Flash drive files...where do they go when 'trashed'?

[xetmarcr]

I moved some files from my flash drive to the trash and they were removed from the listing in Finder, however I noticed that the Trash icon in the dock still showed it was empty and the Trash listing in Finder verified that.

Where do files on a flash drive go when 'Trashed'? And would file recovery software locate them on the flash drive after deletion?

Thanks!

(Sierra 10.12.6 on MacBook Pro 2015)

 

[Glmnet1]

Is your flash drive still plugged in? macOS stores the trashed files in an hidden folder on the drive.

 

[xetmarcr]

It's not plugged in now.

Is the hidden folder on the thumb drive or the system drive?

 

[Fishrrman]

If you trash files on a flashdrive, the "trashed files" go into the trash folders ON THE FLASHDRIVE.

When you empty the trash, they are deleted from that folder (again, ON THE FLASHDRIVE).

They are not copied to your internal drive -- unless you actually copy them yourself.

 

[xetmarcr]

OK thanks! Is the Trash folder on the flash drive a hidden folder?

And can recovery software restore those files?

 

[Intell]

If you have not yet emptied the trash with your flash drive plugged in, yes. Those files can easily be recovered as they are still there. If you have emptied your trash, they can likely still be recovered either in whole or fragments of them pending that you haven't used the drive much since the trash was emptied.

 

[xetmarcr]

Thanks for the info!

 

[camelia]

If you have not yet emptied the trash with your flash drive plugged in, yes. Those files can easily be recovered as they are still there. If you have emptied your trash, they can likely still be recovered either in whole or fragments of them pending that you haven't used the drive much since the trash was emptied.

Even If you format the flash drive, Those files can easily be recovered?

Thanks
Came

 

[Intell]

The can be, but with a bit more difficulty. To make it the most difficult, maybe impossible, to recover the data use Disk Utility's Secure Erase function. The zero or 7 pass will be sufficient.

 

[xetmarcr]

If the files are moved to a Trash folder on the flash drive is there some way to see which files are in the trash? I can't see that folder even if I show hidden files/folders.

 

[Nermal]

The files will appear in Trash (the one accessible via the Dock icon) when the drive is connected.

You can also use Go/Go to Folder to open /Volumes/YourFlashDrive/.Trashes

 

[xetmarcr]

Thank you much!