MAC Trash

I have external hard drives that are formatted for MAC OS Extended (Journaled). When I delete (move to trash) an item, it goes into the external trash can. If I plug the drive into my Mac, open Mac's trash, I can see the items from both the Mac and the external drive. If I unplug the drive, open Mac's trash, I only see Mac's trash.

If I empty the trash, and then check disc information, I will have gained available space on both my Mac and my external drive.

How can I just delete the items from my external drive?

How can I select the items from my Mac trash that I want to delete?

If I cannot do it with an Apple product, is there recommended software, e.g., One Trash, that will accomplish my goal?

Thanks, Jay

The same as Windows. With external connected it is necessary to drag to and then empty the trash. Disconnecting prior to emptying removes trash from the can.

Confused!

What do you mean disconnecting prior to emptying removes trash from can?

If I hook the external to my computer I see the files in the trash; if I disconnect from my computer and hook to my wife's computer I see the same files in her trash.

The onboard trash is reading what is in the external trash.

??

Should you move items to the trash on the external and not empty the can prior to disconnecting, these items will be removed from the can.

Each mounted volume (internal drives, external drives, etc) has a hidden trash folder. The trash can shows everything in those trash folders and deleted items stay in those hidden folders until you "empty" the trash. If you empty the trash while an external drive is not connected, then it can't remove the items on that drive's hidden trash folder. And yes, they show up on your wife's Mac when that drive is connected because hers is now listing those contents. What you have to do is empty the trash before disconnecting the external drive. Or stop putting stuff in there that can ruin your marriage.

lifeisabeach said:

Each mounted volume (internal drives, external drives, etc) has a hidden trash folder. The trash can shows everything in those trash folders and deleted items stay in those hidden folders until you "empty" the trash. If you empty the trash while an external drive is not connected, then it can't remove the items on that drive's hidden trash folder. And yes, they show up on your wife's Mac when that drive is connected because hers is now listing those contents. What you have to do is empty the trash before disconnecting the external drive. Or stop putting stuff in there that can ruin your marriage.

Click to expand...

Bingo!

The issue is that if I want to remove from the external's trash the items that I put into that trash, I am also forced to empty the computer's trash too.

You cannot empty the external's without also emptying the internal's trash.

Is there a way around this?

Thanks!

Luvntravln said:

Bingo!

The issue is that if I want to remove from the external's trash the items that I put into that trash, I am also forced to empty the computer's trash too.

You cannot empty the external's without also emptying the internal's trash.

Is there a way around this?

Click to expand...

Ah... I see what you want to do now. This would be incredibly complicated, if you can even make it work. There's no out-of-the-box solution that I can find. One solution is to create a Service to delete something rather than moving it to the Trash. Read this discussion:
osx - How can I skip the Trash when deleting a file? - Ask Different

Now, it may be possible to automate this a bit. What you'd have to do is create a Folder Action via Automator that looks for anything added to the hidden Trashes folder on that drive, then executes the workflow recommended in that discussion above. THAT will be tricky though. The actual folder that the action would have to watch is yourexternaldrive/.Trashes/Trashes. When building this workflow, you can't normally select hidden folders, even if you enable Finder to show hidden folders. You'd have to drag that hidden subfolder into the workflow to add it. BUT! .Trashes is set to "Write Only", which means you can't even open it to do this. You'd have to first change the permissions of .Trashes to "Read/Write", then open it (you may have to use CMD-down arrow... double-clicking doesn't appear to work on hidden folders in Mavericks). Once you've added the subfolder to the workflow, you'd need to change those permissions back.

Whether or not this will work is pure speculation on my part, and I'm by no means about to try it myself.

I have no intention of trying; thanks for the thought process. Why Apple doesn't provide for selective deletion a from trash is a software issuecand a mystery.

When you don't empty the trash each time you use an external hard drive results in losing the storage space on the external until you finally empty all the trash.

Luvntravln said:

I have no intention of trying; thanks for the thought process. Why Apple doesn't provide for selective deletion a from trash is a software issuecand a mystery.

Click to expand...

Easily solved with a 3rd party tool.
Hyperbolic Software: Smart Trash

When you don't empty the trash each time you use an external hard drive results in losing the storage space on the external until you finally empty all the trash.

Click to expand...

Well of course. The same is true for an internal drive. You can also get a 3rd party app like Hazel which will auto-empty the trash once the contents reach a certain size.

Thank you!!

Nice job LB. I was thinking that one of the third party trash utilities might make this work. I go AFK for a few minutes and you not only have the same idea but come up with a specific solution.

Luvntravln said:

.................
How can I select the items from my Mac trash that I want to delete?

If I cannot do it with an Apple product, is there recommended software, e.g., One Trash, that will accomplish my goal?

Click to expand...

lifeisabeach said:

Easily solved with a 3rd party tool.
Hyperbolic Software: Smart Trash

Click to expand...

Hi Guys - I've been wondering about 'selective' deletion of items from my MBPro's Trash - seems that the only way 'natively' is to go into the terminal and drill down to the trash folder and use the 'rm' command - and I'm assuming that the 3rd party app suggested above uses that process?

Just visited the link provided and saw the information below on Smart Trash - not sure if the last release was 08/13/2011 or 08/11/2013 - states there that the app is compatible w/ Mavericks - SO, any personal experiences from users of this software? Thanks - Dave

Version: 1.1.7
Released: 08.13.11

ADDENDUM: Sent an email to the app developer and received a quick reply - release date was August 13, 2011 - he states that the software works fine w/ Mavericks; but I'd like some reassurance from others?

1) The release date is indicated as "Released: 08.13.11" - does this mean August 13, 2011 or August 11, 2013 - I'm assuming the latter since the app is stated to be compatible w/ Mavericks (which is on my computer;

It was released on August 2011 and work good on Maverick, I'm using daily with not problem.

Click to expand...

Just don't use Trash for things you're not sure you want to delete permanently. Create a folder for those things and put them all together.

^^^^^ THIS!!!

The simple solution to this problem is don't put anything in the trash you "might want."