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Greyed files and folders

I've just noticed that a Download folder I have is presenting some problems.


At least 50% of the files and folders are now 'greyed-out'. They have a creation date of 24th Jan 1984 and a size set to Zero.


Other folders and files on the drive appear ok.


Any ideas?

Posted on Jul 24, 2013 12:03 PM

Reply
12 replies

Jul 25, 2013 8:14 AM in response to Dz0rpw

The default filesystem OS X uses is a journaled system, meaning that writes should be cached before made permanant; however, this should be transparent to the Finder. In some instances, a file or folder entry may be created before its contents are transferred (such as a download container folder), and if a problem occurs during the transfer then this may be reverted, but the file entry may be left behind with zero bytes in size on disk.


However, if files and folders with known content suddenly become zero bytes in size, then this suggests damage to the filesystem structure.


Try opening Disk Utility and checking your drive for formatting errors (use the First Aid tab, and run the Verify Disk routine on both your boot volume and the boot device). If there are any errors, then boot to the OS X Recovery partition by holding Command-R at startup, and then use Disk Utility there to repair the drive.


Is the Downloads folder you're referring to the one in your home folder, or at another custom location on disk? If the later is the case, then you can try copying its intact contents to another location temporarily, then delete the folder followed by recreating it and copying the contents back. If the problem is happening because of a fault only at that folder in the filesystem structure, then this can be an easy way to clear and recreate it. However, if it continues and especially if it's accompanied by detected faults with Disk Utility, then consider fully repartitioning and formatting the drive, or replacing it.

Jul 25, 2013 10:23 AM in response to Topher Kessler

The Download folder is on a different disk.

Copying the contents doesn't help (just copies them but they are still zero).

Verify Disk shows no errors.


I was downloading a file shortly before this happened and it was selecting the unzipped folder that highlighted the issue i.e. it wouldn't and I noticed the other files at this point where greyed and of zero size.

Jul 25, 2013 11:03 AM in response to Linc Davis

I can't believe this...I've worked with many OS's over the year from VMS,OpenVMS, Ultrix, Solaris, DYNIX and all the Microsoft iterations and never come across this before. In fact I can hold my hand on my heart and say I've never suffered filesystem curruption like this in over 25yrs in IT.


I've only just moved over to OSX...if this is normal...I'll move back to something more stable

Jul 25, 2013 11:07 AM in response to Dz0rpw

If this only happened this one time then some snafu with the programs you were using likely caused it; however, if it continues to happen (especially for other non-related files) then you might consider backing up, formatting the drive, and then restoring your backup to the drive. Even if Disk Utility does not detect it, there could be some odd problem with the formatting that could be the cause of this problem.


For these files that you lost, you might be able to restore them using a file recovery tool like Prosoft's Data Rescue, but this will likely be hit-or-miss.

Jan 8, 2014 11:12 AM in response to Dz0rpw

I have exactly the same problem except that the info panel that is displayed when my foler is highlighted is telling tme that there's over 150GB filed in this folder (there could in fact be more data but I have no way to tell). It also dates the folder as created: "24/01/84|24" (*** does that even mean?). If I changed the date of the folder on the file system would this un-ghost it perhaps? And how would I go about doing that...?

Greyed files and folders

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