Macos 11.1 Accidently put 1Tb of files into trash bin. How can I delete them quickly? They will take days or weeks to empty normally.

Question

Macos 11.1 Accidently put 1Tb of files into trash bin. How can I delete them quickly? They will take days or weeks to empty normally.

I have tried using Terminal commands:

sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash

rm: /Users/glindsay/.Trash: Operation not permitted

sudo rm .Trash/*

zsh: no matches found: .Trash/*

Many of the files are from my Time Machine and will be the major cause of trouble. I did not mean them to go into the Trash directly but now I cannot get them out again.

Any useful ideas short of restoring my main drive from a clone which I do have?

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Dec 31, 2020 3:47 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Graham Lindsay Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 31, 2020 5:05 PM in response to dialabrain

Yes. I have already disabled Time machine for the moment. I had planned, as a last resort, to erase Time Machine drive but I was hoping to keep the last few backups at least. Not a good way to commence the new year, but I guess a clean slate might be a useful way to go. I have all my data backed up daily on a separate disk (several, actually) so I won't lose that, just the convenience of recovering deleted files easily.

Thanks for the feedback. I will bite the bullet and fix the drive.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

122,885 points

Dec 31, 2020 4:10 PM in response to Graham Lindsay

The fastest, easiest thing to do is erase your Time Machine drive and start a new backup.

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Answer 3

Dec 31, 2020 4:52 PM in response to dialabrain

And will that remove the trashed files on my iMac?

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Answer 4

dialabrain

Level 10

122,885 points

Dec 31, 2020 4:57 PM in response to Graham Lindsay

The Time Machine files are not actually on your iMac. It will remove the Time Machine files listed in the Trash. You have to disable "Back Up Automatically" first in the Time Machine preferences.

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Answer 5

dialabrain

Level 10

122,885 points

Dec 31, 2020 5:07 PM in response to Graham Lindsay

You're welcome.

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Macos 11.1 Accidently put 1Tb of files into trash bin. How can I delete them quickly? They will take days or weeks to empty normally.

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