Quicker way to empty trash

hello,
is there a faster way to empty the trash bin if there are an excessive amount of files to empty?
for some reason, my boss refuses to empty the trash frequently and he now has over 150,000 files that are emptying, very slow process.
thanks for any tips.

There is alot of overhead in using the Finder's Empty Trash. For most trashes its not an issue, but when the number of items gets HUGE (like 150,000) it can slow things down alot. Mostly during the 'pre-flight' stage. Simple solution is to launch /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and type:
rm -rf ~/.Trash
killall Finder
This will blow away the users trash folder and when the Finder comes back up, it will create a new trash folder for that user. 'rm -rf' doesn't have the preflight overhead that the Finder has. It just blows the folder and its contents away. I wouldn't recommend it for every day emptying of the trash, because the Finder's pre-flight actually has a purpose (catching files that are locked or you don't have permission to delete for example). For this one time thing, it is fine. Good luck...

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Updating Software/Removing --Is there a way to "empty trash" like on a PC?

I just updated to the latest software for the 8300 Curve.....I removed a few things I didn't need as well. Is there a way to "empty trash" and free up space like on a PC or does it automatically just do that? Thank you! Aimee

Your question relates more to using a computer than an iPad...
Have you had a look here...
Ipad User Guide
and here...
http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/basics/

No way to empty trash.. I tried every way!

Hi there!
It's been about a week now that I have in my trash some files, I can't delete them.
When I try to secure empty it from finder, I get error code -36.
(The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “” can’t be read or written.
(Error code -36)
So, I try to empty it via onyX app, nothing happens...
I try the known "sudo" way from terminal,
(First open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities). Typecd ~/.Trash and press Return. Then, type sudo rm -R followed by a space (don’t leave out the space character—it’s essential). Don’t press Return yet.
Next, click the Trash icon in your Dock to open a window displaying the contents of the Trash. Select everything in that window and drag it into the Terminal window; this action adds the paths of all those files and folders to the rm(remove) command. Now, press Return and enter your administrator password when prompted.)
NOTHING AGAIN...
Is there any other way to try empty my trash???
Thank you in advance.

Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on resolving Trash issues.

Quick way to empty mailbox folders?

I hope there is a way to send bulk email to trash....

You can mass delete now. Look in your e-mail list and you'll see 'edit' in the upper right. Tap on that then choose the mails in question, then tap on 'trash' in the bottom right of that list.

How 'EMPTY TRASH'? I know the 'keybord shortcut'. Isn't there a E-Z pulldown way?

HOW EMPTY TRASH?
I would just like to know an easy way to pull down something from the screen top and empty my trash.
I only know 2 ways to EMPTY TRASH in Snow Leopard:
1) I know the KEYBOARD SHORTCUT for EMPTY TRASH.
& I know how to do it this way:
2) OPEN TRASH BASKET. Then go to top of screen to PULL down APPLE's 'HELP' & TYPE 'EMPTY TRASH' : then click on "EMPTY TRASH" when it appears as the answer (It won't give me the darn answer! it just does it when i click for it to give me the answer!). This empties the trash.
& PS: WHAT is the other selection in Apple 'HELP' when i type 'Empty Trash' it also offers this: 'SECURE EMPTY TRASH"?
I even went to 'Mac Basics' but apparently my question is just to basic for them to show an obvious answer.
Thanks.

thelnukus wrote:
What is the difference between 'Empty Trash' and 'Secure Empty Trash' ??
For "Secure Empty Trash" read: OS X Mountain Lion: Prevent deleted files from being read
"When you delete files, the disk space that the files occupied is available for use. However, until that section of the disk is overwritten with new data, the information from the file is still on the disk and can be retrieved by programs that read raw data.
If you want to delete files that contain sensitive information, you can place them in the Trash, and then use Secure Empty Trash to overwrite the information so it is completely removed.
Drag the items into the Trash, and then choose Finder > Secure Empty Trash.
Using Secure Empty Trash takes a bit longer than simply emptying the Trash.
If you are using disk encryption, you can set it to automatically overwrite your deleted files.
If you want to erase a hard disk and be sure no information is left, you can use one of the secure erase options in Disk Utilities. For more information on using secure erase, see Disk Utility Help."
Also: OS X Lion: Remove files and folders from your computer

Emptying Trash is rubbish

It used to be, in the pre-snow leopard days, that emptying the trash was a non event. It just worked quickly and consistently.
With snow leopard, it's a dangerous affair. It takes ages (5++ minutes), it hangs while it spawns a Locum process which runs at 198% CPU utilisation, the imac heats up, the fan switches in. Its rubbish.
This has nothing to do with secure/unsecure empty. It's just as bad with both. The only safe way to empty trash is using the terminal command line.
Surely It can't be that hard to implement.
Has anyone experienced this and solved it. if so how
TIA

If a hard disk becomes too full it can make simple system operations take forever. Maybe what triggered this is your attempting to trash a certain large file you shouldn't have, and its being stuck in the process trying to delete each time you empty the trash. First take a look here*
http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
To make sure your system is neither too full, and you haven't attempted to delete a system important file.
One thing many delete thinking it is maintenance, which it is not, is system cache files. These actually are important for the system to run fast. Strangely, so called "maintenance" tools like Onyx, Macaroni and others do this as part of their "one trick pony" approaches to system maintenance. If you have used one these utilities, stop now, as you may have set up yourself for failure by using them
- * links to my pages may give me compensation.
Message was edited by: a brody

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.

Empty trash automatically sooner than 30 days??

Any way to empty trash automatically sooner than 30 days?? In preferences, it states that messages will be deleted from trash in 30 days. I do not want deleted mail hanging around that long. I have applied rules to certain spam/junk emails which moves them directly to the trash when it comes in, but I do not want this mail sitting in my trash... I want it gone! I would actually prefer to have this junk automatically bounced or removed altogether, but there is no option to do that. I hate the fact that there is so little customization possible with the iCloud mail.

You can delete individual messages from a conversation or delete entire conversations
Go in to Messages - look for the Edit button at the top left - clicking it will enable you to select multiple conversations that you can delete
For deleting individual messages - you have to open the conversation - then tap and hold your finger on a message till you get the "More" pop up. Click on "More" and that as well as other messages become select-able and there is a trash can at the left bottom to click on when you are done selecting them

I tried to manually clear my Time Machine back up drive (a La Cie). But now the Trash is filled with files (over 130,000) and it doesn't seem to want to trash them - how do I get rid of them now in a quicker way?

I tried to manually clear my Time Machine back up drive (a La Cie) of some of the older backups. But now the Trash is filled with files (over 130,000) and it doesn't seem to want to trash them - it's taking forever!! how do I get rid of them now in a quicker way?

dear Sue
i've tried the alt solution to empty trash but it does not work
I still got the -8003 error
for emptying time machine backups that i foolishly put in the trash
i've also tried this solution using terminal and it did not work either
http://www.imore.com/how-force-empty-trash-your-mac-using-terminal
any help you might offer would be greatly appreciated
i am using a 24 inch iMac
OSX 10.6.8
Message was edited by: summer_laughter

Empty trash quickly

I have over 100,000 files in my trash. I know there's a command to empty the trash or delete all the files at once. Can someone let me know what this is or if there is another way to get rid of these files quickly?
Does TM copy trashed files? That could be the reason I have no more room and I get errors trying to backup with SuperDuper.
The problem that led to this - I tried to completely erase the files from an external drive. I got a message "unable to unmount disk" or something like that. So I erased the files. I guess I should have gotten to the bottom of why I couldn't use disk utility to erase my files. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

Can someone let me know what this is or if there is another way to get rid of these files quickly?
Press Shift, Command and Delete keys to empty Trash.
Does TM copy trashed files?
Time Machine backups everything, so trashed files are included in it

Why is emptying trash so slow? Is there a way to make it faster?

I am trying to clean up my external hard drives, by moving things to trash. There are several several items, but this is A MacBook PRO and I thought emptying trash would be a fast process. It's taken about 24 hours to delete roughly 200 items. Is there a faster way to delete stuff?

Relaunch the Finder, then from the Finder menu bar, select
Finder ▹ Preferences... ▹ Advanced
and uncheck the box marked
Empty Trash securely
Try again to empty the Trash.

IS there anpossible ways to retreive a file after it was erased and emptied trash bin?, IS there anpossible ways to retreive a file after it was erased and emptied trash bin?

Is there any possible way to retreive an erased file aftyer emptied trash bin?

Buy a disk drive. Use TimeMachine. Put a 2nd partition that you use to clone your system.
Have 2-3 sets of your files: active working files, backup #1 and backup #2
Mac OS X Help
http://www.apple.com/support/macbasics/
Isolating Issues in Mac OS
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1388
https://www.apple.com/support/osx/
https://www.apple.com/support/quickassist/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/help/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/tour/
Get Help with your Product
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304725
Mac OS Printing/Fax (any version), OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion
http://www.apple.com/support/osx/
printing in OS X Mountain Lion
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4670
TimeMachine 101
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
Mac OS X & Mountain Lion Community
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/os_x_mountain_lion?view=discussio ns
Recovery Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
ExpressLane
https://expresslane.apple.com/
Direct you to the proper forum for MacBook :
MacBook Series Forums
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks?view=discussions

Emptying trash, Any way to speed it up?

It takes hours to empty my trash. Any way to speed it up?

In Finder>Preferences>Advanced you don't have Empty Trash securely checked, do you?
Matt

What is the best way to empty my iPhoto trash when there are more than 1,700 photos in it?

I never realized there was a Trash in iPhoto. Fortunately, I was reading a discussion on another iPhoto topic, and read that emptying iPhoto trash with more than 100 photos in it may mess up the database. Any suggestions for how to delete 1,7000+ photos from the iPhoto trash?

Make sure you have a good backup and then right click and empty trash.
If the database gets corrupted, you can hold CMD OPT while clicking on iPhoto in the dock and get the options to rebuild.
Regards,
Captfred

Can't Empty Trash With Large Number of Files

Running OS X 10.8.3
I have a very large external drive that had a Time Machine backup on the main partition. At some point, I created a second partition, then started doing backups on the new partition. On Wed, I finally got around to doing some "housecleaning" tasks I'd been putting off. As part of that, I decided to clean up my external drive. So... I moved the old, unused and unwanted Backups.backupdb that used to be the Time Machine backup, and dragged it to the Trash.
Bad idea.
Now I've spent the last 3-4 days trying various strategies to actually empty the trash and reclaim the gig or so of space on my external drive. Initially I just tried to "Empty Trash", but that took about four hours to count up the files just to "prepare to delete" them. After the file counter stopped counting up, and finally started counting down... "Deleting 482,832 files..." "Deleting 482,831 files..." etc, etc... I decided I was on the path to success, so left the machine alone for 12-14 hours.
When I came back, the results were not what I expected. "Deleting -582,032 files..." What the...?
So after leaving that to run for another few hours with no results, I stopped that process. Tried a few other tools like Onyx, TrashIt, etc... No luck.
So finally decided to say the **** with the window manager, pulled up a terminal, and cd'ed to the .Trash directory for my UID on the USB volume and did a rm -rfv Backups.backupdb
While it seemed to run okay for a while, I started getting errors saying "File not found..." and "Invalid file name..." and various other weird things. So now I'm doing a combination of rm -rfing individual directories, and using the finder to rename/cleanup individual Folders when OSX refuses to delete them.
Has anyone else had this weird overflow issue with deleting large numbers of files in 10.8.x? Doesn't seem like things should be this hard...

I'm not sure I understand this bit:
If you're on Leopard 10.5.x, be sure you have the "action" or "gear" icon in your Finder's toolbar (Finder > View > Customize Toolbar). If there's no toolbar, click the lozenge at the upper-right of the Finder window's title bar. If the "gear" icon isn’t in the toolbar, selectView > Customize Toolbar from the menubar.
Then use the Time Machine "Star Wars" display: Enter Time Machine by clicking the Time Machine icon in your Dock or select the TM icon in your Menubar.
And this seems to defeat the whole purpose:
If you delete an entire backup, it will disappear from the Timeline and the "cascade" of Finder windows, but it will not actually delete the backup copy of any item that was present at the time of any remaining backup. Thus you may not gain much space. This is usually fairly quick
I'm trying to reclaim space on a volume that had a time machine backup, but that isn't needed anymore. I'm deleting it so I can get that 1GB+ of space back. Is there some "official" way you're supposed to delete these things where you get your hard drive space back?

Quicker way to empty trash

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