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Emptying trash for only certain files?

1. Is there a way to empty only certain files from the trash without emptying all of the files?

2. When a USB jump drive is plugged in, is there a way to empty the trash for just those files and not for the Mac?

Thanks.

Macpro, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Mar 22, 2011 10:25 AM

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Posted on Mar 22, 2011 10:27 AM

Is there a way to empty only certain files from the trash without emptying all of the files?


Not without using the UNIX command line or third-party software. If you think you might want to keep something, the only copy of it shouldn't be in the trash.

When a USB jump drive is plugged in, is there a way to empty the trash for just those files and not for the Mac?


See above.

(57371)
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Mar 22, 2011 10:27 AM in response to Mark P1

Is there a way to empty only certain files from the trash without emptying all of the files?


Not without using the UNIX command line or third-party software. If you think you might want to keep something, the only copy of it shouldn't be in the trash.

When a USB jump drive is plugged in, is there a way to empty the trash for just those files and not for the Mac?


See above.

(57371)

Mar 22, 2011 10:32 AM in response to Mark P1

Hi Mark,

The trash isn't designed to be a holding bin. Anything you put in Trash you should be certain you want trashed. You might try creating a Desktop folder called "Move to Trash" for that purpose. AFA

If it's a boot=able drive and you're booted from it, you should only see the files in .Trash for that drive.


User uploaded file
-mj

Mar 22, 2011 10:34 AM in response to Mark P1

Ain't this rich? can't selectively restore (leave it for future), doesn't show where it came from (path), just that it has been part of Windows since at least Vista 4.5 yrs ago.

Also does not allow concurrent operations (not multi-threaded) and can't send multiple deletes at same time to the trash, or, empty at the same time.

Yup, modern OS! 🙂

Mar 22, 2011 10:59 AM in response to The hatter

I often times have to plug my USB jump drive or external drive into other people's Macs and I do not want to empty their trash, though my drive might be full because of the files I deleted from it, though the trash needs to be emptied to free up the space. This prevents me from copying files from their Mac to my drive.

This happens quite often and I am always curious why there isn't a way to just delete files from the drive and not the Mac.

Mar 25, 2011 9:42 PM in response to Mark P1

Okay, smartaleks... is there really no way to do a selective purge of the Trash bin?

My Aperture library just crashed a week ago. Aperture First Aid won't get past the first step "Examining Library", and I'm trying to create some disk space (hoping that is the problem but I really doubt it) without purging everything that is the trash bin.

This should be a basic function. Of course, as much as I've enjoyed the power of Aperture for the past few months, losing five months worth of versions and edits (I have the originals, but that's a small consolation) -- and the inability to do a basic selective purge of the trash bin -- has me starting to regret the migration away from Windows. If you must know, I'm trying to only purge the video files captured from my miniDV camcorder, as those are fairly easy to recapture but take a boatload of disk space.

Mar 25, 2011 10:01 PM in response to Király

Yeah, that's sorta helpful. Usually we'd say that the software is only as smart as the user of the software, but that's not true for this.

Ideally I could toggle back and forth with certain files (such as ApertureData.xml) in the trash while attempting to rebuild the stupid Aperture database. Now I can only toggle the files back and forth to where ever I copied them out of Trash to.

This is basic functionality that is apparently missing.

Mar 26, 2011 5:14 AM in response to Jay_Lo

Just make an Automator Service that accepts files and folders in Finder as input and add a run shell script action with this command:

rm "$@"

Set the Pass input as arguments. Save it and name it something like Delete Now!!eleventyUser uploaded file. Right-click on the things in the trash and select your command from the Services menu (or it might be directly on the contextual menu if you only have a few Services active).

Mar 26, 2011 8:59 AM in response to Jay_Lo

This should be a basic function.


No, it should not. Users should NOT be encouraged to keep files in the trash that they are not ready to delete. That is dangerous. They will very easily be lost - it just takes the one right mistaken keypress to delete them all with no confirmation dialog. On top of that, most backup software does not back up anything that is in the trash. Anyone keeping things in the trash that are not definitively trash has a very poorly-thought-out and dangerous workflow that needs to be reconsidered.

Emptying trash for only certain files?

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