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Trash on External Hard Drive

Is there any way to empty the trash on an external hard drive without deleting the files on the Mac's internal hard drive?

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 8, 2020 5:39 AM

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7 replies

Apr 9, 2020 7:25 AM in response to macjack

The trash bin is there so that if you decide later that you want a file back you can get it. I don't always want to empty my trash bin on my internal hard drive when I have to free up space on an external hard drive, that is why I need the work around. Thank you for the link, unfortunately it will not work with my version of Mac OS. I will try to find another program that will, since I know that they are out there. I will keep curb in mind and hopefully they will eventually make one for the newest Mac OS version.

Apr 9, 2020 7:39 AM in response to Joel Joe

You can create a Desktop folder called "Move to Trash" or something like that for items that you want to decide later. That way your Trash won't be cluttered with items that you may or may not want to delete.


If you're familiar with Terminal you can also use the sudo rm command to empty the hidden .Trash folder on the external. (Curb is just a front-end GUI for the same command).


By any chance are these Time Machine files?

Trash on External Hard Drive

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