[The Fall of Math]

hey guys!

so, i got a Seagate 374.5 GB external hard drive today, since my macbook is almost completely full, and am having some troubles! you see, i dragged all the files i wanted to put onto the external hard drive from the internal hard drive INTO the external hard drive. But the files not only copied and put into the external hard drive, but also kept in the internal hard drive.

Not knowing what to do, I put the files showing on the internal hard drive into the trash bin, and deleted.

But as soon as i plugged the External hard drive back in, the files once again showed up in the trash bin.

Does anybody have any ideas on what i'm doing wrong? thanks guys!

[Simon]

When you drag stuff from one disk to another the Finder default is to copy. If you want to move instead, hold the alt/opt key while you drag. When the plus next to the mouse pointer changes to an arrow you know you're doing it right.

The fact that the trash can shows the items as soon as you plug in the external disk indicates you trashed the items on the external disk, not the internal one. Trash items are collected separately per disk.

Items remain in the trash can until it is emptied so you can drag items back out from Trash if you want to restore them. Once you empty Trash your stuff is gone. At that point only third-party software will help you get it back. An there's no guarantee it won't be overwritten.