Is it safe to delete a Volume file that's appeared?

Question

Level 1

1 points

Is it safe to delete a Volume file that's appeared?

Hi there,

I just noticed that my Macintosh HDD has suddenly been filled with an extra 12gb of data. After doing a check on What Size it seems that there is a hidden Volume file called FREECOM HDD (which is my external HDD) and is carrying the 12gb. My external FREECOM is not attached to my Mac and shouldn't be, as far as I know, on my Macintosh HDD. Firstly, does anyone know how it got there (I use it for Time Machine backups) and secondly is it safe to just delete the FREECOM HDD file?

Thanks so much

Shark

PS . See images below to show the file in question.

http://img.skitch.com/20100113-tnnfxm8x1eig73r7t871skwtrt.preview.jpg

http://img.skitch.com/20100113-efnbsu6nbhhrfbau9bktce2h63.preview.jpg

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jan 13, 2010 5:27 AM

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Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Jan 13, 2010 7:23 AM in response to Shark Trager

folder /Volumes itself should not be deleted. it's a necessary system folder which contains all mount points for all your drive. but the fake drive inside it can and should be deleted. in finder go to go menu->go to folder and enter /Volumes in the popup. this will open /Volumes in a finder window. all regular mount point in it should look like aliases. any fake ones will look like regular folders. you can delete those. you can look inside first and see if there is some data you want to save.

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Answer 2

togeorge

Level 1

8 points

Jan 13, 2010 7:50 AM in response to Shark Trager

I too am having this problem. Out of nowhere, I have a 186 GIG .dmg file that I can't delete. ( I have only 36 GIG left on my internal Hard Drive) When I try, it just goes to delete bar and loops. I let it run for 24 hours, thinking it may have been the size When I try and move it to another Hard drive, it gives me an error 001, I think. Any help would be appreciated.

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Answer 3

Shark Trager Author

Level 1

1 points

Jan 14, 2010 2:17 AM in response to V.K.

Thanks VK. Deleted offending folder and all is well. Appreciate your help.

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,306 points

Jan 14, 2010 4:31 AM in response to Shark Trager

If the fake folder has a lot of data in it, that may be because the external was ejected improperly. The fake reference remains and any data copied to the fake reference may have never been copied to the real hard drive. So, you need to make sure that the data that you want on the drive is still on the drive.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,306 points

Jan 14, 2010 4:34 AM in response to togeorge

togeorge, you really don't have the same problem. It is best if you start a new topic of your own [here|http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1339].

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Answer 6

Danaew

Level 1

0 points

Jan 14, 2010 2:36 PM in response to V.K.

I agree. YOU should NEVER delete something such as a "Volumes" folder. Since I am sort of new myself to Mac OS X, I probably shouldn't be talking- I use Windows (which I despise), but know a fair amount about computing in general. I once did a similar thing in Windows XP, and it wouldn't start again.

So, unless you know it's suspicious, don't do it!!!

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