How can I move data WITHOUT copying it ?

Question

ThePussycat Author

Level 1

15 points

How can I move data WITHOUT copying it ?

Hi Guys,

A few days ago, the Apple Store gave me a free "upgrade" on my MacBook Pro, from 10.6.8 to 10.7.3.

However, Apple's gift has turned into a nightmare for me.

I'm far too busy with work deadlines to have time for the 10.7.3 learning curve at the moment.

Instead, I just want to go back to the pleasingly predictable 10.6.8.

Therefore, I'm going to back up all my data onto an external hard drive, then completely erase the internal hard drive, and just start again, with a clean install of 10.6.8.

However, in order to do that, I first need to retrieve a 200 GB folder from the Trash.

The folder which is in the Trash has NOT been deleted.

Instead, it's just sitting in the Trash, waiting to be deleted.

However, when I attempt to drag the 200 GB folder out of the Trash, and put it back on the Desktop, 10.7.3 starts copying the entire folder, instead of what 10.6.8 would have done, which would have simply moved the folder onto the Desktop without copying it.

In plain English, all I want to do is MOVE a 200 GB folder out of the Trash, onto the desktop, WITHOUT copying the folder.

Simple in 10.6.8.

An apparent impossibility in 10.7.3.

I've tried holding the Command key down while dragging the folder out of the Trash, but that doesn't work.

If you know of a workaround, which would apply to the ENTIRE hard drive, plus ALL external hard drives, even if it has to be a Command Line which I type into Terminal, that would be brilliant.

Please help.

Many thanks.

Best,

Michael T

London, England

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. 4 GB RAM

Posted on May 24, 2012 1:44 PM

Reply

Answer 1

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

May 24, 2012 2:15 PM in response to ThePussycat

How did this folder get into the trash? There's clearly something wrong, and that may give some insight as to what. Also, run the following command in the Terminal and paste the results back here:

ls -al ~/.Trash

Also, do the same with this command:

ls -al ~/Desktop

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Answer 2

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

May 24, 2012 2:40 PM in response to ThePussycat

I saw on your other topic that the 200 GB folder is in the trash on an external drive... That is that problem. If you try to drag it to the desktop, which is actually a folder on your boot drive, then it MUST copy. Even if you force it to move, that just means that it will delete the original on the external after copying.

Perhaps you could be more clear on what exactly you're trying to do with that folder, and with the external drive it's stored on, so that we can advise you how to better achieve your goal.

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Answer 3

ThePussycat Author

Level 1

15 points

May 24, 2012 2:42 PM in response to thomas_r.

Hi Thomas,

Thank you again for another very swift response.

The folder got into the Trash because I'm an idiot who didn't think he needed it anymore.

Then I thought: hold on a minute. I'll pull that back out of the Trash before I delete it, JUST in case.

And thank goodness I did.

Here are the Terminal results:

Last login: Thu May 24 21:10:04 on ttys000

unknown-00-25-00-4c-8b-0f:~ michaelthorne$

unknown-00-25-00-4c-8b-0f:~ michaelthorne$ ls -al ~/.Trash

total 32

drwx------ 4 michaelthorne staff 136 24 May 22:01 .

drwxr-xr-x+ 17 michaelthorne staff 578 24 May 17:28 ..

-rw-r--r--@ 1 michaelthorne staff 12292 24 May 22:01 .DS_Store

drwxr-xr-x 5 michaelthorne staff 170 24 May 21:52 untitled folder

unknown-00-25-00-4c-8b-0f:~ michaelthorne$

unknown-00-25-00-4c-8b-0f:~ michaelthorne$ ls -al ~/Desktop

total 48

drwx------+ 8 michaelthorne staff 272 24 May 22:01 .

drwxr-xr-x+ 17 michaelthorne staff 578 24 May 17:28 ..

-rw-r--r--@ 1 michaelthorne staff 21508 24 May 22:01 .DS_Store

-rw-r--r-- 1 michaelthorne staff 0 18 Sep 2004 .localized

drwxr-xr-x 12 michaelthorne staff 408 24 May 17:23 22.05.12

drwxr-xr-x@ 3 michaelthorne staff 102 15 Apr 2011 Mail.app

drwxr-xr-x 7 michaelthorne staff 238 24 May 16:42 V2 copy

drwxr-xr-x 7 michaelthorne staff 238 24 May 19:30 salvation

unknown-00-25-00-4c-8b-0f:~ michaelthorne$

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Answer 4

ThePussycat Author

Level 1

15 points

May 24, 2012 2:56 PM in response to ThePussycat

Hello again, Thomas,

Many thanks for yet another swift response.

Fair comment that if I'm attempting to move a 200 GB folder out of the EXTERNAL HD's Trash, onto the INTERNAL HD's icon, then the OS HAS to copy.

However, instead, what I've been trying to do is to simply move the folder out of the EXTERNAL HD's Trash onto the EXTERNAL HD's icon, whilst holding down the Command key.

10.7.3 doesn't like what I'm trying to do, and is insisting that it copies, not just moves, the 200 GB folder.

The external HD is a 500 GB Toshiba SATA 2.5, running at 5400 RPM. It's six months old.

The internal HD is a 500 GB Hitachi Travelstar SATA 2.5, running at 5400 RPM. It's four days old.

I believe that both disks are very clean and happy.

Many thanks.

Best,

M

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Answer 5

May 24, 2012 3:24 PM in response to ThePussycat

How about the results of "ls -ale ~/.Trash"?

Also, you'll want to read all about OS X ACLs here:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/mac/introduction-to-os-x-access-control-lists-a cls/1048

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Answer 6

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

May 24, 2012 5:37 PM in response to ThePussycat

However, instead, what I've been trying to do is to simply move the folder out of the EXTERNAL HD's Trash onto the EXTERNAL HD's icon, whilst holding down the Command key.

The command key should not be necessary, just dragging from one location to another on the external hard drive should move it, not copy it. But, as mentioned on the other topic you were posting on, permissions can get in the way. Thus the tests I had you do... which were, unfortunately, totally useless, since it was an external drive's trash! 😀

Repeat those tests with the following commands:

ls -al /Volumes

ls -al /Volumes/NameOfExtDrive/.Trashes

(...replacing "NameOfExtDrive" with the appropriate name, of course.)

Note that you can insert the "/Volumes/NameOfExtDrive" part by simply dragging the external drive onto the Terminal window. If there are spaces or other odd characters in the name of the drive, that will be the preferred method for doing it, so you don't have to worry about how to encode those characters so they don't break the command.

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Answer 7

noula

Level 1

4 points

Jun 9, 2013 3:46 PM in response to ThePussycat

1- In the Terminal, type: sudo mv

2- type a space

3- drag the folder you want to move into the Terminal window

4- type a space

5- drag the folder where you want to move to into the Terminal window

6- provide your password when prompted

7- done.

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Answer 8

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,116 points

Jun 9, 2013 5:39 PM in response to noula

That's not going to change the end result. Since the originals are on a different physical drive, the mv command is still going to result in a copy to the desktop. A move can only occur quickly on the same drive/partition.

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Answer 9

noula

Level 1

4 points

Jun 10, 2013 2:51 PM in response to ThePussycat

I reenacted the problem as stated by the user ThePyssycat: I moved a large file to the trash of my external drive, then moved it to the desktop of my internal drive WITHOUT COPYING. This answers as well the original question that no one wanted to answer here (user Drockne's problem):

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3273613

As it is, moving a file from your desktop to your (internal) HD just needs authentication, but moving it back (or moving any other file or folder from that location) to your desktop can only be done with the sudo mv command.

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Answer 10

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,116 points

Jun 10, 2013 3:05 PM in response to noula

I moved a large file to the trash of my external drive, then moved it to the desktop of my internal drive WITHOUT COPYING.

Sorry, but literally impossible. When you put a file in the trash that is on an external drive, it is moved to the hidden trash folder of the same drive it is on.

I duplicated your procedure. Put a 400MB file in the trash from an external drive, then moved it to my desktop. I needed no authentication to move the file in the trash to my desktop. All I did was drag it out while holding the Command key so it would move, rather than copy.

But, here's the thing. When you do that, it's still a copy. A move to another physical drive/partition is always a copy. The item is copied, and when the copy is complete, the original is deleted. It cannot be done instantly in any way as it can be when an item is moved on the same drive.

So when I "moved" the 400MB file out of the trash, the OS first, and rather obviously, copied it to the desktop before clearing that entry from the trash.

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