1

My external disk (LaCie) is full! When I look at the individual folders within my disk, I see that only little space is occupied by visible documents. So I displayed the hidden files and found small files and directories that all seem to take very little memory. Looks like about 400GB is occupied by some unknown stuff. However there is a directory called .trashes.

enter image description here

When I click on GetInfo, here is what I see

enter image description here

And I can wait for a long time but never get an estimate of the size of this directory. I tried to estimate its size via the Terminal:

$ du .Trashes
du: .Trashes: Permission denied

I tried to delete .Trashes but I get this window popping up

enter image description here

How can I free space on my external disk?

I am on OSX Yosemite, Version 10.10.2.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

The default permission on .Trashes do not allow for reading. Use sudo du -ch .Trashes as this will give you both the total and in "Human-readable" output vs. used sectors which you'd then have to convert.

Also you should not delete .Trashes, just empty your Trash.

If you want to take a graphical look at the contents of the disk use Disk Inventory X, you might find it interesting and can do some cleanup from within the App too.

Improve this answer
4
  • Thanks for your answer. I didn't know there was a trash collector on external disks. How am I suppose to empty the trash or look what is in the trash to eventually put things back? I don't think there is any OS on this disk.
    – Remi.b
    Feb 25, 2015 at 18:51
  • There doesn't need to be an OS on the disk for there to be a .Trashes directory and any file deleted trough Finder from that drive should be placed in .Trashes directory on that drive. You can restore what's been deleted by opening up the Trash on the Dock then ctrl-click selecting Put Back and ctrl-click the Trash on the Dock and select Empty Trash then everything gets deleted from that drive and other drives, internal/external, that are mounted.
    – user3439894
    Feb 25, 2015 at 19:17
  • Oh I didn't understand at first place that the documents would be accessible through the Trash of my computer. Thanks a lot!
    – Remi.b
    Feb 25, 2015 at 19:39
  • Just to clarify when I said "...and ctrl-click the Trash on the Dock and select Empty Trash then everything gets deleted from that drive and other drives, internal/external, that are mounted." ... that is already in the Trash! :)
    – user3439894
    Feb 25, 2015 at 19:55

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .