can I stop OSX from storing hidden files on my flash drive?

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Level 1

8 points

can I stop OSX from storing hidden files on my flash drive?

When I use my flash drive to transfer files in and out of my iMac, I see hidden Mac files when I am in Windows Explorer. I know how to go to Terminal and type in the commands to see hidden files in Finder, but it's a nuisance. Windows shows them plainly sitting there. One hidden folder is Trashes and one is Spotlight. After several transfers, the flash becomes full of hidden files and the capacity goes to zero, but nothing shows in Finder !! Is there a way to stop OS-X 10.7.4 from creating and storing these hidden files????

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Sep 18, 2012 8:29 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

251,379 points

Sep 18, 2012 10:35 PM in response to ronieaz

Hi, one crazy Apple feature ! 😟

I don't think you can do it if attached directly, but if you copy to it over the Network wilst attached to the PC, this should work...

To configure a Mac OS X user account so that .DS_Store files are not created when interacting with a remote file server using the Finder, follow the steps below.

Note: This will affect the user's interactions with SMB/CIFS, AFP, NFS, and WebDAV servers.

1 Open the Terminal.

2 Type:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true

3 Press Return.

4 Restart the computer.

If you want to prevent .DS_Store file creation for other users on the same computer, log in to each user account and perform the steps above—or distribute a copy of your newly modified com.apple.desktopservices.plist file to the ~/Library/Preferences folder of other target users.

These steps do not prevent the Finder from creating .DS_Store files on the local volume. These steps do not prevent previously existing .DS_Store files from being copied to the remote file server.

I guess another option would be an AppleScript to delete tyhose files!???

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