- Mac OS X is built on top of the Unix operating system, and one of the traits of that OS is that it hides folders by giving them a name beginning with a period (.). One such folder is the trash folder, which is located in every user's home directory in the ".trash" folder.
- The simplest way to access this folder, if the trash icon is missing from the Dock, is by opening the Terminal, which is located in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Once you've opened the Terminal, type the following:
cd ~/.Trash/
"cd" is the Unix command for "change directory" and the tilde (~) is a shortcut for the current user's home directory. - External hard drives or flash drives may have hidden ".Trashes" folders on them as well to hold any data deleted from them.
previous post