I don't know if I mistakenly hit a button on my Mac, but ever since a couple of days ago, when I delete anything from my desktop to my trash bin, it doesn't show up in my trash. I only recently found this out, because I wanted to go back into my trash bin to retrieve a deleted file.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
iMac (M4)
It was not meant to be a wise a** comment in any way.
Just a friendly reminder to the OP going forward that a situation like this can easily be avoided if they leverage the backup tools that are available to them. Too many users find they have lost some or all data after making a simple mistake, or through no fault of their own other than not giving backups a level of priority.
On a modern Mac that uses flash storage, once a file is deleted from the trash it is pretty much guaranteed to be obliterated immediately. The only way to recover a file will be from a backup drive.
An inexpensive example of an external drive that can be used with the already installed Time Machine app would be a laptop class 2.5", bus powered HDD such as this $88 2TB drive from macsales.com. It's certainly not the highest quality b/u drive available, but something is (usually) better than nothing.
fyi, any underlined blue text found here in the Community is usually a clickable link to additional info and/or guidance.
And... command-shift-delete is the keyboard shortcut to immediately empty the trash, so don't press it unless that's what you intend to do.
What and how did you delete the item on your desktop..?
see > Delete files and folders on Mac - Apple Support
What happens when you drag & drop to the Trash or... control (right) click Move to Trash.
I have a brand new iMac M4 desktop. I don't want to have stuff immediately and automatically disappear forever when I move a file to the Trash! But that is what this new machine does. With respect, buying a second hard drive isn't and shouldn't be the only solution. Get serious, if anyone knows how to require a separate keyboard action to empty the Trash, please share the secret with us. This new iMac is short on memory compaared with my last iMac so I will be using the Trash more; and I want it to require a second action to empty anything I place in the Trash.
With respect to Level 7 D.I. Johnson, I am not sure if your comment about adding an external drive was intended as a fun joke, a sarcastic remark about a weakness or error in the iMac M4 or you just pretending to be a wise ***. As a lowly Level 1 (perhaps even lower than that) I can't figure out if your suggested soluntion was in fact the only remedy known to the expert users.
dsbfromca wrote:
I have a brand new iMac M4 desktop. I don't want to have stuff immediately and automatically disappear forever when I move a file to the Trash! But that is what this new machine does.
That is not the macOS default behavior. Please read the support article that I posted above.
Somethings that will cause that behavior, are third-party cleaning and optimization junk-ware App’s
With respect, buying a second hard drive isn't and shouldn't be the only solution.
What is recommended is to get an external hard drive to use for Time Machine backups. If you do not, then you are at risk of losing part or all of your data.
This new iMac is short on memory compaared with my last iMac so I will be using the Trash more; and I want it to require a second action to empty anything I place in the Trash.
Likewise, if you messed up and purchased a Mac without enough storage space. Then you can get and use an external drive for files that you want to keep.
For those times when you need to recover a file that's no longer in the trash.
Apple's already given you the software, just add an external drive.
Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support
I would love to read your article, but how/where will I find it?
Why can't I see my recently deleted documents in my trash bin?
