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JulesJ

JulesJ

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Simple question. How can I get rid of half the stuff in my Trash (ie the oldest half) without emptying it all? Without the hassle of copying it all back onto the desktop and splitting it in two etc etc.
Jules

--

A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know. Arbus.
 
You can't. Trash is trash. If you are concerned about deleting something you later decide you really need then you should be using TimeMachine. Then you don't have to worry about emptying the trash.
 
JulesJ said:
Simple question. How can I get rid of half the stuff in my Trash (ie
the oldest half) without emptying it all? Without the hassle of
copying it all back onto the desktop and splitting it in two etc etc.
Click to expand...
If you need the files, why are they in the trash in the first place?? It's not a storage area.

In any event, this might work:
http://www.hyperbolicsoftware.com/SmartTrash.html
 
Drag the files you want to keep out of the trash into a folder on your desktop. Then empty the trash and finally put the saved files back into the trash.
 
JulesJ said:
Simple question. How can I get rid of half the stuff in my Trash (ie
the oldest half) without emptying it all? Without the hassle of
copying it all back onto the desktop and splitting it in two etc etc.
Jules
Click to expand...
Hi Jules. But even splitting it in two should not be much of a headache. New folder on desktop> drag the trash items into it> arrange via view to organise according to age> trace around the 'old' ones to highlight> permanently dump them back into the trash. Then do what you have to with the remainder.
Admittedly, I go a bit OCD on my trash bin and secure trash also.

--
Cheers Suby
Melbourne, Australia.
 
Ok, this is going to sound harsh, but 25 years in the computer support business, gives me the right to say it:

You are a moron if you are storing files you might want save in the Trash.

I can't tell you how many times people have asked me to retrieve files that were deleted accidentally. Do you realize that OS X makes this nearly impossible?

Only put TRASH in the Trash - anything else should be stored somewhere else (even a folder called "Not sure if these are trash or not").

What happens if someone walks over to your computer and hits cmd-shift-del (maybe thinking it's a PC?)?
 
Beowulff said:
What happens if someone walks over to your computer and hits
cmd-shift-del (maybe thinking it's a PC?)?
Click to expand...
25 years in PC support would tell you that there is no cmd key on a PC, therefore why would anyone come along and press it?

If you're wondering why I'm being so pedantic, it's because there's no need for calling someone a moron who probably was asking a perfectly innocent question. You're only a moron if you've already been told not do something and then do it anyway.
 
mattswain said:
You're only a moron if you've already
been told not do something and then do it anyway.
Click to expand...
I disagree.

There are some actions which are inherently stupid, and storing things in the Trash is one of them. You are free to argue why this isn't the case.
 
mattswain said:
Beowulff said:
What happens if someone walks over to your computer and hits
cmd-shift-del (maybe thinking it's a PC?)?
Click to expand...
25 years in PC support would tell you that there is no cmd key on a
PC, therefore why would anyone come along and press it?
Click to expand...
by mistake because it's very close to ctrl-alt-del on the keyboard layout...
mattswain said:
If you're wondering why I'm being so pedantic, it's because there's
no need for calling someone a moron who probably was asking a
perfectly innocent question. You're only a moron if you've already
been told not do something and then do it anyway.
Click to expand...
--
Mikael
 
It's not the advice that I disagree with, it's how it's been presented by being plain insulting. It's just not necessary. You'll just succeed in putting people off asking questions for fear of being flamed which has to be a bad thing.
 
The most convenient way of retaining files you only recently selected for deletion for a little while longer is an automatic archiving/versioning solution. Here, nothing really beats Time Machine (Subversion is also a contender but requires much more user input).
 
JulesJ said:
Simple question. How can I get rid of half the stuff in my Trash (ie
the oldest half) without emptying it all? Without the hassle of
copying it all back onto the desktop and splitting it in two etc etc.
Jules

--
A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the
less you know. Arbus.
Click to expand...
There is a way but it can be a little tedious. If you have a file in the Trash but you don't want to delete it you can highlight the file, then go to File> Get Info and click on the Lock button. The file then cannot be deleted from the trash until you undo that change or hold down the option key when you select empty trash.
--
Davydd
http://www.porktenderloinsandwich.com

 
Thanks for your input Mat, but suggesting what I specifically asked not to be suggested was not the most intelligent reply on the planet was it?
Jules
mattswain said:
It's not the advice that I disagree with, it's how it's been
presented by being plain insulting. It's just not necessary. You'll
just succeed in putting people off asking questions for fear of being
flamed which has to be a bad thing.
Click to expand...
--

A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know. Arbus.
 
mattswain said:
It's not the advice that I disagree with, it's how it's been
presented by being plain insulting. It's just not necessary. You'll
just succeed in putting people off asking questions for fear of being
flamed which has to be a bad thing.
Click to expand...
It seems grossly unnecessary to present the solution which the OP specifically said he didn't want. Further, it seems unnecessary to provide a solution which the OP appears already to know about. If all you can offer is what the OP specifically said he didn't want, then don't offer it.

It wasn't the OP who was flamed by the way - it was the provider of a ridiculous answer. What is more likely to put people off asking questions is receiving foolish answers.

--
Alan, Newbury, UK
 
Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode when George retrieved a half eaten donut from the trash, and got caught. LOL

First off, don't put things in the trash that you want to keep. If you are unsure about keeping things then create a folder on your desktop in which you can drop them. Later if you decide you want to trash certain items then you have the flexibility to do so.

As a general rule, your desktop is not the most stable place to keep things anyway. Get in the habit of putting files in the right place, ie your Documents folder. Naming conventions are also a good habit so versions of files can be seen at a moments notice, that saves you from putting them in the trash so they don't get confused with a file with the same name, us v1, v2 etc. if you like.

The bottom line is why are you putting things in the trash that you later may want to retrieve? Once you sort that out with one of the above solutions, you won't feel compelled to store things in the trash.
--
35 to 4 x 5 - NPS Member
 
Alansworld said:
mattswain said:
It's not the advice that I disagree with, it's how it's been
presented by being plain insulting. It's just not necessary. You'll
just succeed in putting people off asking questions for fear of being
flamed which has to be a bad thing.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
The OP posted the easiest solution. He may not want it to be the easiest solution, but that doesn't change the fact that it is the easiest solution. Mattswain reiterated that it IS in fact the easiest solution - there was nothing insulting about it. Your response to mattswain was a much bigger flame than mattswain's honest answer to the OP, as was the OPs response to mattswain. The other workarounds presented in this thread are bigger hassles than the hassle of dragging wanted files out of the trash and putting them back after emptying.
 
I want to store old tax documents in one of the dumpsters of my Townhouse complex. How do I get the trash man to only take documents that are more than 3 years old to the landfill but keep the newer documents in the dumpster until they reach 3 years?
 
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