How the NotchStar Disk Trash step works
When you remove something from the Disk tab, NotchStar moves it to the Trash. It never deletes anything permanently. The space comes back only when you empty the Trash yourself, so you have a window to change your mind.
What happens
- You tick items, or press Remove on an app, in one of the sections.
- NotchStar checks each item against its safety rule. Items outside your home folder or
/Applicationsare skipped. - Each allowed item is moved to the Trash using the standard macOS call for it, so Put Back works.
- NotchStar adds the moved size to the Activity total, a running count of space recovered.
Two consequences
- Free space does not change yet. Items in the Trash still take up space. Empty the Trash in Finder to release it.
- Nothing is final until you say so. NotchStar has no permanent delete button and no setting to enable one.
The Activity total counts the size at the moment of the move, so it can include space you have not got back yet.
Compress and the Trash
Compress works in place. It builds a smaller file first, then puts the original in the Trash and puts the new file where it was. The original stays in the Trash until you empty it.
A cautious routine
Remove what you can name, use the Mac for a day, then empty the Trash. If something is missing, Put Back from the Trash. The longer version is in the guide to freeing space without a cleaner. For what the tool will and will not touch, read is Disk cleanup safe, and for a cleanup that uses it, finding duplicate files.
