Restore files from Trash bin

[Jethryn Freyman]

No, there's no feature in Snow Leopard that allows you to restore deleted files.

You must be thinking of the "Put Away" command. All it does is moves a file out of the trash (that hasn't yet been deleted) to its original location.

 

[grills]

...All it does is moves a file out of the trash (that hasn't yet been deleted) to its original location.

Which is ALL that we (joining the sane crowd here) WANT!

Apart from what the thread starter wants, I have another need. I want a 'Remove this file and only this file from Trash' when I click on an item in Trash.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Ah, I just assumed the first post was about recovering deleted files.

 

[wassupdoc]

No, there's no feature in Snow Leopard that allows you to restore deleted files.

You must be thinking of the "Put Away" command. All it does is moves a file out of the trash (that hasn't yet been deleted) to its original location.

Sorry I guess i was unclear. I also am looking forward to the "put Away" command which is similar to windows restore from trash. undelete is a seperate issue which i don't think either OS has built in.

 

[Nobita]

It would also be nice to have (perhaps in 10.6) a feature that would delete .trashes files from our usb drives and external drives without affecting the internal drive's trash.

 

[MacDawg]

Couple of thoughts...

I don't think anyone would be actively "against" such a feature, but some of us, me included, aren't specifically seeking it. If it was there, meh, OK... so it is there. There has not been one time since 1987 when I began using a Mac that I have needed that feature. Now, I realize, for some of you, it is a deal-breaking, Windows-giggling feature that defines the OS, but for me, it is inconsequential. Some have said, "how can you not think this is a good idea". Well, because I have never needed it for one. I don't think it is a bad idea, I just don't think about it at all.

The other request... "delete this and only this file from the trash", I am equally indifferent towards.

The bottom line is, I don't use the Trash as storage or a staging ground. I don't do it in the kitchen at home, and I don't do it on my computer. I don't accidently put my groceries in the trash and need to retrieve them. And I don't store my canned goods there on the off chance that I might not want them. When I put something in the trash, it is because I want to get rid of it. I am always amazed when somebody "accidently" deletes the most important documents, pictures, projects, etc. in their life... without a backup no less. Even if they don't empty the trash, why they end up there to begin with is beyond me. Mistakes happen... yes, and I am certainly far from perfect myself, but the regularity of this and the need for a specific feature to encourage it... well, like I said... meh.

On my Mac, if I have any doubts, I make a Temp folder on my desktop and store things there, and when I am sure, THEN I put them in the trash. Once in the trash, I consider them gone. I empty my trash without fear...

Now, having said that... have I ever gone through my trash in my kitchen looking for a receipt or something? Rarely, but yes, it has happened. But it is an extreme exception, and not the rule, and certainly not worth making my trash can a storage bin.

As many have pointed out before in this thread, it is a difference in philosophy. Can it be added? I am sure it can. Should it be added? I don't really care. I don't think it makes OSX any better or worse in comparison to Windows any more than copy/paste in the Finder would.

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[babboxy]

never thought I would find something as crappy on a mac...
tiny little annoyance, sure, no problem.
no restore from inside trash???
CRAAAAAAP square hundred!!!!!
but thanks for the awsome reflections in the dock, someone really had plenty of time to think about THAT

I understand that obviously all clever mac user are always amazed when somebody "accidently" deletes his files (which obviously a lot of stupid PC users do).

too bad I use mac and pc, maybe that explains why I just made the fatal mistake to delete a big folder.

 

[mysterytramp]

Strangely, Mac operating systems before OS X had the feature -- and I'm sure that's where Microsoft got the idea ( :. Not sure why it didn't make the migration to OS X unless the underlying Unix file system didn't support it, so Apple didn't try to graft it.

While there's nothing wrong with adding it, folks who clamor for this ought to rethink their trashing practices. Sooner or later, no matter what kind of chastity belt a future Mac OS brings, they'll have some heartache.

mt

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Strangely, Mac operating systems before OS X had the feature -- and I'm sure that's where Microsoft got the idea ( :. Not sure why it didn't make the migration to OS X unless the underlying Unix file system didn't support it, so Apple didn't try to graft it.

While there's nothing wrong with adding it, folks who clamor for this ought to rethink their trashing practices. Sooner or later, no matter what kind of chastity belt a future Mac OS brings, they'll have some heartache.

mt

"Put Away" is returning in Snow Leopard.

 

[darcy827]

Hi I have the new MacBook Pro (purchased June 09, not sure which OS that is) and I was having similiar problems where I didn't know how to restore items from the TRASH folder and I was reading about how people "dragged" the items in the trash back into the folder it came from. I couldn't drag at first but then I used secondary click and went to "more" and where it says "enable folder actions" I clicked on that. Afterwards I was able to highlight whatever item and drag it out of the trash folder. I didn't have to drag it back into the folder it came from either. For example, I deleted "song" from desktop, I then dragged "song" out of the trash and dragged it over to the music folder and it worked.

I hope this helps some of you guys. There is no "restore" button. I think dragging is the same thing in this case.

 

[bootsie50]

i am using tiger and accidentally removed about 3 gb of files from itunes i ran into the same problem that the string starter mentioned where you cant drag multiple highlighted items onto you desktop or into any other folder but once you have everything highlighted you can shift+click+drag them to your desktop no problem, after i did that i just went from the desktop to go>home>desktop create a new folder and you should be able to highlight all the listed items and click+drag them normally into the new folder like i said i had like three gigs of files so after i pulled them out of the trash my desktop was a mess, using the directory was easier than trying to sort it out on the actual desktop, anyway after thats done you can import them using itunes or whatever again, i know there are a few steps involved but i am still figuring this out myself...

 

[5DollaFootlong]

that really is a bummer. depending on the applications, I think that you may be able to reinstall them from the applications disk that came with your computer.

 

[ingenious]

What happened to the "put back" command in the Snow Leopard betas?

OP:

Edit: Okay, it's there, and it functions somewhat like a "Restore" button should. It was somewhat flakey for me, though... I'm not sure it works for files after a certain date, but I just tested it, and it seemed to work...

Edit2: Who bumped a year old thread?! AH. sorry.

 

[Alb0]

I need help please...

I copied some picture files from a Mac laptop to my external hard drive in the folder .Trashes...and when i put the external hard drive to my windows PC the .Trashes folder was with a empty folder inside called 501 and another file .501...but they were all 1kb...i cannot get the laptop back, how can i recover the files?

 

[melfromcaracas]

I'm having the same annoying problem, and there is maybe a way, using the Time Machine:

-first, you have to go to your "home machine"
-then, open the Time Machine and go back to one backup before you sent the items to trash
-select all items and folders of your "home machine"
-and then, restore

I'm waiting the 3 hours it says to "replace" all items

Hope it helps

MacBook
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
4 GB
OS X 10.5

 

[macrem]

In +20 years I have never needed restore/put back, but sure why not have it.

To those who accidentally threw away important system files... for everyday use, you should be logged in as a standard user, not admin nor root. A standard user cannot delete important system files. Now you've learned one of the reasons why it's important to log in as a standard user.

 

[ericinboston]

So was this feature ever added in an update or new OS? I have a Mac Mini with OSX 10.4.11 and this lack of feature killed me tonight.

Here's what happened:

I was in iMovie, right clicked a single Event, choose Send To Trash and it sent ALL the Events in that year to the trash!!!!! What the ____ was that all about?!

So...I go to the Trash and there is no "Restore" or any kind of undo like what has been in Windows since Windows 95! So what's the point of a Trash bin if I can never undo/restore anything inside it?! Sure, I can right click one of the items in the trash and choose Copy but do I really want to copy gigabytes worth of stuff back somewhere (which would also take over an hour)?! No!

Anyway, extremely frustrating.

Anyone know if this poor design was remedied? If so, how and what OS version please.

Thanks in advance.

-Eric

p.s. Yes, I somehow was able to get the Events out of the Trash...it wasn't a Copy command...I think I dragged and dropped...I was sweating bullets and trying everything for like 15 mins so sorry I can't tell you exactly what I did to get the Events back.

 

[ericinboston]

Also...I did quite a bit of Googling and found almost zilch on the topic of restoring files currently in the Trash. Lots of stuff on how to restore files once the Trash has been emptied...which is not my issue.

Thanks again.

-Eric

 

[mysterytramp]

It's called "Put Away" on the Mac, not restore, which is probably why googling didn't help. The feature was added with Snow Leopard.

And it doesn't work on everything. Open a folder in the Finder and trash an item, that can easily be put back. Trashing something within an app like iMovie, I'm not sure.

mt

 

[irenaeous]

recovering deleted files

This thread shows up fairly high in the google ranks, but it doesn't give a solution. I don't know if this applies universally, but for me, files that are trashed are moved to a directory in your home directory named .Trash.

Open the terminal app in the utilities folder. It should bring up a bash shell script with your home directory as the current directory. Run these commands:

cd .Trash
pwd
ls -l
mv <file> ..

cd changes the current directory to .Trash. pwd displays your current directory. ls -l shows a listing of the files in the local directory. mv moves the specified file up one level out of .Trash into your home directory. You may then do what you wish with the files from there in the normal way.

I hope this helps.

 

[Glumpfner]

This feature has been added with Snow Leopard.

Open Trash -> Right click file -> Put Back - done!

 

[kepner]

^ Didn't want to pay for the TomTom app huh?

 

[dimdur]

This feature has been added with Snow Leopard.

Open Trash -> Right click file -> Put Back - done!

I do not have that command on my SNL 10.6.7 iMac

 

[thecodeman]

Mac os X restore trashed files

Found this by accident, just in time to save my butt;

open trash
select the file
press cmd+delete
(only do one file at a time)

Solved!

 

[zahid]

How to restore files from trash in imac 10.5.8

From Finder I search AI files from Imac and Select them But accidently I deleted these files. Now the files are into the trash, Kindly help me how to restore these files from trash, Files are in large quantity. I don,t know the actual positition of files. I am using Imac with os 10.5.8. Awaiting your quick response...