I have multiple external drives (SSD and HDD) that I have over time connected to various Macs. Naturally, from time to time I have deleted files and folders on them.
I am confused about something though concerning deleting stuff on an external drive. When I delete files/folders on my internal drive it goes to the Trash and does not actually delete and free up space on the internal drive until I either empty the Trash or go into Trash and select items to Delete Immediately. But how about external drives? When I delete something from an external drive does it really free up the space or is it retained like on internal drives? How do I free up the space on an external drive?
I know how to do this with Windows (I use both Macs and PCs). On Windows you just run the Disk Cleanup program and then select the external drive you want to clean up. It will permanently delete stuff and free up space that had earlier been deleted, i.e., it empties the external drive's trash. I suppose there is something like this for Mac, but I cannot find it.
I am confused about something though concerning deleting stuff on an external drive. When I delete files/folders on my internal drive it goes to the Trash and does not actually delete and free up space on the internal drive until I either empty the Trash or go into Trash and select items to Delete Immediately. But how about external drives? When I delete something from an external drive does it really free up the space or is it retained like on internal drives? How do I free up the space on an external drive?
I know how to do this with Windows (I use both Macs and PCs). On Windows you just run the Disk Cleanup program and then select the external drive you want to clean up. It will permanently delete stuff and free up space that had earlier been deleted, i.e., it empties the external drive's trash. I suppose there is something like this for Mac, but I cannot find it.