Emptying trash for selected volumes only

I want to empty trash but not on all volumes.

Hi, Bill. Welcome to the Discussions.
As baltwo noted, Mac OS X has a separate Trash, not only for every volume, but for every user on that volume. What you see in Trash is the union of all the different trashes associated with your account on every mounted volume. See my "Solving Trash Problems" FAQ for additional information.
The shareware utility Smart Trash will permit one to selectively empty the various Trashes. I've not used it, but it has received decent reviews.
PS: Do not use Trash as temporary storage! Do not put something in the Trash unless you mean to throw it away immediately.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Similar Messages

Trash - "preparing to empty trash" for 5 hours. there are 97,000 files. is this normal?

Trash - "preparing to empty trash" for 5 hours. there are 97,000 files. is this normal?

And with 97000 files it IS going to take a "while". Finder, in it's "infinite wisdom", counts the files and the deletes. It's bad enough if it's on an internal drive for that many files, but I can only imagine how long it would take with a USB or firewire external. If you are really sure you want to delete all that stuff then some choices might be,
1. Start the empty trash and go to bed! Maybe, just maybe, it will be done in the morning.
2. Use terminal to do it (won't supply the commands here, but it is a choice).
3. Try a third party utility which hopefully will empty the trash like you would from terminal. Try TrashIt.
Some related reading:
You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash
The X Lab: Solving Trash Problems

Have been unable to empty trash for the last 24hours, says it is being used by another task, how do I clear it. Thanks for any help.

Have been unable to empty trash for the last 24hours, says it is being used by another task, how do I clear it. Thanks for any help.

Generally when you get the resource in use error logging out or rebooting will take care of it. When a file just absolutely refuses to delete try restarting in Safe Mode (hold the left shift key after the computer restarts) and then empty the trash.

True Delete or Empty Trash on Single Volume?

Howdy, all!
I've done a bit of poking around and I think I have the answer to this question (though it isn't a particularly satisfying one), but I'm hoping I'm missing something.
I take photos on an SD card. I copy the JPGs to my laptop, JPG+RAW to NAS, and delete them off the card to make room for more photos. Simple, easy, been doing it this way to the tune of tens of thousands of photos on a PC for ten years.
This past week, at the worst possible time, I ran out of space on my SD card. WHAT?!? I just cleaned it off!!! Oops... turns out when deleting files off an SD card using mac, the files are stored in a local trash bin on the SD card, invisible to the camera so that the only way to free up room while out and about is to delete good, recent photos with no backup while backed-up trash remains.
Okay, so I'll have to be dilligent about emptying the trash on the SD card. Annoying, but I can do that. Problem being that emptying the trash does so on all volumes, including my hard drive, which defeats the purpose of the trash on my hard drive where I have the space to keep a nice, lengthy list of old files in case I realize a week down the road that I actually needed that.
No problem. I don't need to use the trash for the SD card. I've been doing this almost every day for ten years without incident. Except it appears that the only way to execute a true delete (bypassing the trash can) is via command line.
In short, if I understand correctly, my choices are either:
1) Empty my trash infrequently and run out of space on the SD card.
2) Empty my trash frequently and defeat the purpose of having a trashcan on my hard drive.
3) Do all of my (almost daily) SD deletions via command line.
Is there really no other way to do this? Because having only these three options is, to be blunt, completely asinine, and I'm having a really hard time believing this to be the case. Is there seriously NO way to empty the trash on an SD without also emptying the trash on the hard drive? Is there seriously NO way to delete a file and bypass the trash can without using the command line? These are the only options?!
Apologies for my incredulity. Trying to process this one. And thanks for the help, even if it's just confirmation that this is all correct.

I format all my cards on the Camera.
If this is really driving you batty, create an Automator Service to remove all the selected items.
This will work for anything you select in the Finder. The name that you save the service as will show up in the Services submenu of the contextual menu in the Finder. Just select all the things you want to delete, right-click on them, and choose your Service from the Services menu.
Here is an example. You can leave out the confirmation if you don't want to be bothered.
The code in the Shell Script action is:
rm -Rf "$@"
You should just copy and paste that into the action.
It says to remove, forcibly, all the items passed to it, and anything in any folders or subfolders passed.

Emptying Trash in Dock empties trash on all volumes?

If I have items in the trash from a number of external drives in additon to my internal HD, are they all deleted when I empty the Dock Trash?
Is there a way to empty the trash ONLY for a given external drive?

bobgoldstein wrote:
A related question: Is there a way to see what is in the trash for a given external drive? It seems that the only list of files in trash is the one you get when clicking on trash in the Dock. And that list seems to include only files that were moved to trash from the internal HD.
Yes, In Terminal, use ls, so:
ls /Volumes/"name of ext HD"/.Trash
substituting using the ext HD's actual name and retaining the quotes.
(You can use Tab Completion to help, so /Vol[tab] will expand to /Volumes/, then enter and you'll see all your Volumes. Continue with ls /Volumes/"name[tab]then .Tr[tab])

Empty Trash Securely is the only option

Since updating to Snow Leopard I only have one option to empty trash. It is a very slow method to empty trash securely and not able to complete the task. Is there an option to turn of empty securely?

Finder > Preferences > Advanced > Empty Trash securely

Can I change iTunes & iPod display font (not font size) for selected files only?

I loaded a Russian classical music CD into iTunes and iPod. On the original CD, titles, names etc. are written in cyrillic alphabet. Once I loaded the CD into iTunes and on iPod this info was displayed unreadably in western alphabet. Example: "Èæå õåðóâèìû..." (Í. Ãîëîâàíîâ)Õîð È.
I have cyrillic font on my Windows 7 computer. Can I change the display font--for only these selected iTunes music files--to the cyrillic font? Thanks!

Does any one know how you can adjust the font size (point size) for the file
names.
Sadly enough you can't chance that, feel free to add a feature request for
that, the more there ask for the bigger chance it will be realized.
It would be great if the colors for the image name (background and font color)
could be changed so the contrast could also be increased so it is also easier
to read.
And this the cheerful part, go to Bridge preferences General tap and play
with the sliders for user interface and Image Backdrop until your satisfied.
BTW using the slider for thumbnail size bottom right of the Bridge window to
increase the thumbs does not increase the font but makes it nevertheless a
little clearer.

How to set column widths in tables for selected table only, not globally throughout document?

I've been utilizing the below script (thank you so much Ramkumar. P!) to set column widths throughout a sizable InDesign book with tables on every page and it is truly a time saver. At this point in time, I have three versions of it because there are different column widths throughout the book. Is it possible to augment the script to run only on a selected text frame (containing a table)? If so, would someone be kind enough to share the augmented script with me? I've been trying to figure out this seemingly simple change through trial and error with no success as yet. I realize this is a totally newbie request and I'm entirely at the mercy of the kindness of the Javascript gods that contribute within this forum. Seeing that in a different post related to this script, one such guru responded to a request as simple as "Where do I put the scripts in InDesign" gave me enough courage to ask for some help! Thank you in advance to anyone willing to provide a solution.
var myDoc = app.activeDocument;
     var myWidths = [100, 100, 150, 150];
     for(var T=0; T < myDoc.textFrames.length; T++){
         for(var i=0; i < myDoc.textFrames[T].tables.length; i++){
             for(var j=0; j < myWidths.length; j++){
                 myDoc.textFrames[T].tables[i].columns[j].width = myWidths[j];
     alert("Table width updated successfully...");

Hello all
I have the same problem in that I'm not a scripting person, but was able to get the above script working without problem, and it does set irregular table column widths perfectly, so thanks to Ramkumar. P for that.
BUT, it changes the column width for ALL tables in the document, whereas I would like to just target the selected table.
Any ideas as to how I might amend this script to achieve this?
Thx, Christian

Journaled file system for startup volume only?

I have been told that the advantage of a journaled file system is only realized on the startup volume. Surely, protecting the critical startup files is first priority for most users, but does the advantage of a journaled file system apply to other drive volumes, too? Please explain why this is or is not true. Thanks.

Moof666 wrote:
I have been told that the advantage of a journaled file system is only realized on the startup volume. Surely, protecting the critical startup files is first priority for most users, but does the advantage of a journaled file system apply to other drive volumes, too? Please explain why this is or is not true. Thanks.
it applies to all drives but it's much less relevant for non startup drives. startup drives are being written to constantly and other drives are not. the likelihood of an external drive being written to at the moment of say a power outage is much smaller than that for the startup drive. therefore having journaling on on nonstartup drives is not as crucial. you can still do it though if you want to.
Message was edited by: V.K.

Delivery schedules print or output for selected materials only

Hi
We have schedule agreement LP document type which has 350 materials
Every time we transmit message to vendor we do not want to transmit all materials delivery schedules to vendor
we want to transmit only selected materials delivery schedules
how this can be achieved
We using copy of standard delivery schedule message type LPET
Please help
Thanks in advance

LPET includes all open deliveries in output and doesn't exclude even if they transmuted already

Emptying Trash for large iPhoto Library File on HDD not completing

I'm trying to delete an old iPhoto library (over 300GB) and it seems to hang when I try to empty the trash. This is on an external HDD. Any suggestions?

I will request that your query be relocated to the iPhoto forum where knowledgeable iPhoto users will be able to assist you.
Ciao.

Is it possible to clear history for select sites only?

I do not want to clear the entire history, just for sites i have accidentally visited or no longer visit yet continue to pop up in the browser field as suggestions whenever i begin typing a web address.

You can do a search in the Library (History > Show All History) or History sidebar for each website and select all pages with Ctrl+A and delete them via the right-click context menu or with the Delete key.

Emptying Trash w/o Empty Trash

i'm the type of person who like to keep his trash files for a period of time until i'm comfortable with emptying it. my ipod is set to diskmode and i use it to transfer files from home to work, some files large and small. is there a way to "empty trash" for just the ipod leaving my normal trash intact? i've been dieing to know if this was possible without a 3rd party app; secondly can i selectively empty trash by "emptying" certian files only??? (again w/o a 3rd party app)
i've done some searching, everyone seems to just say 'empty trash' but that is my problem, i only want to empty my ipod's trash. i have a 3G40gb.
thanx

Same advice I gave in your other post: search a compendium such as MacUpdate for "trash"; you'll find at least a couple of third-party addons that will allow deletion of trash on specific volumes.

Extra resilient can't empty trash

Despite force empty trash & trying Cocktail I am left with this message: "The operation could not be completed because the item ".$$ Stuffit Temp 1119228617" is in use."
In the trash resides 3 nested folders all labled "Trash" with nothing in the innermost. I would assume one could thank Stuffit for this gift.
I've read some risky options for using Terminal to accomplish the mission. Any safer suggestions would be appreciated.
(BTW: software UTD, permissions repaired, PRAM reset)
Thanks!

OK, you're saying everything is in your Trash?
If so, try the following:
Warning: Typographical error or misuse of the "rm -rf" command can result in data loss. Insertion of a space in the wrong place could result in the complete deletion of data on your hard disk, for example. You may wish to copy and paste the commands below into a text editor to verify spacing.
Important: There is no space between "/" and ".Trash" or ".Trashes" below.
sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/
sudo rm -rf /.Trashes/
sudo rm -rf /Volumes/<volumename>/.Trashes/
Note: To end the sudo session, you should either execute the exit command, or log out of Mac OS X and then log back in.
Respectively, this permanently deletes all files in the current user's Trash, the startup volume Trash, and the Trash for other volumes (if any). These commands cannot delete locked files. You have to unlock them first.
Note: The sudo command can be used to temporarily obtain super user status and change permissions on files that otherwise could not be changed. However, it is only available if you are logged in with an administrator account, and it requires an administrator account user password for authentication.
See full article on this subject HERE.
 MBP Core2Duo  Mac Pro 2x3Ghz Intel Mini  2G Shuffle, U2 iPods Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Very large trash for iPhoto '09

I was negligent in emptying the trash in iPhoto '09 - over 9k photos. I've tried to empty it now, but it seems to hang (non-responsive when I look to force-quit). I've given it hours to do the job, but it doesn't seem to work. Do I have any options to clear the trash? I'm starting to get hangups in the program.
I'm thinking about going to Aperture 3. Will switching handle my problem or will it just find me there?

This worked for me with iPhoto 11:
Open iPhoto trash. I had 30,000 images and stuff there. Don't press EMPTY TRASH.
Select a bunch of photos - I did about 2,000 at a time.
CMD+DEL them.
Repeat with another bunch.
Three minutes and a bit more to close down the program.
Sorted!

Emptying trash for selected volumes only

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for