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"Files on a Volume that Doesn't Support Trash...."

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SherryM

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I have a new iMac running Catalina (10.15.1). I have tried to delete photos from LR but get the message "Files can't be moved to trash; files on a volume that doesn't support trash - delete permanently?" This only just started recently, but it had occurred before I installed the latest LR update.

I see from past posts this was an issue as of 2015. Has anything changed on this? I can empty the Trash file with no problem. I would like deleted LR photos to go there first, if it is possible.

Thank you.
 
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MacOS supports the Trash process on volumes that are formatted in one of the Mac filesystems that understands the trash concept. Filesystems that MacOS can read and write to are usually Windows Filesystems like exFAT and Fat32. These do not support Trash. Drives that are too full do not support Trash because Trash is located in the Freespace and there may be insufucuent room left for your file especially large image files.
 
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clee01l said:
Drives that are too full do not support Trash because Trash is located in the Freespace and there may be insufucuent room left for your file especially large image files.
Click to expand...
Are you sure about that last statement? Throwing a file in the Trash should simply change its path to Trash/Filename. There should be no reason why throwing a file in the Trash would require any additional space.
 
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Johan Elzenga said:
Are you sure about that last statement? Throwing a file in the Trash should simply change its path to Trash/Filename. There should be no reason why throwing a file in the Trash would require any additional space.
Click to expand...
Let me clarify. When there are large files, the allotted Trash bin size space remaining may be insufficient and the filesystem will issue a warning that the large file being deleted can not be saved in the Trash bin. When that happens, you have a choice, to commit to deleting the large file and not save anything in trash or abort the deletion.
There is a folder called ".Trash" When you issue a DELETE command, the File system Issues a copy/rename followed by a Delete of the original file, The file to be deleted is copied to ".Trash", Renamed from "FileName.Ext" to "_ileName.Ext" At that point two large files exist on the disk. If that exceeds the free space, then the DELETE to ".Trash" will fail. You do not regain free space on the disk UNTIL you empty the Trash Can (i.e. delete all the files accumulated in that all volumes ".Trash" folders.
 
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Thank you, Cletus, for the explanation. I guess I'm still confused by it; I have emptied the Trash yet still get the warning. I have a 1T drive, and it looks like there is plenty of space. I don't understand the inner workings of the system, but deleting in LR seemed to work fine on my older iMac (late 2015 build). I guess I'll have to be absolutely sure I don't want them before I do any more deletes, unless there is an 'easy' way around it.
 
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Clee,
My point is that I don't believe that a file is copied when you move it to the trash. That would take a lot of time in case of a large file or a large folder, and that is not what seems to happen. Moving something into the Trash is instantaneous, no matter how large it is. What I believe happens is that the file path is simply renamed from whatever it was to .Trash/filename.
 
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Johan Elzenga said:
Clee,
My point is that I don't believe that a file is copied when you move it to the trash. That would take a lot of time in case of a large file or a large folder, and that is not what seems to happen. Moving something into the Trash is instantaneous, no matter how large it is. What I believe happens is that the file path is simply renamed from whatever it was to .Trash/filename.
Click to expand...

Now that I think about that, you are right. Moves on the same volume have always been a rename of the file name and path.
And now that i think about it, I have not seen this message for a while. With Sierra, Apple changed the way they managed storage and although I may have made sure I always have lots of free space, that warning may very well now we obsolete.


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SherryM said:
Thank you, Cletus, for the explanation. I guess I'm still confused by it; I have emptied the Trash yet still get the warning. I have a 1T drive, and it looks like there is plenty of space. I don't understand the inner workings of the system, but deleting in LR seemed to work fine on my older iMac (late 2015 build). I guess I'll have to be absolutely sure I don't want them before I do any more deletes, unless there is an 'easy' way around it.
Click to expand...

If the volume is FAT32 or exFAT there will be no “/.Trash” folder. And therefore no mechanism on that volume to store the deleted file. On the volume where you keep getting the message, how is it formatted? What filesystem? Use “Get Info” on the volume to report the type of filesystem used to format that disk.


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