How to delete the 'Deleted Users' folder?

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aleksej_1963 Author

Level 1

10 points

How to delete the 'Deleted Users' folder?

Hi everyone! Just got a new MacBook Pro and migrated everything from the older one. It has gone OK. However, the new Mac now shows that the used disk space is almost 300 Gb larger than in the old Mac. All these extra 300 Gb are in the folder 'Deleted Users' that obviously was created during the migration (there is no such folder in the old Mac) and I can't delete it whatever I do..... Did anyone had this kind of problem and if so, how to migrate from the the older Mac without wasting that much of disk space? Cheers, Alex

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Oct 29, 2019 1:04 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

68,504 points

Oct 29, 2019 1:12 PM in response to aleksej_1963

This could happen if you created a new user account and later migrated your old user account with the identical name. In Finder click on the "Go" menu and type the following followed by pressing the "Return" key.

/Users

This will open a Finder window which should show you either the deleted user account or a folder called "Deleted Users" which should contain the user account you want to remove. macOS will prompt your for your password when moving the deleted user to the Trash.

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

68,504 points

Oct 30, 2019 6:50 AM in response to aleksej_1963

You can bypass the Trash when deleting items by highlighting the item and Option clicking the File menu and selecting "Delete Immediately". I believe there is a way to force empty the Trash as well perhaps by right clicking the Trash and hold the Option key, but I haven't done this in a while so I'm not sure.

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Answer 3

aleksej_1963 Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 29, 2019 11:50 PM in response to HWTech

Many thanks! Moving the folder 'Deleted Users' to Trash is OK, however then these 300Gb sit in Trash and still occupy the disk space, aren't they? Any attempt to delete them permanently from Trash was unsuccessful....I have decided to use Time Machine to backup the old Mac and then restore this backup to the new machine.....Hopefully there won't be surprises.....

The issue with permanently deleting 'Deleted Users' folder is still there.....

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How to delete the 'Deleted Users' folder?

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