How to erase hidden files?

Hello.
I've been fixing with my external drive, and deleted some files when I was going to move to a new 27" iMac.
When moving the hard drive to the new computer I had forgot to emty the trash and all the files that I've been deleting from my old computer is now taking up space on the drive. -Yes I DID emty the trash after I've disconnected the HD
So, how do I remove those 200GB of space without re-formatting my HD?
Thank you.

Then visit
The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on resolving Trash problems. And, be sure that this drive actually has the trashed files, not another drive. Are these files truly hidden as in invisible files? If so, then you might try making invisible files visible:
Enable Finder to Show Invisible Files and Folders
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder
To turn off the display of invisible files and folders enter or paste the following command line and press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
killall Finder
Alternatively you can use one of the numerous third-party utilities such as TinkerTool or ShowHideInvisibleFiles - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

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Welcome to Apple Support Communities
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How to erase hidden files?

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