P: LR cannot delete files from a drive that doesn't support trash

[robertm656]

I have moved to a new Mac running Sonoma 14.1.1 and I have noticed a problem I didn't have on my older Mac. My LR catalog is on the internal SSD and the image files are on a new external SSD. In the past I would be in LR, go to "delete rejected photos", and then choose "delete from disk" and the images would go to the trash. Now I get a LR message that it "cannot delete files from a drive that doesn‘t support trash". It then offers "completely delete images". I can remove/delete from disk LR images that are on the internal drive fine but I keep getting the error message for files on the external drive. The external drive has APFS formatting and LR has access to my internal and removable drives so I'm not sure why this problem is occurring.

[Bill Sprague]

I googled your error.  There are several Mac issues that can cause this.  Included are permissions, disc formatting, connection errors and malware.  If it were me, I would do some research focused on Mac issues.  

Since it is a move to a new Mac, my first suspicion would be file permissions. 

[Bill Sprague]

This might be a good reference and starting point:  https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/files-on-a-volume-that-doesnt-support-trash.38836/

[robertm656]

Thanks for the reply Bill. I spent several hours this morning Googling my problem and reading through suggested fixes, including several threads on the site you linked to. Unfortunately none of those suggestions resolved my problem. I can move files from the external drive to the trash when I am outside of LR so I don't believe this is a Mac OS problem but rather a LR-specific issue. I posted in this community in the hope that someone who is far more knowledgeable about Adobe and LR specifically might have a solution. I'll keep looking but wanted to thank you for your time!

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

Visit the LightroomQueen link again...

[Ourdavid]

I am using lightroom classic 13.0.2 on my new iMac M3 desktop. The OS is 14.1.2 (have not upgraded yet to 14.2 as i understand there are issues with lightroom). However in lightroom when I am deleting a photo I get a message "The files are on a volume that does not support trash". My original photos are stored on a T7 Samsung external drive, and I have reviewed past posts found in 2020 when someone was questioning a similar issue and I have tried all the reply fixes with no luck.  Can someone help me please..

[JohanElzenga]

See the suggestions and possible solutions in the thread this message was moved to. Do not post it again for the third time, please.

[ammarh2221193]

I got this problem after upgrading the "same" Mac to Sonoma 14.1.2 The external drive is APFS and I have no problem deleting any file there to the trash.

The problem is with LR Classic and I am sure a future update will resolve this issue. Till then I am happy making this extra click.

[C.Cella · Accepted solution]

I had the same issue as @robertm656 on my Mac

I managed to solve it doing these steps.

1. Remove "Full Disk Access" to LrC in the Privacy and Security.

2. Restart the system.

3. Give LrC "Full Disk Access"

Now files can be trashed again.

I suspect the latest Mac "Security Update" messed up the permissions.

[diegohblack]

I'm having the same problem, which only started today. I tried your solution and didn't work for me.

[diegohblack]

In fact, it made it worse. The permissions are now for only two things instead of four before (I don't remember which) And now the masks now don't work in LR. I'm uninstalling LR and installing it again. I'm also giving CreativeCloud full access to my drive, which it didn't have before.

[diegohblack]

I reinstalled, I gave LR full disk access, and still it gives me the same notice about not being able to put files in trash and needing to erase permanently. Next, I'm going to try an older LR version to see if the problem is with Adobe.

[diegohblack]

Going back to version 13.02 didn't fix the problem.

[JohanElzenga]

Most likely this is an Apple problem, or at least a problem that involves Apple too. Lightroom is just telling you what it was told by MacOS: that the volume does not support trash.

[davidmarkerickson]

Just tried to do this (removing persmissions, restarting and re adding permissions) and it did not work for me.

M1 Pro running Sonoma 13.3.1

Lightroom Classic 13.1

[diegohblack]

It has to do with the external drive I have my photos in. In one of my external drives it does not support trash, but in the rest of my drives it does. I don't understand because they are all SSDs set up the same way.

[Ourdavid]

I am using lightroom classic 13.0.2 on my new iMac M3 desktop. The OS is 14.1.2 (have not upgraded yet to 14.2 as i understand there are issues with lightroom). However in lightroom when I am deleting a photo I get a message "The files are on a volume that does not support trash". My original photos are stored on a T7 Samsung external drive, and I have reviewed past posts from 2020 when someone was questioning a similar issue and I have tried all the reply remidies to no avail. Can someone help me please..

[Ourdavid]

I am using lightroom classic 13.0.2 on my new iMac M3 desktop. The OS is 14.1.2 (have not upgraded yet to 14.2 as i understand there are issues with lightroom). However in lightroom when I am deleting a photo I get a message "The files on a volume that does not support trash". My original photos are stored on a T7 Samsung external drive, and I have reviewed past posts in 2020 when someone was qustioning a similar issue and I have tried all the reply remidies to no avail. Cab someone help me please..

[Jeena22389650a1ho]

Hi, I'm hoping I can get some help from you folks!

So I got an error message to the effect of the post title when I went to delete some files from disk from within LR, which seemed odd to me. I've never seen this message in LR before. For reference, I'm on a modern Sandisk SSD. I formatted it before i started using it today (macos extended journaled). So, upon hitting the delete key with the files selected, I think I got the normal popup first, where it prompts you to Remove From Lightroom, Delete From Disk or Cancel. I chose to Delete From Disk, as i was sure i wanted to do this. I don't remember the exact order of things, but I think I then got another popup that said something to the effect of "You are deleting files on a volume that does not support trash. They will be permanently deleted" or something. I was flustered by this as I had never seen it before, yet I was sure I wanted to delete them, so I chose to permanently delete.

Its possible the order/windows I mentioned above differed slightly from my recollection, but as I was not able to reproduce the issue, I did my best to recant what happened for you all.

So I don't understand why i got that popup. But anyway, it gets weirder. I then went on to delete other files, from another folder, living on this same drive. Only this time, when I selected the files in LR, then hit the delete key, i got the standard popup to delete from disk (i THINK, cant remember right now, this all has flustered me), and i selected delete from disk, and poof the files were gone from LR, and also from my drive, and nothing is indeed in the trash bin from either time. No warning about the volume not supporting trash, just the normal prompt, and then poof, permanently deleted with nothing sent to the trash bin.

I dont understand why:

1) i got the "volume doesnt support" trash prompt in the first place.

2) the second time i did a delete, i didn't get that popup, it just straight permanently deleted them without giving me that warning prompt again!

Either way, I dont need those files back, I was certain I wanted to delete them. So thats not an issue. But please folks... what is going on?!

Please and thanks!

[JohanElzenga]

There is a long thread about this problem already. So far it is unclear what causes this. I experienced it myself for a few weeks too, and then the problem disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

[Jeena22389650a1ho]

well, i dont know if this is related. but now, i just tried to close this catalog, and do a backup upon closing. this has resulted in a situation where the taskbar proceeds to appear to finish over the course of 5 seconds or so, but then i get the spinning beach ball. this lasted for 15min before i finally opened the taskbar and saw the LR wasn't responded. so i force quit it. i then opened it back up, and closed it right away, opting to do another backup. same thing. weird. in my hard headedness, i opened again, and closed again while electing to backup. this time the progress bar again completed and the popup went away, followed by the beachball. but now, after 5-10 seconds LR seemed to close successfully, and sure enough, the backup file associated with this latest closure is indeed in a folder in the backups folder.

I'm a bit concerned about this, as this catalog in question is the result of me merging 4 catalogs into one, which has a total of 40k images. I am now concerned about deleting the old catalog files if its possible something is wrong with this one, because as i said, it is going to be the new catalog file that i work from. Please let me know your thoughts.

[Jeena22389650a1ho]

i've opened and closed/backed up the catalog 3 times since the last post to see what will happen, and things seem have gotten better/returned to normal. now every time i close the catalog and do the backup, the popup window pops up, and when the progress bar completes lightroom automatically closes, no beachball hang. and the backup folder is indeed created with the associated zip file in there. i remain concerned about the catalog due to the previous behavior, though to a slightly lesser degree due to things having gone back to normal for now.

would still super appreciate any insights. i wonder if this could have had something to do with the heavy lifting I had LR do in importing 3 catalogs into the existing one, resulting in 40k images being merged into one. Hopefully this was a one time hiccup and this new catalog is now perfectly healthy? Is there a way to test this theory at all?

[JohanElzenga]

This is not related. As you eventually made a backup successfully, I don't think any immediate action is required (except that I would reboot the computer).

[Jeena22389650a1ho]

Thanks for your insights Johan! And yup, a reboot is exactly what I did. I had actually remembered that I'd had a similar issue with video files suddenly displaying errors/previews dropping last week, and a reboot solved the issue. BTW could you please link me to the thread on this issue that you had mentioned?