Unknown Folder in Volumes folder

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Level 1

8 points

Unknown Folder in Volumes folder

I was just using a program that required me to select a drive from my /volumes folder, which i have never actually seen. However, i saw that there was a folder titled Q16Q41Q54 10.4.11 located in /volumes, which i did not recognize. In addition, that folder (q16q41q54 10.4.11) is locked, i.e. i dont have the permissions to open it (red circle with - sign). I installed onyx so that i could see the /volumes folder, and sure enough there the folder is. Is this normal? and if not, what should i do about it...

P.S. just hit command-I and it doesnt seem to show a file size, almost as if its empty.. Any help is much appreciated

Message was edited by: vegas9451

Macbook Pro 15", Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jun 8, 2009 6:23 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 8, 2009 7:01 PM in response to vegas9451

Hello vegas:

I have no clue what it is, but the end of it (10.4.11) probably indicates it has something to do with OS X 10.4.11 (the last release of that level of OS X).

I never delete things that are locked (although I can) that even remotely may be system files.

Barry

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Answer 2

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Jun 8, 2009 7:07 PM in response to vegas9451

Did you update your Leopard from Tiger? It may be an old Tiger directory/file.
Do you have any external volumes mounted, or did you once have a Tiger OS on an external drive?

In a terminal, run
cd /volumes
ls -al
and look at the file/directory in detail.
You can copy and paste it here in a post.

If your name or any personal info is there, just modify it, but leave the main part of the listing.

Example:
A typical listing in /volumes is
drwxrwxr-t 36 root admin 1292 Aug 31 2008 LaCie_1
which is one of my external drives.

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Answer 3

vegas9451 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 8, 2009 7:38 PM in response to nerowolfe

I dont believe i ever updated from Tiger, i know i had to do this on my old desktop, but i just used my macbook straight out of the box... here is what came up in terminal (username is replaced with vegas9451)
Macbook-Pro:volumes vegas9451$ ls -al
total 28
drwxrwxrwt@ 6 root admin 204 Jun 8 18:47 .
drwxrwxr-t 34 root admin 1224 May 14 06:39 ..
-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 vegas9451 admin 6148 Jun 8 18:33 .DS_Store
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 1 Jun 8 17:41 Macintosh HD -> /
dr-xr-xr-x 6 vegas9451 staff 432 Mar 7 2002 OCEANS ELEVEN2001
d--x--x--x 3 root admin 102 Oct 30 2008 Q16Q41Q54 10.4.11

Ive never used an external hard drive, just a flash drive here and there to move files, but never anything that i booted off of... I currently have oceans eleven (dvd) inserted but that is all; the power cord is the only other thing plugged in.

P.S. sorry if i dont remember what i was doing with my computer last october

Message was edited by: vegas9451

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Answer 4

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Jun 8, 2009 8:26 PM in response to vegas9451

Here's what I would do.
First, be sure your backup is up-to-date but I don't want to scare you 🙂
In a terminal
cd /volumes
and then enter
cd Q16Q41Q54*
this should put you into the directory.
Now do an
ls -al
and see what's in the directory.

Now let's simply rename it to see if it does anything strange.
(renaming is safer than deleting and you can delete it later if renaming does nothing)

cd /volumes
(to get back where we were)

sudo mv "Q16Q41Q54 10.4.11" "Q16Q41Q54 10.4.11.bak"

enter the admin password (it won't show) and hit enter

The file should have the new name (with .bak at the end.)

Reboot and see if everything is normal. It should be.
If all is OK, that means the file was harmless. Being conservative is best when doing these things. Measure twice - cut once 🙂

If after a while nothing seems amiss, then you can delete the file, as the next step.

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Answer 5

vegas9451 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 8, 2009 8:33 PM in response to nerowolfe

I know this may sound foolish, but i dont have a backup of my system (wanted an external hd but wasnt able to get one in the past) in fact i was about to order the lacie 500 gb rugged drive from newegg this week... That being said, i will have to wait until i get the drive, unless you have any other suggestions that wouldnt be "risky"

Any particular reason why .bak, or just cuz (just my curiosity)

Message was edited by: vegas9451

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Answer 6

Jun 9, 2009 10:24 AM in response to vegas9451

It sounds like a failed backup of some sort, which is the usual source of folders inside of Volumes. You should actually be able to open the folder in the Finder: use the Finder's Go menu item, select the "Go to folder..." option and type

/Volumes

then click the Go button. The /Volumes folder will open in Finder. What should really be in there are just aliases. Sometimes, especially with a failed backup, a folder will appear. Normally when that happens you can move the folder out of the invisible /Volumes folder and onto your Desktop, examine the contents to see if there is anything in it you want to keep (with a failed backup generally there isn't), and then trash the folder and its contents. However the ownership and permissions of your strange folder are so weird that may not be possible.

My guess, based on what you've said, is that the folder is a result of removing a thumb drive, and you had a program running that generates an auto backup of its files, and it did the autobackup to the missing thumb drive, thus creating the the weird folder in /Volumes.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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Answer 7

vegas9451 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 9, 2009 11:26 AM in response to Francine Schwieder

If the program you were referring to was the one mentioned in the first post, that was just a program to play the dvd, and i had to select it from the volumes folder. However, as i was moving the folder to the desktop, just for kicks and giggles, it said that i needed to enter my admin username and password to modify the folder. Then, a progress box, like the one that comes up when you move a folder, said copying VolumeConfig.plist to desktop, and the file was 1KB of 1KB. Just some interesting progress. By the way, i do have Vmware Fusion, and so i have a 20 Gb partition on my hard drive i guess. That wouldn't be located in the /volumes folder would it? If so where would it be?

By the way, i cant open the folder on the desktop either, as its still 'locked'

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Answer 8

Jun 9, 2009 11:54 AM in response to vegas9451

No, I wasn't referring to the DVD, just that strange folder with 10.4.11 in the name, and the truly bizarre permissions, where not even the owner has read or write permissions. In short, this one:

d--x--x--x 3 root admin 102 Oct 30 2008 Q16Q41Q54 10.4.11

as its still 'locked'

I don't think it is locked, I think it is just that NO ONE, not even the file's owner (root), has read permissions. Also, I was making a guess as to the ".bak" extension you mentioned, and what it probably means.

I don't have VMware Fusion, I use Sun's free Virtual Box, so I don't know how Fusion handles the Windows (or Linux) file system in manages in its virtual machine. It might have an actual mount point, in which case it would mount and have alias in Volumes when it runs. Or it might not have a mount point at all. Virtual Box doesn't--my Windows XP install isn't a partition, it is just a Virtual Box file that loads in the program when it runs. I do have BootCamp installed, and Vista is installed there. It IS an actual disk partition, and shows up in Volumes as an alias.

In short, what ought to be present in the invisible /Volumes folder are the mount points of file systems, shown as aliases when viewed in the Finder. If you open the /Volumes folder in Finder and see an actual folder, rather than an alias, it is NOT supposed to be there. This is one occasion where Finder is actually clearer than using Terminal, where all the mounts, except the startup drive, show as directories.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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Answer 9

vegas9451 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 9, 2009 12:05 PM in response to Francine Schwieder

I think i understand what you're saying, but how am i to tell if the folder in /volumes is an alias or an actual file. I'm pretty sure that it is a file, as it doesnt have the little arrow at the bottom left corner as aliases for my applications and other folders do. If you wouldnt mind, could i send u an email with pictures of the subject, as i dont have a flickr account to link to. lets just say that i like football in your area.

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Answer 10

Jun 9, 2009 12:36 PM in response to vegas9451

Yes, if you open the /Volumes folder in the Finder, everything in it should show as an alias with the usual little alias arrow in the corner, and if you do GetInfo it will say at the top that it is an alias. No actual files or folders should be in there.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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