I frequently connect different external USB hard drives and flash drives to my computer and I would like to facilitate deleting files and regaining disk space from them.
If I simply delete the file, it will be kept in a hidden trash folder on the external drive until I empty the Trash. This also forces me to empty my local trash simultaneously while the external disk is still connected to regain the disk space, which is undesirable.
At the moment, the only other "solution" I've found is moving the file to the internal hard drive and then trash it. This is not optimal because I waste time moving files from one drive to another (I regularly deal with 20GB+ VMs).
How can I permanently delete a file from an external drive, bypassing the trash?
Best Answer
⌘ Command⌥ Option⌫ Delete will permanently delete files, with a confirmation dialog warning that this action can not be undone. ⌘Command⌫ Delete simply moves files to Trash, without confirmation.
Tip: whenever you want Mac app to do the same action but a little differently, try doing it with ⌥ Option button pressed.