On Monday , I covered SideTrash , a nifty ( and innocent ) utility that lets you put your Trash image on the Desktop or in Finder windowpane sidebars — a simple feature , but one that ’s been requested by some user of Mac OS X for years . I also noted that follow today , I ’d show you a utility that offers importantly more functionality for just a slightly mellow price . So , without further ado …
Mac OS X ’s Trash has two substantial limitations : You have torememberto empty it ( Indian file are n’t actually deleted until you do ) , and when do you empty it , you have to empty it completely — like a locomote - out - of - business sale , everything must go ! The first limitation is an issue for everyone , but I ascertain that it disproportionately bear upon beginning users : I ’ve seen Macs with gigabytes of entropy sitting in their Trash , just because their owners forget to empty . The 2d limitation is more of a concern to power users and those who like to have a bit more control condition over their file and volumes . These people would like to be capable to free the Trash of just those files deleted from a peculiar volume , or just those that have been in the Trash for a while . ( It ’s not uncommon for hoi polloi to use the Trash as a sort of “ take for field ” for files they ’re jolly sure they do n’t desire , but want to keep around for a week or two just in case — in fact , most electronic mail guest have a like circumstance for “ delete ” mail service . )
go familiar ? If so , you need to check out Greg Weston ’s $ 9Compost 1.6.1 ( ) . I actually write about an older version of Compost in our November 2004 “ Software Bargains ” feature article ; but that was just a unretentive blurb — Compost deserves a more thorough discussion .
Compost , which operates as a Mac OS X System Preferences pane , fixes both of the above limitations of the Mac OS X Trash , and adds a few other peachy feature , as well . Its most obvious benefits are its machinelike deletion feature . Compost can mechanically edit single file that have been in the Trash longer than a exploiter - delineate number of minutes , hours , or days . It can also limit the Trash to a sure size — for example , if you circumscribe the Trash to 512 MB , and by and by localize an detail in the Trash that pushes the size of the Trash over that limit , Compost will cancel the oldest items until the Trash sizing is below your limit . ( Another way to describe this characteristic is to say that Compost will keep only the newest “ X ” amount of Trash , where you decide how much “ X ” is . ) instead ( or to boot ) , you may tell Compost to check that your rush volume always has at least a certain amount of free place , by sizing or percentage . If you ’re play low on disk blank space — not a good thing in Mac OS X , which uses the hard effort for memory management — this is a handy option , as it will mechanically delete items from your Trash to keep free space above your limit .
If you ’ve got multiple intemperate drives or volumes connect to your Mac , Compost will also countenance you choosedifferentsettings — age limits , size limits , and free space limits — for each mass . For example , if you ’ve got a FireWire drive that you use as a scrape disk for Photoshop , you need as much complimentary space as potential on that campaign ; you may tell Compost to keep that drive ’s Trash empty .
Compost also provides a few option for the actual deletion process . The “ Delete locked items ” option automatically deletes locked items without involve that you unlock them first . The “ Delete empty folders immediately ” congeal deletes empty folder immediately , no matter what your other configurations are — the idea here being that since there ’s nothing in them , why clutter up your Trash with them ? Finally , you may also have Compost delete items from the Trash securely , which uses the same secure deletion routine as the Finder ’s Secure Empty Trash command — this form of deletion take up longer , since file are overwrite multiple time as they ’re deleted , but it makes it much less potential that someone would ever be able to recover those files , even with special data recovery tools .
What if you do n’t really heed having to remember to empty the Trash ? Compost still has a few other tricks up its sleeve that you ’ll prize . The most utile is its ability to empty the Trash for just a peculiar volume . By land up Compost ’s Trash Info windowpane — approachable via a user - delimitate keyboard shortcut — you see a list of all mounted volume , along with each book ’s free space and the identification number and size of it of files in that bulk ’s Trash . By sink in the “ recycle ” clitoris for a bulk , justthatvolume ’s Trash is emptied , leaving Trash contents from other volumes untouched .
Alternatively , if you choose to install Compost ’s contextual card , you’re able to empty a volume ’s individual Trash by control condition / right - clicking on that book ’s icon in the Finder ; one of the computer menu item will be “ Empty Trash onvolumename . ”
This contextual computer menu also let you cancel files in the Finder immediately ( without the indigence to first move files to the Trash ) ; you plainly control / right wing - select a single file or folder and chooseDelete Immediatelyfrom the contextual menu .
Finally , Compost also includes an optional fare legal community menu that provides straightaway access to a issue of its lineament : regard the Trash Info windowpane , emptying specific mass Trashes , start the standard Trash windowpane , and opening the Trash window for a specific volume . you’re able to even empty the Trash on a removable volume and then eject it — a common sequence of tasks , in my experience — with a single command .
I wish Compost ’s contextual menu — or , even well , its computer menu bar menu — was accessible from the real Trash icon in the Dock . I also wish that , like SideTrash , it offered the option to place the Trash on the Desktop or in Finder window sidebars . But even without these features , Compost is what Mac OS X ’s Trashshouldbe .
