Level 1

29 points

Deleting individual items from Trash

How do I clear the trash, but just for selected items ? The time I most often want to do this is when I have deleted items on a memory stick and want to regain the space, but don't want to lose the trash on my whole Mac.

Unibody Macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Apr 1, 2009 6:48 AM

28 replies

tonydenson Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 2, 2009 1:18 AM in response to Király

Király wrote:
If you want to hang on to your odd method of using the Trash the way it was not intended - to store > stuff you don't want deleted - a method that is creating a problem for you to boot - go right ahead.

Once again you are twisting my words. I repeat my question again, which you studiously choose to ignore. If, as you say, Trash was never intended for recovery of files you didn't mean to delete, then WHY DID APPLE IMPLEMENT IT. There are many many people who have been glad at one time or another that they could retrieve files from Trash, and were glad they hadn't cleared it sooner.
I don't see what is odd about my use of the Trash. I just like to choose the moment when I empty it, not have it imposed on me in some arbitrary fashion because I want to achieve some other unrelated action.

tonydenson Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 2, 2009 2:29 AM in response to tonydenson

Just realised the solution to my memory stick issue, it's obvious now I understand how all this works. I am running a Windows virtual machine on my Mac. I simply go into Windows and manually delete the file from .Trashes.
I can live with the problem of not being able to delete individual files from my main Mac disk, it was just the memory stick issue that was really bugging me.
Thanks all.

Király

Level 6

10,025 points

Apr 2, 2009 9:28 AM in response to tonydenson

tonydenson wrote:
If, as you say, Trash was never intended for recovery of files you didn't mean to delete, then WHY DID APPLE IMPLEMENT IT.

I never said that. Trash is meant for recovery of files you didn't mean to delete. Throw a file in the trash, and you can simply drag it out. It's a built-in data recovery system.

But that is an entirely different issue than using your trash to store files you know you don't want to delete. You're looking in your trash, and seeing files you don't want deleted. Seeing those files there, and wanting to keep them in the trash, is just silly. Those files simply should not be in your trash. Take them out and store them someplace else. It's that simple. And it will solve your problem of deleting files from your memory stick without losing files you want to keep.

It is usually easier to learn how to use the system as designed, rather than fight with it, trying to get it to do something it was not designed to do.

tonydenson Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 2, 2009 11:36 AM in response to Király

Király wrote:

tonydenson wrote:
If, as you say, Trash was never intended for recovery of files you didn't mean to delete, then WHY DID APPLE IMPLEMENT IT.

I never said that. Trash is meant for recovery of files you didn't mean to delete. Throw a file in the trash, and you can simply drag it out. It's a built-in data recovery system.

But that is an entirely different issue than using your trash to store files you know you don't want to delete.

I also never said that I use it for files I know I don't want to delete. I use it as belt and braces *in case* there is a file I shouldn't have deleted, and the longer I have the opportunity of that recourse then the better. This seems so blindingly obvious to me, because there is no point in deleting them before you need to. I am not doing anything "odd" as you seem to be suggesting, it's what 100's of millions of Windows users take for granted. Still, as I say, no problem, I can just use my Windows virtual machine and have the behavior I happen to believe is more logical. As it happens, I had the problem only today. I deleted some files from a memory stick on a machine 200 miles away from where I am now and needed to free up some space, so I did it with Windows.

Lyssa

Level 8

41,405 points

Apr 2, 2009 11:42 AM in response to tonydenson

tonydenson wrote:
I also never said that I use it for files I know I don't want to delete. I use it as belt and braces *in case* there is a file I shouldn't have deleted, and the longer I have the opportunity of that recourse then the better. This seems so blindingly obvious to me, because there is no point in deleting them before you need to. I am not doing anything "odd" as you seem to be suggesting, it's what 100's of millions of Windows users take for granted. Still, as I say, no problem, I can just use my Windows virtual machine and have the behavior I happen to believe is more logical. As it happens, I had the problem only today. I deleted some files from a memory stick on a machine 200 miles away from where I am now and needed to free up some space, so I did it with Windows.

If you're unsure whether you truly want to delete the files, it seems more logical (to me anyway) to move them to another folder with an appropriate name(ie: "Possible Deletions"). I believe you could even place the folder down in the Dock and add files to it as needed.

But seems you've solved your initial problem.

To each his own, I suppose.

~Lyssa

tonydenson Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 2, 2009 2:40 PM in response to Lyssa

Lyssa wrote:
If you're unsure whether you truly want to delete the files, it seems more logical (to me anyway) to move them to another folder with an appropriate name(ie: "Possible Deletions"). I believe you could even place the folder down in the Dock and add files to it as needed.

You still are not answering the question "if there is no possible use ever for deleted files, then what is the point of having a trash can concept in the first place". It is there in case you make a mistake. It may be that you personally are infallible, but then you are a little unusual. I make mistakes from time to time and if I can mitigate that possibility by not emptying the trash until I really need to then so much the better. This is not rocket science, just common sense. Give me one downside to the Windows implementation.

Lyssa

Level 8

41,405 points

Apr 2, 2009 3:09 PM in response to tonydenson

I empty the trash right after I place items in it. I have yet to have the "Oh shoot, I shouldn't have thrown that away" moment. I use the Recycle Bin in Windows in the same fashion, so I can't say if I like one over the other.

It serves me fine, and I backup my data daily, just in case something does get deleted when I actually needed it.

The trash can is there as a safety net for the user. If you're highlighting a large group of files and realize that one of them shouldn't have been thrown away, you can rescue it as long as the trash hasn't been emptied. The only "failing" I've noticed is the "restore" option seen in Recycle Bin doesn't seem to exist in OS X. As I've already said, it doesn't much matter to me.

~Lyssa

WiFreak

Level 1

0 points

Apr 22, 2009 4:10 PM in response to tonydenson

Hi,
Good old command line should help in your case. Open the terminal, go to a trash folder on your memory stick.
cd /Volumes/<name of your flash>/.Trashes folder, might be a subfolder (as in my case) more to go in order to reach your files.
rm -rf the desired item

Voila!

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

Apr 2, 2009 2:48 AM in response to Király

Was it mere coincidence that this thread appeared on the 1st April? 😉

Apr 3, 2009 9:10 AM in response to tonydenson

Hey peoples....MacFixIt just posted an article on this topic: http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20090403083811208

tonydenson Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 3, 2009 10:12 AM in response to Topher Kessler

Hey, I got quoted in MacFixit, fame at last !!
Anyway glad to see others perceive the need, also that there is a 3rd party solution to the problem.

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Apr 4, 2009 9:39 AM in response to tonydenson

Infamy perhaps.

If I catch anyone working for my company that uses the Trash in this way, I will fire them on the spot.

Apr 4, 2009 10:34 AM in response to Nick Holmes

Start preparing those pink slips.

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Deleting individual items from Trash