We can move unwanted files and folders from the local computer or external hard drive to the trash on Mac. Those files and folders will not be deleted from the trash immediately, unless they are emptied from the trash, they will still occupy the storage space of the computer and external hard disk. Sometimes when we click the "Empty Trash" operation, all files and folders in the Mac startup disk have been deleted from the trash, but some files and folders in the external hard drive are still in the trash. Is there any way to remove those files and folder from the external hard drive trash?
Although all trash files are stored in the dock trash, the file location of the trash files from the external hard drive is different from the trash files in the Mac local disk. They are /Volumes/externaldiskname/.Trashes and /Users/currentusername/.Trash. In addition, the file permissions of different files and folders may be different.
Whether the application associated with this files and folders is running
If you know which application these files and folders come from, run Activity Monitor.app(/Applications/Utilities) to check whether a process of the application is running in the background. If so, please quit the process and empty Trash again.
Use the Safe mode on your Mac
Safe mode prevents your Mac from loading certain software as it starts up, including login items, system extensions not required by macOS, and fonts not installed by macOS. When you turn on or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key as your Mac starts up, release the key when you see the login window, then log in to your Mac. Have a try to empty Trash in the safe mode.
Use Better Trash to delete
If these files and folders have not been deleted from the trash, we recommend using Better Trash's forced deletion function to delete them (this is a third-party application), you need to download and install Better Trash on your Mac. Run it, then click the application icon in the menu bar, and then click the "Force Empty Trash" menu item.
Then it click the Empty Trash button to confirm to deleted in the waning window. Then the deletion process will start in the background, all remaining files in the trash will be deleted after a period of time, and the deletion time depends on the number of files.
Better Trash also provides some features - Secure Delete, Auto Empty Trash and View Trash Source, it will help us to automatically delete trash files, and check the source location of trash files and folders, which will help us to remove all trash files from the external hard drive only.
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