HELP!!!!! Mac HD > lost+found Folder

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Level 1

20 points

HELP!!!!! Mac HD > lost+found Folder

Recently when looking in my Mac HD i found a folder called "lost+found". I looked around on the internet to find out what it is because it only recently appeared. I'm still not 100% sure what it is and if I can delete it. There is nothing in it just empty folders (e.g. "6477455"). I have recently run Disk Utility from my Mac OS X bootup disk and done a Disk Verify (this came up with some missing directories and some other errors) so i then ran First Aid and a Disk Repair, it apparently fixed it and when ever i run the disk verify now it comes up saying the disk is OK.
The lost+found folder says it was created on the same day as i ran the disk repair!
All i want to know is if my Drive is okay and also what this folder is, and lastly can i delete it.

Thanks in Advance

White MacBook (2007), Mac OS X (10.6.2), Updating to 10.6.3 today.

Posted on Apr 6, 2010 2:50 PM

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Answer 1

captfred

Level 7

26,446 points

Apr 6, 2010 3:01 PM in response to ajeffreys242

The lost and found folder is created by Disk Utility when you run first aid.
If there's nothing you need in it, you can delete it.

Cheers

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Answer 2

Apr 6, 2010 3:03 PM in response to ajeffreys242

Yes, that is apparently a result of running DUs repair disk function:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=lost%2Bfound+folder&ie=UTF-8 &oe=UTF-8

It appears to be the place were certain corrupt files were gathered during the fsck check. I'm thinking your Mac is OK.

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Answer 3

ajeffreys242 Author

Level 1

20 points

Apr 6, 2010 3:05 PM in response to captfred

So would you say that the Mac is Okay then and it will continue to run okay even if I delete this lost and found folder - what happens if some other directories get lost will the folder be recreated automatically?

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Answer 4

captfred

Level 7

26,446 points

Apr 6, 2010 3:12 PM in response to ajeffreys242

I would look into the contents of Lost and Found and if nothing is important, you can delete it. The files aren't in use now so If you're running OK now, this won't change anything. This directory will be created every time you have repairs performed by Disk Utility. On the other hand, if it's small, why not leave it?

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