Trash folder on Mac plays an important role in restoring back your important files deleted accidentally. There are certain situations wherein your Trash folder refuses to open or you may not be able to empty the Trash folder. This situation even blocks you from accessing files that were deleted accidentally and hence you cannot restore back those files. There are various reasons wherein you will be unable to open trash on Mac or you cannot empty it.
![Software to recover files after emptying trash mac free Software to recover files after emptying trash mac free](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126487071/969559182.png)
Nov 12, 2019 After identifying the lost file on your backup storage media, click Restore to return the file to your Mac. The Time Machine is the only default way to recover files from an emptied Trash Bin.
Jun 17, 2020 Trash folder plays an important role while restoring back deleted files. If this gets corrupt, you will not be able to open Trash on Mac and lose access to all files in it. Read here to know how to open / empty Trash and restore back files deleted from Trash in simple steps. Jul 04, 2018 iBeesoft offers top reliable mac data recovery software to recover deleted files on Mac. Three simple steps are enough to restore your deleted document, photos, videos, music, audio. Nov 30, 2018 Question: Q: Recovery of files on a Mac after trash is emptied I accidentally deleted some files and emptied the trash on my MacBook Pro running macOS High Sierra v 10.13.6. I have searched online and found several options for software that claims to enable me to recover the files. Aug 16, 2017 Step 5: Recover file from the Mac Trash. When you click Recover, you’ll be asked to choose where you want to save the recovered file. This is where the spare disk comes in. Navigate to that disk and choose it as the location. Follow the instructions onscreen to complete the recovery process.
Here are some of the reasons and solutions to fix trash issues and access all files in it:
Solutions to Fix – Cannot empty Trash on Mac
Method 1: Force Empty Trash: Empty Trash using Terminal commands
Emptying Trash from terminal is quite an easy process compared to do it using GUI. To do this:
Go to – Applications - > Utilities -> Terminal
Here type the following command:
rm -rf ~/.Trash/*
If this doesn’t help then use command:
sudo rm –R
NOTE: Add a space after R or else this command will not work. Also, don’t press 'Enter’
Now, open Trash from dock and select all files & folders in Trash. Then just drag & drop all items to the Terminal, where you had typed the command. This will add path of all files to the Terminal. Now, press ‘Enter’. This will empty your Trash bin. If files are more, then this may take longer.
Method 2: When Files are in Use – Close all Files and Background apps
Sometimes, some of the files in Trash might be in use by some applications. Also, some background applications might block you from emptying Trash. In such cases, first close all open files and folders.
Restart Your Mac
Some of the applications would be running in the background that use files from Trash. Once you restart or reboot your mac, all these apps would be terminated.
Start Mac in Safe Mode
Your Mac might load some start-up items or use some files during start-up, thus it shows file in use when you try to empty Trash. Hence, you will have to start Mac in safe mode, that doesn’t use much of your hardware resources or any login items. Thus allowing you to empty Trash easily.
To start Mac in Safe Mode hold Shift Key as soon as you start Mac and release it once Apple Logo appears.
Once, done you can easily empty Trash bin on Mac.
Method 3: Turn off system integrity protection
Mac with its latest release Mac 10.11, it has got new feature – System Integrity Protection (SIP), in order to protect files from being modified by some malicious software. SIP would even block you from deleted files / emptying files from the Trash. Disabling SIP for a while may help fi the Trash issues. To turn off System Integrity protection on Mac OS X El Capitan or later, follow below steps:
- Enter recovery mode on your Mac by pressing Command + R keys as soon as you start / reboot Mac
- In the next window – listing all macOS utilities, select Terminal
- Here, you need to enter command: csrutildisable; reboot and hit ‘Enter’
- Now, you will receive a dialog box indicating thay the ‘System Integrity Protection’ is successfully disables, to complete the process, you need to restart Mac
Once Mac boots up, you can easily empty Trash. However, you need to enable SIP after Trash is cleaned up, for this again enter the recovery mode as explained and type: csrutil enable in your terminal command line. After completion, reboot your Mac.
Method 4: Unlock File permissions
Sometimes, you may not have proper permissions to delete the files. So, first check if your file is locked, if so unlock the files. For this, just right-click file and hit ‘Get Info’. If the ‘Locked’ option is checked, then uncheck the option to unlock the file.
Solutions to Fix – Cannot Open / Access Trash on Mac:
Solution 1: Open Trash from terminal
To open trash from terminal go to: Applications - > Utilities -> Terminal
Here Type:
- ls -al ~/.Trash - To open trash of current User
- sudo ls -al /Users/*/.Trash - To open Trash of all Users – Login admin account
- sudosh -c 'ls -al /Volumes/*/.Trashes/*/' - If you want to access Trash of even the external volumes
Solution 2: Restore Files from not opening Trash or from emptied Trash – Remo Recover
The above steps may not help in accessing file on trash. When you empty Trash, you lose your deleted files. In case you are looking for a solution to restore back your files from inaccessible Trash folder or emptied Trash then you need to run Remo Recover Mac tool.
Remo Recover is an easy-to-use tool that lets you recover your deleted files & folders from Trash in simple steps. Whether you Trash is corrupt and unable to access files in it or emptied Trash, Remo Recover will help you recover files back.
Mac OS supported: Mac OS X and above including, Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina
Its friendly interface makes the recovery simple. Even though the recovery process involves rigorous scanning, the Remo Mac File recovery tool takes care of everything and you just have to perform several clicks. Follow the below steps to recover deleted files from Mac Trash.
How to recover back deleted files from Mac Emptied Trash?
Step 1: Download Remo Recover Mac on your Mac computer and install it
macOS - Catalina
mac OS - Mojave
mac OS - Mojave
Step 2: Launch the tool and From the Main screen select ‘Recover Files’ Option
Step 3: Now, click on “Recover Deleted Files” option
Step 4: List of all available drives will be shown, select the one from which you need to recover files
Step 5: Software begins scanning process and lists them
Step 6: Preview the files using ‘Preview’ option and enable the full-version to save the required one’s at any location of your choice
So, Remo Recover Mac will help you restore back all deleted files or lost files from Trash. Hope the above solutions help you access your Mac Trash folder that is corrupt.
Summary: While force emptying the Trash, you might also delete important files and folders inadvertently. Losing precious data in such a way is painful. However, in this blog, we have shared methods you can use to recover files deleted by force emptying the trash.
Recover data from the trash with Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac.
How is the Trash Force Emptied?
Your attempts to empty the Trash normally might be thwarted due to a number of reasons. The Mac may prompt that the program is still in use when you know it’s not, the file might be locked, or the item may contain a special character that makes the macOS think it’s an important file. You can use the Terminal to force empty your Trash. Follow the below steps to successfully empty the trash.
- Launch the Terminal using Spotlight
- Enter the command sudo rm -R in Terminal, but don’t hit Enter
- Press Control and Click on the Trash icon
- Select all the files and folders present in the Trash
- Drag those files into the Terminal Window
- Hit the Enter key
- Enter the administrator password (don’t worry if you can’t see the typed password)
- Once the password is entered, hit the Enter key
Note: There is a space after R, so you must provide one space after R or else the command won’t work
Depending on the size and number of files present in the Trash, the time to empty the Trash may vary. In case you need to recover data after force emptying the Trash, you can consider the following solutions.
Solution 1: Restore Deleted Files from Time Machine Backup
Time Machine is one of the most important applications in macOS that facilitates backup of files, folders, and partitions. It can be used to restore the entire macOS or specific files and folders. Follow the below steps to recover deleted files from trash:
- Go to menu bar shortcuts and select Enter Time Machine
- Once in Time Machine, open the folder with the file you wish to restore
- Use the dial to navigate through time and locate the file to restore
- Select the file and click Restore or Right-click for more options
How To Recover Files After Emptying Trash Mac
Sometimes the Time Machine backup can also get deleted. You can use a data recovery software in such situations.
Solution 2: Recover Files using a Data Recovery Software
Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac is a highly intuitive and easy to use data recovery software which can easily recover all the files and folders deleted from the Trash. It also recovers your precious JPEG photos, QuickTime videos, MPEG files, audios, DOCX & XLSX documents, and various other file formats. Additionally, if your files from the Time Machine backup drive are inaccessible or deleted, then this software can scan the Time Machine backup drive and bring back lost data to life. Follow the below steps to successfully recover deleted files from trash:
Software To Recover Files After Emptying Trash Mac Pro
- Download the Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac
- Install and launch the software
- Select Recover Everything or Customize Your Scan and click Next
- Select the Macintosh HD from the Select Location Interface, and toggle-on Deep Scan to perform a complete scan
- Click Scan and wait as the Macintosh HD is being scanned by the software
- After scanning, the software will list all the available recoverable files. You can also preview the recoverable files by turning-on the toggle switch near the preview option
- Select the files to save and click Recover
- After file selection, save them anywhere other than the recovery hard drive
Recover Files After Emptying Trash Mac
Conclusion
It often happens with Mac users, we force empty the Trash and then realize that our important files are gone forever. In such a situation, you can refer to this blog. We have explained two methods you can use to recover deleted files from trash. While a Time Machine backup is your primary option, you can also use a third-party data recovery software if you don’t have a backup. Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac is a highly effective tool to recover data from any data loss scenario. The latest version of this application supports 64-Bit architecture on macOS Catalina 10.15. Free download the software now and start recovering your permanently deleted files.
How To Recover Deleted Files After Emptying Trash Mac
88%of people found this article helpful