How to fix the trash can full of stuff that did not delete?

I have a 2012 mac mini with macOS Catalina. I went to restore a file that I had just deleted and to my surprise found my trash can full of photos, documents, videos, and other stuff that I did not delete. I really don't think that I could have accidentally deleted them due to the diversity of files. I checked about a dozen of them and found that they are also still in their original locations but some are named differently in the trash can. Is my computer automatically moving stuff to the trash? Thanks for your support.

Best Answered by

Eudora Liu

Answered on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

To fix the trash can that is full of stuff you didn't delete, you need to know whether you deleted your files when you last inserted your USB into your Mac and didn't empty the trash before ejecting or removing your USB flash drive.

If you are, the space is using up space on the USB flash drive. And you can take the following ways to fix it.

Insert your USB flash drive into your Mac.
Open the Trash.
Click Empty.

And eject your USB flash drive correctly to check whether the problem was fixed.

If the trash is still not empty, you can force empty trash on Mac by pressing down the Option and clicking Empty simultaneously.