EasyFind + Ext Drive + Move To Trash Issue

Miscellaneous Needful things
1

Hello!

I’ve just been experimenting with EasyFind again because Spotlight in Sierra is making me want to haul my ears off.

I discovered odd behaviour and don’t want to bother DevonTech Support until I’m sure that its really a thing (see explanation below).

Odd behaviour (repeatable):

  • Use EasyFind to search for a file
  • EasyFind locates the file on an external 1 TB ThunderBolt-connected SSD (its ALWAYS plugged in and mounted; in fact, its where my Dropbox, iTunes and Photos folders are stored since my internal SSD is only 256 GB)
  • select the file in EasyFind’s window, choose ‘Delete’ or ‘Move to Trash’
  • the file is deleted from the external drive but it doesn’t appear in the Trash, its just gone
  • taking the same steps but for a file located on the internal drive results in expected behaviour: that is, the deleted file appears in the Trash (and can therefore be Put Back, restored or undeleted)

Has anyone else experienced this? Can anyone duplicate this behaviour?

I’m inclined to accept that there is something amiss with my Sierra installation rather than with EasyFind:

  • given that Spotlight is not returning search results as expected for files located on the external drive
  • during troubleshooting I have re-indexed my Spotlight Index several times over the last two weeks

This is why I didn’t want to bother support: it may simply be an issue with my own particular setup. I may have to do a clean install to resume expected behaviour.

Many thanks!

2

EasyFind just tells macOS to either delete the item or to move it to the trash, it doesn’t perform this on its own. Is the Finder able to move items to the trash on the external volume? E.g. server volumes usually don’t support the trash.

3

Hello Christian!

I don’t know why but the problem has stopped. The only thing I’ve done out of the ordinary was shut down my iMac overnight (due to a snow storm and fears of power outages. I’m not a seal or a Polar bear, so why do i choose to live here?! Family?! Pffft.)

When I started up and read your reply just now, I tried both tests and it is working.

While troubleshooting it over the weekend I:

  • restarted the Mac several times
  • re-indexed Spotlight several times
  • created a new Time Machine backup to a new external USB 3 drive (different from the Thunderbolt drive I spoke about in my original post; the new USB drive is solely for backups)

So, why shutting down the Mac had a different effect than restarting is unclear.

To actually reply to your question: Yes, while experiencing the odd behaviour, the Finder was able to move items to the trash on the external volume, and allowed me to ‘Put Back’ any files I deleted using the Finder, whereas EasyFind was not.

Resolving this sort of odd behaviour may only be possible with a clean install. As I mentioned, one odd behaviour: Spotlight indexing is NOT working on the external Thunderbolt drive. I haven’t EVER done a clean install on this iMac since buying it in December 2015.

I’m sorry to have bothered you with this, but thank-you very much! I appreciate your time. Apologies for wasting it!

(oh, and EasyFind is an excellent app, as are the other freeware apps you provide!)

Thank-you again!