Show hidden files is not working. I have copied CDs to a USB key for my car and my car shows extra files for each track, but my computer cannot show these. How do I fix this?
iMac 27 inch 2019, Sequoia 15.7.2, Sandisk Ultra 32GB
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Show Hidden Files
iMac 27″, macOS 15.7
Urquhart1244 wrote:
If you are comfortable with Terminal:
dot_clean /Volumes/KINGSTON32GB
(Replace volume name with that of your USB stick, or use drag-and-drop.)
+1
And, for the benefit of the OP:
1) Open Terminal (press command-space, type Term, enter)
2) Type "dot_clean " (no quotes, but WITH the trailing space)
3) Drag your thumb drive onto the Terminal window (the command line will look like shown above, with the proper name for your drive)
4) Press enter
Now, eject the drive and test in your car.
Urquhart1244 wrote:
If you are comfortable with Terminal:
dot_clean /Volumes/KINGSTON32GB
(Replace volume name with that of your USB stick, or use drag-and-drop.)
+1
And, for the benefit of the OP:
1) Open Terminal (press command-space, type Term, enter)
2) Type "dot_clean " (no quotes, but WITH the trailing space)
3) Drag your thumb drive onto the Terminal window (the command line will look like shown above, with the proper name for your drive)
4) Press enter
Now, eject the drive and test in your car.
If you are comfortable with Terminal:
dot_clean /Volumes/KINGSTON32GB
(Replace volume name with that of your USB stick, or use drag-and-drop.)
Open a Finder window and press shift-command-period to unhide any hidden files within the folder or disk.
Press shift-command-period again to hide them again.
What format for the key? It might have to be some version of FAT since car designers seem to have never heard of Apple and its drive formats. Even then it may be possible that some of the hidden folders attribute files may appear when viewing Mac sourced files on a PC style interface. I'd jut leave them if that is what is happening. You could delete them but when you attach the key to your Mac again some of the attributes may be lost.
You can see these files by unhiding them using the command in another post.
Actually I did understand because that has long been an issue when viewing Mac sourced files on a PC or a system version that doesn't accommodate Mac files. I just wanted to make sure I know to which kind of files you were referring and where they were. Removing some hidden files can make a mess of things.
Mac computers include certain files it alone uses and these will appear when a drive is used on a non-Mac computer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppleSingle_and_AppleDouble_formats
From 13 years ago:
how do you remove hidden files - Apple Community
I think that you have misunderstood what I wrote. The car shows in its file list a file starting with ._ for each of the tracks. My computer does not show any of these, so I cannot delete them. The USB Key is a brand new one formatted FAT32 by my iMac. I have done many USB keys this way and they never have given this problem before. For example, I use a USB key for 3D printing at my library and they read my key with a windows laptop, and show no extraneous files. Perhaps it is the "Music" app that is creating these extra files???
Thanks Louis. Yours is a comprehensive and complete solution.
interestingly, when I checked the USB in the car before using your solution, it did not show the dot files in any of its lists, so the problem has gone away, if not solved. I will read up on these dot files so that I understand better what Apple does.
Thanks. Now I understand that you did understand. It did not occur to me that one can delete a file that cannot be seen.
You'll notice in my reply to Louis that my car has decided not to show the dot files in its lists any more. Who knows or cares how that works?
I have tried this method and it does not work.
That is not working. what then?
How do I show hidden files on my iMac for a USB key?
