Show hidden files in finder search results

Question

Show hidden files in finder search results

I discovered my backup HD was rapidly full because of After Effects Cache folder hughe size.
I fixed it in CCC to not to backup that directory but I need to remove all the old ones.

I am able to see them under Users/Library....... (hidden by default). I also have deleted some 50Gb AE cache folders.

But I have a lot of folders.

I've tried to search all of them 'Adobe After Effects Disk Cache' but finder search does not display them. I also tried Terminal 'locate' on /Volume/HDbackup, no results

Thanks

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Mar 30, 2014 8:47 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 30, 2014 9:22 AM in response to Daniel Stonek

Try the following in the Terminal. It will produce a file (hidden.txt) containing hidden files and directories starting in your home ( ~ ) folder:

find -x ~ -name '.*' \( -type d -exec find {} \; -prune -o -print \) 2>&1 > hidden.txt

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Answer 2

Mar 30, 2014 9:50 AM in response to VikingOSX

Hi Viking, thanks for your help.

The purpose to get them in Finder search result is to select them all and send them to trash at once.

To test your commands I changed

'~' by /Volumes/....../_CCC\ Archives and '.*' by 'Adobe After Effects Disk Cache'

I got lots of 'permission denied'

I also tried

find -x ~ -name 'Adobe After Effects Disk Cache' $ -type d -exec find {} \; -prune -o -print $ 2>&1 > hidden.txt

where it is supposed to find one result but hidden.txt was empty

'Adobe After Effects Disk Cache' is a directory

What do you suggest?

Thank you

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Answer 3

ssls6

Level 4

2,879 points

Mar 30, 2014 9:57 AM in response to Daniel Stonek

Why not rerun the clone with (delete anything not on the source). You've excluded the folders in CCC so anything on the clone that doesn't match the source + exclusion gets deleted.

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,590 points

Mar 30, 2014 10:01 AM in response to Daniel Stonek

Add System Files and File Visibility to the list of criteria in the Finder Search.

When you cmd-f to search, there is an initial criteria of Kind. Select that menu and choose Other…

From the dialog that opens, search for both of the above criteria and check the box next to each to put them in the menu.

Then, when you want to search for something that is not visible and/or a "system" file, add those criteria to the search.

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Answer 5

Mar 30, 2014 10:04 AM in response to ssls6

But day by day ccc archives (several) are not deleted

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Answer 6

Mar 30, 2014 10:51 AM in response to Daniel Stonek

Try it with sudo find and drop the -x.

Also, any file or directory hidden with chflags hidden syntax will not be discovered by the find solution previously posted.

find /path -exec ls -lO {} \; | while read line; do

awk '$5 == "hidden" { print $0 }' <<< "${line}";

done

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Answer 7

Mar 30, 2014 11:16 AM in response to Barney-15E

Barney,

I saw this answer after sending my last post.
System files -> Are included

File Visibility -> Visible or Invisible

Name - Contains -> Adobe After Effects Disk Cache

Kind -> Folder

I doesn't find anything after a while

I see at least 2 possible results by myself

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Answer 8

Mar 30, 2014 11:47 AM in response to Daniel Stonek

If I change the source to 'This Mac' I don't get results neither.

This is the path where it is (and analogue for the ccc backups)
/Users/Me/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/11.0/Adobe After Effects Disk Cache - Me.noindex

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Answer 9

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,590 points

Mar 30, 2014 5:45 PM in response to Daniel Stonek

The .noindex extension means what it says.

The finder only searches using Spotlight which needs the index.

Try Find Any File or one of the other search apps.

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Answer 10

Mar 31, 2014 4:49 AM in response to Barney-15E

No way Barney.

I suspected that.

No way to find .noindex files in that way

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Answer 11

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,590 points

Mar 31, 2014 7:01 PM in response to Daniel Stonek

Daniel Stonek wrote:

No way Barney.

I suspected that.

No way to find .noindex files in that way

You could try finding by File Name (cmd-ctrl-shift-f). I think the extension just prevents indexing the content, but I don't know if it will stop it from finding the file name.

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