Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

31 points

Show hidden files in Finder

I've been ripping my music CDs into mp3 files using iTunes.

I recently bought an HDTV. It shows the hidden files on the flash drive as well as the visible files. When I try to play one of the hidden mp3 files, the TV tells me that the file isn't supported. Yet if I scroll to the right, the TV shows the visible mp3 files. I had to use Windows XP to show the hidden mp3 files on the flash drive so that I could delete them. After I did that, the TV displayed the visible mp3 files & played them. Today, I tried to search for hidden mp3 files on the flash drive using Finder. When I use the Terminal to show the hidden files, hidden folders are shown, but none of the hidden mp3 files are shown. Yet the hidden mp3 files are shown in Windows XP. The hidden mp3 file starts with ".01_" followed by the file name & ending with the mp3 extension. Each track starts with a different number. In other words, .01_, .02_, .03_, etc. I don't understand why I can see the hidden mp3 files in Windows XP, but not in Finder. The command "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES" apparently doesn't show ALL of the files. Is it possible to change the Finder so that ALL hidden files are displayed just as I can do in Windows XP? I shouldn't have to go to my PC so that I can see the hidden files & delete them & then go back to my Mac. (Windows XP is the only PC OS that I have. I don't have Vista or 7 or 8.) Or maybe there's a Terminal command that will just rip visible mp3 files in iTunes & not both visible & hidden files. Or maybe there's software that I can install that will do that. If there's no solution, then I will have to use Windows XP to show all of the hidden mp3 files so that I can delete them all at once. I sure would rather use my Mac for everything instead of going back & forth from Mac to PC.

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Apr 7, 2014 2:54 PM

34 replies

Eric Root

Level 10

684,219 points

Apr 10, 2014 2:23 PM in response to macnerd48

Will OS X read & write to a NTFS formatted drive?

There are 3rd party applications which will allow you to write to a NTFS formatted drive.

NTFS For Mac – Read/Write an NTFS formatted drive

universal disk format that can be BOTH read from AND written to by both Mac & Windows? I

MS-Dos and EXFAT work for Macs and Windows. Check Disk Utility/Erase.

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Apr 10, 2014 3:15 PM in response to macnerd48

macnerd48 wrote:

Please explain what this will do to my flash drive.

dot_clean will, for the most part, delete the hidden files that you're trying for delete manually. (For the full description, in Terminal, enter: man dot_clean

But, as with anything new, try it on test files first. So, on an empty flash drive, copy some files, then run dot_clean as I described above.

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Apr 10, 2014 3:33 PM in response to macnerd48

macnerd48 wrote:

My current 16 GB flash drive isn't big enough to store all of the mp3 files from my 200+ CD collection. So, I'll have to move them to a bigger flash drive. Is there such a thing as a Mac/Windows compatible flash drive?

Unless you have individual tracks larger than 4G each, just partition the flash drive as a Master Boot Record, and then format the partition as FAT32, then run dot_clean. For mp3 files, this is the easiest solution.

(To run dot_clean, In Terminal, type: dot_clean, then space, then drag the flash drive from the Desktop to the Terminal window, then press enter)

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Apr 10, 2014 3:41 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Kurt Lang wrote:

NAME

dot_clean -- Merge ._* files with corresponding native files.

This isn't the case with your files. They are not named like that, and if you run that Terminal command, it may destroy your audio tracks.

This will not destroy his files and he's would be running dot_clean on the FAT32 flash drive (not on his Mac HD). At the very least, this should be tested before dismissing the solution as "out of hand" (works for me when I'm copying files to a flash drive to copy to my windows machine -- and "no files were harmed" 🙂)

Kurt Lang

Level 9

59,244 points

Apr 10, 2014 4:43 PM in response to Tony T1

There's no way of knowing what the command would have tried to do with a file named ".01_Track Name.mp3". Hence the warning.

Also note that I did say, "I don't think you want to do this." It wasn't an absolute.

Kurt Lang

Level 9

59,244 points

Apr 10, 2014 5:44 PM in response to macnerd48

You could kind of say iTunes creates the ._ files, but it's the OS.

A resource fork is part of Apple's twin file system. There are a few older exceptions, but the main data of a file is in the data fork (A tree), and resource fork for the same file or folder is in the resource fork (B tree). The resource fork holds things like creation date and time, the desktop icon, and other small associated data.

The drive you're using is already Mac/Windows compatible. No special software is needed on either platform to read or write.

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Apr 10, 2014 5:44 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Kurt Lang wrote:

There's no way of knowing what the command would have tried to do with a file named ".01_Track Name.mp3". Hence the warning.

It's that resourcefork that's causing his problems. As he's only copying from the Mac to the FAT32 flash drive, dot_clean should resolve his problem by merging it with the file (he may need to use an option, such as -m, or -n, but I don't think he'll need to). Even without the resource fork, he should be able to copy the mp3 back to the Mac without any issues (I have not had any issues with m4a files doing this)

Kurt Lang

Level 9

59,244 points

Apr 10, 2014 5:47 PM in response to Tony T1

I'm curious what Apple means by merging with that command. Does it actually append the resource fork data of the ._ file to the data file and then delete the ._ file? And if it does, what does OS X do when you bring it back to an HFS+ drive? Separate them again?

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Apr 10, 2014 6:28 PM in response to Kurt Lang

My guess is that any attributes stored in the fork are merged with the file, but not sure is this is even needed when copied to a FAT32 drive.

When I've used it, the ._ is deleted, but there's an options to always delete (-m). In my experience, when bringing it back, a new fork is created. However, I've only copied back document files (word, excel) and m4a files. I'm not sure if files that use hfs+ compression (data is stored in fork) would be uncompressed with dot_clean, but I haven't tested this (and since only OS X Apps use this AFAIK, it not an issue in this case with mp3 files)

macnerd48 Author

Level 1

31 points

Apr 11, 2014 11:09 AM in response to Tony T1

I hope that you can explain to me what the following hidden files are on my flash drive & what they do.

Listed in order from top to bottom. The bold characters are the topmost file or folder.

.cm0013(Unix executable file)

.fseventsd(folder) inside of folder: fseventsd-uuid(Unix executable file)

.Spotlight-V100(inside 2 folders & 1 file: Store-V1, Store-V2, VolumeConfiguration.plist)

inside Store-V1 is VolumeConfig.plist

inside Store-V2 is folder "BE34B220E-1B8D-411F-94A7-8E41DC6CF1CE" with a bunch of files & folders

.Temporaryitems(folder); inside that folder is a folder "folders.501". Nothing is in the 501 folder.

.Trashes(folder); inside that folder is folder (Trash)

inside Trash folder in order from top to bottom is:

.cm0013

.fseventsd(folder) inside of folder-fseventsd-uuid(Unix executable file); apparently recreated after I deleted it

.fseventsd 2.00.01 PM folder (empty)

.fseventsd 4.22.58 PM folder (empty)

.Spotlight-V100(inside 2 folders & 1 file: Store-V1, Store-V2, VolumeConfiguration.plist); apparently recreated after I deleted it

.Spotlight-V100 4.23.04 PM

.Spotlight-V100 4.23.15 PM

untitled folder.textClipping

It appears that the .cm0013, .fseventsd, & .Spotlight-V100 files/folders were recreated after I deleted them.

I want to edit what I see when I play the files on my TV or in my car. For example, I have a lot of classical music CDs. The display shows the name of the work, the conductor, the opus number & the key it was written in. All I want to see is the name of the work & the nickname if there is one. I don't want to see the opus or catalog number & I don't want to see the key. Is there a file that I can edit out the stuff that I don't want to see? Isn't the .plist file editable? It appears to be an XML file. But I don't see any of the CDs listed. Maybe one of the Unix executable files has the information that I want but I don't want to mes with them. I did see some .db files. I guess that they are the files that I'm looking for but I don't want to mess with them since I don't know what I'm doing. Unless there is a GUI for viewing the contents of the database files. It looks like I'm out of luck & I won't be able to edit out the information.

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Apr 11, 2014 12:18 PM in response to macnerd48

macnerd48 wrote:

I hope that you can explain to me what the following hidden files are on my flash drive & what they do.

Mac files that are ignored on a Windows system.

Most are self explanatory (Trashes Spotlight), Google the rest

You can remove Spotlight in the Spotlight Privacy tab in System Preferences

Did you run dot_clean?

macnerd48 Author

Level 1

31 points

Apr 11, 2014 12:42 PM in response to Tony T1

Did you run dot_clean?

No, because I don't understand the technical mumbo-jumbo. Resource fork? HFS+? Attributes? Apple's twin file system? I've spent hours ripping the CDs & I don't want to screw anything up. I've had my mini for less than a year. I'm still learning about OS X.

I will google the file & folder names & find out what they are.

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Apr 11, 2014 12:55 PM in response to macnerd48

macnerd48 wrote:

Did you run dot_clean?

No, because I don't understand the technical mumbo-jumbo. Resource fork? HFS+? Attributes? Apple's twin file system?

ok, I tried. (I understand if you're hesitant, but dot_clean is the way to clean up the hidden files on the flash drive that's causing you problems, not mucking around and deleting files willy-nilly)

macnerd48 wrote:

I've spent hours ripping the CDs & I don't want to screw anything up.

Well, you should not be keeping all of your mp3's on a Flash Drive, you should only keep copies on the flash (and you should be also keeping a backup)

macnerd48 Author

Level 1

31 points

Apr 11, 2014 2:46 PM in response to Tony T1

Someone in the forum suggested that I download CleanMyDrive from the App Store. So, I tried that several times but the App Store kept complaining. I had to call the local Apple store & get tech support. It took a while, but the tech connected to my mini remotely & finally figured out that it was a .plist file. He told me to drag the file to the Desktop & then restart the computer. Then I went to the App Store & successfully downloaded & installed the app. It got rid of the hidden junk files! I'd rather use CleanMyDrive than risk screwing up my computer because I incorrectly entered the wrong command into Terminal.

It seems to have solved my problem.

Kurt Lang

Level 9

59,244 points

Apr 11, 2014 3:38 PM in response to macnerd48

Well, it got rid of the ._ files on the flash drive, but your ripped tracks are still hidden since they begin with a period. Or at least, they should still be hidden.

Show hidden files in Finder