Why you should always check your hard drives And this is why most people can still get their deleted data retrieved. The reason why computers are programmed this way is it's easier to remove the copy of the file instead of having it overwritten in the hard drive. Although this only retrieves the most recent version of the deleted file.
If you accidentally and permanently delete a file, you can recover it using reliable data recovery software and retrieve the file straight from the hard drive. The file will remain there until another file replaces that file in the exact location. Although you can no longer see the file on the location it once was and your operating system no longer has it, a copy of it still exists in your hard drive. Whenever you delete a file in your computer and empty your Recycle Bin, your data is not entirely wiped out from your computer. So, there is no need to blame your employee for supposedly forgetting to delete that old confidential file or your IT guy for not setting up your data backup and security right. Unless digitally shredded or completely wiped out from all your storage resources, your financial and personal data remains at risk. You may not know it but not cleaning your Recycle bin and hard drives may allow hackers and scammers to recover long-forgotten confidential data that would bring potential danger to your organisation. So, all deleted files (in Windows) can now only be retrieved through your computer hard drive. Whether you accidentally or intentionally deleted any critical data, you can still easily retrieve them here before you permanently remove them from your system. You can treat the Recycle Bin as the last frontier for the data you wish to delete. When you "Empty Trash" in the Finder, it will empty all of your Trash folders on each mounted volume.Isn’t deleting files from the Recycle Bin enough to permanently delete data? You were right in thinking that the actual files are not moved from that volume. When you move files on the memory stick to the Trash, they stay on that volume in the hidden. What you should know is that OS X maintains a separate Trash on each mounted volume.
Any suggestions? Sorry if this is a stupidly simple question, havnt had my mac long I can then click and drag them back onto the memory stick and they go back on instantly.even transferring 1.7Gb is done in an instant, no loading delay to transfer the files, which suggests that the actual files themselves and their 'mass' are not removed, only the names in the window are removed. The 'free space' bit at the bottom of the window doesnt change, but the files are in my trash can. If i eject it afterwards then plug it back in the files arent there but there is no more spare space.
Whenever i plug in a memory stick (flash drive thingy) into my macbook and try to delete files from it i can click and drag them into the trash (and right click - move to trash) but it doesnt actually free up any space on the thing. "Cannot delete files from flash drive / memory stick" Here's the conversation text in case the link doesn't work or not longer exists:
I found the following discussion on Apple Communities very helpful in answering my question. They won't appear in the drive folder, but they will appear in the trash folder where I last left them.Īlso the available space on the USB Drive would not change even though I moved those items to the Trash.Īs a solution I had to empty the Trash in order to gain back the available disk space. Those items in the trash would disappear once I ejected and then reappear when I reinserted the USB Drive. Now that I use a Mac I wondered why I was not given the same error message since I currently had items in the Trash from the USB Drive. Turns out that I had to empty the trash before safely removing.
When I deleted things from a USB Drive on my old Windows PC and then attempted to "safely remove" (aka eject) the hardware, I was given an error message saying that the files were currently in use and that it could not be ejected. Items moved to the Trash from the USB Drive will disappear once it's ejected and then they'll reappear back in the Trash when it's reinserted.
To free up USB Drive disk space, empty the trash before ejecting it.
TLDR: Mac OS maintains a separate trash on each mounted volume.