How to undo from trash

Is there a way to undo throwing files in the trash like in Windows? Sometimes I can't remember exactly where a trashed file came from or if I do it kind of sucks having to go through folders to find it's place.. there must be a way to undo in OS X.. right??

 

From finder you can go to the menu Edit->Undo and hope it says Undo Move if it was a recent deletion. Obviously this is very limited and I also hope there's a better way since I don't always remember where the deleted file is from.

 

man.. that sucks.. I can't believe Windows has a better trash management system

 

Yea it does. Parts of OS X are better, some are different, and some are just worse. People who buy a Mac for OS X are ummm... misinformed in my opinion. I use OS X only because it's prettier than Windows. That's really about it. It's not faster (only boot, but I work slower in it), or more stable (things crash just as much as Windows).

+1 for Mac design and marketing.

 

Use this; http://www.prosoftengineering.com/products/data_rescue_info.php

If you did it very recently, you should be ok.

The reason it doesn't have a better trash system, is that Unix will overwrite things far more often. The other problem is, every time you install a new update to the OS where it says "Optimizing...", it's defragging the drive.

Just do what I do though, throw it in the trash and don't empty it. Give it a few weeks to build up a good pile, and go through the trash to make sure you aren't throwing away something you need.

Of course, I've still got a half Terabyte not being used on my desktop, so I don't really have a problem holding onto files. If there is something I need removed then and there though, I just run it through the terminal and do an "rm" on it.

Whatever you do, avoid installing as much as you can until you recover the files, otherwise you'll screw up your chances.

Edit; and just a commentary; I think the Mac design allows for far better uptimes. I had an uptime of 400+ days running 10.2, which only turned off to install 10.3. My uptime from then was usually 100 days before I'd have an update to install. I haven't had to restart since I installed 10.5.1. Not sure which crashing problems you're having, but it's never hung my OS.

 

I think he's referring to actually moving the file from the Trash back to where it originally was, and not recovering files that the Trash has already emptied.

But in any case, yea, there's no easy way to undo a Move to Trash unless it was a very recent action, although there are 3rd party uninstaller applications that have features like that.

Windows just beats OSX on the Trash feature generally - Recycle Bin is so much more politically correct

 

Recycle Bin always seemed like a misnomer since you never reused the deleted data when you empty the bin.

 

Ah, but you do reuse the freed up space.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if all deleted/corrupt data went into one sandbox type place, where they could interact with everything and go amok, and at the end of a year or so you could open up that portion of the drive and see what it's turned into?

This would only be really useful if there was some sort of AI though....ah well...