ERASE TRASH

Move everything out of Trash to a new folder.

Then put back in the Trash what you want to delete.

Empty Trash.

If you want it really gone then use Secure Empty of Trash found by Command + Right Click

It is highly recommended that you do not store files or folders in Trash. If they are in Trash then the system is not able to access them. Also any backup software ignores everything in Trash hence you have no backup protection for anything stored in Trash.

Allan

You can Empty the Trash or not. You can't selectively Empty certain files. To do that you have to remove what you don't want to remove from the Trash.

Despite what you have been doing so far in terms of utilizing the Trash Bin as a temp holding area for possible deleted items, you really need to elevate your thought process to think of that bin no different than you think of your own trash can in the kitchen or somewhere else in your house. I don't think you make a habit of pruning through that trash when it's time to take it out and say "Oh, I don't want that thrown out just yet.".

If it's any consolation, I too do this sometimes with my trash because I was so used to doing it with my Windows based trash bin, but Apple doesn't see it as a place to selectively delete items. To them, Trash is trash (no longer needed). I personally have two levels of trash. There's stuff I don't want filed anywhere else anymore, but may run into the odd chance I may need to dig it back up in a few days to a few months, and then there's stuff I just don't want anymore. To me keeping those "I may need these later... maybe" files in the Trash bin made sense from the standpoint that if they did get deleted, no big deal, if not, at least I can still go to one area and find them. I do the same with emails. If I truly do not want it, it's Shift+Del for a permanent deletion. A normal delete that takes it to the deleted items bin is a "Soft Delete" to me. 😉

Thanks for the clarification on why so many Windows users useTrash in that fashion.

Having started out using Apple and only switching to Windows later as a condition of employment, I never was able to understand why Windows users did that with their Trash. To me it was so much easier to just put something in Trash and then empty Trash.

Allan

Yes, I think the biggest issue is how Mac people treat locations as opposed to PC people. Mac users have always been of the thought of Folder and Files and PC people came from DOS days of directories and such. To me, it's just another location and while Mac people don't seem to mind having files all over the place on the desktop or in their Documents folder with no hierarchy at all. I think sometimes Mac people depend too much on the "filing" capabilities that OSX has in terms of presenting the user with their files wherever they are. For me, as a root PC person at heart, I have to have order when I file my stuff and I like knowing where I put it. I guess this is why I don't like using Playlists in iTunes and I always do my own filing in there so I can put songs in proper directory structures for Album membership, etc. It's weird, I know, but that's how I think.

I can't tell you how many times I have walked up to a user on a Mac that's complaining about not being able to find something all of a sudden and I ask them where they saved it and they look at me like I'm crazy. "Where did you save it? What folder did you put it under?" "What do you mean? I just click on Save and then when I want to go back to it, I just open it up off the recently used items list." :rolleyes: Yep, thanks for being organized Mr. User. lol

That might be the way you work with your files but it is certainly not the way the vast majority of Windows users whose PC I have seen do things. They appear to me to have far less of a concept of the disk structure then most Mac users from what I have seen.

Allan

I don't agree with that. A ton of PC users at least know what drive they put something on when it comes to network shares. A Mac user... not so much, and that has a lot to do with how a Mac handles volume shares/mounts. Their biggest issue is navigation and knowing where stuff is. Anyway, like I said, there's novice Mac users and novice PC users. Both of them share their own issues with knowing where they put stuff. I don't understand why anyone has such a hard issue with knowing where they put something. I think these the same people who can't ever find their keys in the morning. 😝

One "ton" of users? A ton is 2000 pounds. The average male weighs 185 lbs. So a "ton of PC users" is roughly 12 people. I don't see that as overwhelming proof of anything.

Kappy wrote:

One "ton" of users? A ton is 2000 pounds. The average male weighs 185 lbs. So a "ton of PC users" is roughly 12 people. I don't see that as overwhelming proof of anything.

GTFOH smarty.