#Mac force empty trash terminal how to

How to Fix “Mac Trash Won't Empty Because File is Locked”Īs we mentioned earlier, a locked file may also prevent you from emptying the Trash.

#Mac force empty trash terminal mac

When all done, quit Disk Utility, restart your Mac and try to empty your Trash. If there is no Run button, click the Repair Disk button instead. Select the disk where you want to delete the files and click the First Aid tab > Run.

In the macOS Utilities window, select Disk Utility, and then Continue.

Immediately press and hold the Command + R keys until the macOS Utilities window appears.

However, if you want to repair disk issues, you need to restart your Mac in macOS Recovery Mode. In this case, you can use the First Aid function in Disk Utility to run a test.

#Mac force empty trash terminal free

Still can't empty the Trash even though there is free space? Then the reason may be that your disk has some issues. Related Article: How to Free Up Disk Space on Mac Repair Your Disk Moreover, all its deletions bypass the Trash. What it can do for you includes system junk cleaning, Trash emptying, app uninstallation, duplicate file and large file removal, startup items management, and more. As one of the best Mac cleaning and optimization software, BuhoCleaner can clean and speed up your Mac with a few clicks. Too time-consuming? Here's a handy tool, BuhoCleaner, for you. However, if you don't have an external drive nearby, you can use the shortcut Command + Option + Delete to delete files bypass the Trash. Indeed, you can move some unused files to an external drive to free up space. Therefore, the key to successfully cleaning the Trash is to free up disk space. If you get the message that the disk is full, all your operations on your Mac may fail. Related Article: How to Completely Delete Files on Mac How to Fix “Can't Empty Trash Because Disk is Full”Įvery task and action on your Mac needs space to perform.

Right click the Trash icon in the Dock and choose Empty Trash.

You can see Safe Boot in the upper-right corner of your login window.)

Start your Mac, press and hold the Shift key until you see the Login in window.

Also, cache files and temporary files are cleaned up in Safe Mode. When you start your Mac in Safe Mode, some unnecessary programs are blocked from launching. Safe Mode can fix various problems with your Mac. If you're still unable to empty the Trash, you can use Mac Safe Mode to fix the problem. Restarting your Mac will close the applications occupying the files, which will help you empty the Trash. The most straightforward way is to restart your Mac.

If you failed to clear Trash because some of the files inside are in use, you should quit the applications or processes using the files you want to delete. How to Fix “Mac Trash Won't Empty Because File in Use” The best way to fix the problem of Trash not emptying is to better understand the causes and fix them accordingly. Please use it with caution.įorcibly emptying the Trash with the Terminal is risky.

Read more about bypass trash, delete, File, immediately, macOS.The rm -rf command is dangerous.

Click on the Finder icon on your Dock, then select one or more files in the Finder.

Click the Delete button in the confirmation window that appears, asking you if you’re sure that you want to delete this file.

Click on the File menu, press the Option key on your keyboard and then select the Delete Immediately command.

Click on the Finder icon on your Dock, then select one or more files in the Finder window that appears.

There are two methods, one using a menu command, the other using a keyboard shortcut. Here are instructions on how to delete files immediately. Now that Apple has provided a one-step process, please use it carefully. If deleting a file were a one-step process, this could increase the chance of accidentally deleting the wrong file. First, move the file to the Trash, then empty the Trash. Did you know that you can bypass using your Mac’s Trash and simply delete a file immediately? Somehow I failed to learn that Apple added this feature in 2015 with OS X El Capitan (aka OS X 10.11).ĭeleting a file is usually a two step process.