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lovejones596

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 22, 2009
3
0
I was curious. I have an external hard drive that I use as my "back-up" of old jobs. I then burn my jobs to a dvd and then delete the files I burned. Is it possible to just delete the files from the external hd and not my computer?
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
Yes, via Finder, as any change to the external drive is independent of any change on the internal drive.

You mean internal drive by "my computer", don't you?
 

lovejones596

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 22, 2009
3
0
yes, i meant my internal drive. Where do you just delete the external files? I only get the two options of empty trash and secure empty trash, nothing specifying my external.
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
You mean, you put the files already in the Trash?
The ones from the internal, and the ones from the external drive?

The Trash is the place to put files into you want to delete, it's just a precaution, so you can validate you really want to delete the files you put there.

Empty Trash means that the Trash is emptied, but no files are physically deleted/overwritten. The files will be overwritten at a later time, when new files are created.

Secure Empty Trash means that the files will be physically deleted and overwritten, so that later file recovery is impossible by any third party.


So in order to keep the files on your internal drive, drag them out of the Trash, if you don't want them to be deleted by emptying the Trash.

There is no option to only Empty the Trash on a specific drive, the command will empty all Trashes connected to your Mac at that time.
 

lovejones596

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 22, 2009
3
0
that's what i thought.... i haven't emptied my trash in a while so I don't know what is what.... so I'll just have to pray that I don't throw anything out that I actually need... if i haven't needed it then adios it is.

thanks
 
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