Is It Safe to Delete .Trashes?

What is .Trashes?

The .Trashes folder is a hidden directory created automatically by macOS on the root of your hard drive and any external USB drives you connect to your Mac.

Why Does It Exist?

When you delete a file on a Mac, it isn’t actually destroyed immediately; it is moved to the .Trashes folder. This allows the system to easily recover the file if you change your mind and click “Put Back”. Every external drive gets its own .Trashes folder so that moving large files to the trash doesn’t require physically copying the data back to your Mac’s internal drive.

Can You Delete It?

Yes, it is completely safe to delete.

In fact, “deleting” the .Trashes folder is exactly what happens behind the scenes when you right-click your Trash icon and select Empty Trash. If you plug an external drive into a Windows PC and see a mysterious .Trashes folder taking up 50GB of space, it just means you didn’t empty your Mac’s trash before unplugging the drive.

How to Delete It

The safest and recommended way to clear this folder is through macOS natively:

1. Plug the external drive into your Mac.
2. Open the Trash icon on your dock.
3. Click Empty.

If you are currently on a Windows PC looking at a Mac-formatted drive:

1. Make sure you don’t need to recover any recently deleted files from that drive.
2. Simply select the .Trashes folder and press Delete.

What Happens If You Delete It?

Any files that were sitting in your Trash bin will be permanently destroyed. The storage space they were occupying will be instantly reclaimed and available for use. The next time you delete a file on a Mac, the operating system will simply create a brand new .Trashes folder to hold it.

Bottom Line

Deleting .Trashes is entirely safe and simply acts as a forceful way to empty the macOS recycling bin. Make sure you don’t need to recover any deleted files before proceeding!