LazyGenious

Q: What are these hidden drives in my root directory? Why can I not access them?

Noticed two drives (?) in my root directory a week or so back that were never there before, one called net and one called home. Also have been getting anomalous folders appearing on the left of explorer as 'shared' folders/devices. Odd thing is I have no access to them (read only attribute, but even less than read only as I can't actually read any data on them) and they say they are zero bytes and created in 2001?! But the "date modified" date is always right up to date. So why can I not delete them? Anyone know what these are? Are they normal? See this picture http://oi62.tinypic.com/iyzyc1.jpg

 

Would there be a way to use terminal to gain access or to dig a little deeper into what they are?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Nov 4, 2014 6:39 AM

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Q: What are these hidden drives in my root directory? Why can I not access them?

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  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 4, 2014 6:39 AM in response to LazyGenious
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 4, 2014 6:39 AM in response to LazyGenious

    Since you are also running Linux, are you sure those are not associated with Linux?  The date of January 1, 2001 is also suspect.

     

    You can use Terminal, and the df and du commands (in Terminal just do man du and man df to see their attributes) to learn more about the drives.

  • by LazyGenious,

    LazyGenious LazyGenious Nov 4, 2014 7:01 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 4, 2014 7:01 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    I'm not actually running linux that drive was just one I named Linux but never got round to installing.

     

    df gives me this http://oi57.tinypic.com/2jb3cja.jpg

     

    When I navigate to either folder using cd /net or cd /home and list contents I get nothing as a result.

     

    Well what the **** are they doing ?

  • by LazyGenious,

    LazyGenious LazyGenious Nov 4, 2014 8:13 AM in response to LazyGenious
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 4, 2014 8:13 AM in response to LazyGenious

    Another odd thing is the network icon in my root directory (which is set to neighborhood) when I click 'get info' the lock button is greyed out, and the more info just hangs on the 'fetching' spinning wheel.

     

    Secondly I have a 'shared' device/server/folder(?) called Bthub4 on the left in explorer, right clicking 'get info' for that gives similar results with no access, or info. See pic below.

    http://i60.tinypic.com/15n99cp.png

     

    Trying to view the Bthub4 shared device/server/folder gives a prompt to enter a name and password "for the server 'bthub4'" No password (operating system, or wifi related) works, and the guest account fails to give me access to the server. Pic of prompt: http://i62.tinypic.com/ae5jjk.png

     

    Why server? Why do I not have access to any of these areas?

     

    Can anyone else verify if they have any of these things in their root directory?

  • by etresoft,

    etresoft etresoft Nov 4, 2014 8:19 AM in response to LazyGenious
    Level 7 (29,051 points)
    Nov 4, 2014 8:19 AM in response to LazyGenious

    Those directories are a normal part of the auto mounting system. Probably some 3rd party software has scrambled something in your OS to make them visible in the Finder. I suggest running repair permissions and hopefully you won't see them anymore.

  • by Camilo_mf,

    Camilo_mf Camilo_mf Sep 30, 2015 11:59 PM in response to etresoft
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2015 11:59 PM in response to etresoft

    I'm sorry, but that doesn't really answer the question. I have the same question, and it wasn't "some 3rd party software" that "scrambled something in my OS." It was *me* who chose to look at my invisibles directory. I have two installations of El Capitan, one shows the ".home" and ".net" invisible drives on my /home folder, while the other does not. Why is that?

     

    Also, I found a virtual network thunderbolt bridge (when clicking on "manage virtual network configurations" under "network" in system preferences.) When I deleted that, the two strange folders .home and .net disappeared. when returning from sleep, both the virtual thunderbolt bridge was there again, along with the mysterious .home and .net folders.

     

    I've been looking for a simple explanation for this online and so far haven't found one. It's especially unnerving considering this is a recent install of the OS over a wiped drive, where only the applications were subsequently restored from the backup (but no documents and no settings.) If this is natural of the OS, why is it that only one of my installs has it, and why can't I find an explanation for it?

     

    Any help would be appreciated. Please kindly let me know if I overstepped in any forum rules or if I should open a start a new post, since I have little experience posting on this forum. Thanks.

  • by zurich8000,

    zurich8000 zurich8000 May 16, 2016 10:49 AM in response to LazyGenious
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 16, 2016 10:49 AM in response to LazyGenious