying to at least view what is in that Trash folder. I purchased Clean My Mac2 and it shows the Trash folder with about 50 gigs of photos. Since it's the first time I use it, I want to make sure I am not deleting anything I don't want to delete.

Thanks so much for your help!

Gloria