RESOURCE.FRK and FINDER.DAT

Question

Level 1

1 points

RESOURCE.FRK and FINDER.DAT

Content of my very old iMac (OS9) backed up on Zip disk. When I copied from Zip to my new iMac I found a lot of additional folders named RESOURCE.FRK and files named FINDER.DAT (and other names) embedded in my own data folders. What are they? Do I really need them?

iMac5,1 Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Nov 17, 2006 1:34 PM

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Answer 1

Dr. Smoke

Level 9

56,586 points

Nov 17, 2006 2:18 PM in response to mikestrong

Hi, Mike. Welcome to the Discussions.

See also this user tip for additional details.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

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Answer 2

mikestrong Author

Level 1

1 points

Nov 18, 2006 9:04 AM in response to Dr. Smoke

Thanks for the very thorough user tip. Near end of 4th Para states "... you won't be able to see them [FINDER.DAT, RESOURCE.FRK, etc] very easily in OS9, nor in OS X (unless you enable the Finder's hidden option to do so)."

Since I CAN see the files & folders in my new iMac (OS X v10.4.7) I presume that the Finder's hidden option is activated. How can I turn it off so that they are invisible?

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Answer 3

Dr. Smoke

Level 9

56,586 points

Nov 20, 2006 8:11 AM in response to mikestrong

I believe the sentence to which you are referring is in the case where the files are on a server volume, not the Zip disks you are using.

If the Finder option to display hidden and invisible files is enabled, then you should also see a file named .DS_Store on your desktop and in every folder on your startup disk.

Third-party utilities like Cocktail and TinkerTool provide functions for disabling or enabling that feature of Finder.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

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Answer 4

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Nov 17, 2006 1:53 PM in response to mikestrong

These are invisible files and special files created when you copy certain Mac files/folders onto a PC formated drive. If you want to be able to restore them to a Mac, then don't erase them.

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Answer 5

mikestrong Author

Level 1

1 points

Nov 20, 2006 12:18 PM in response to Dr. Smoke

Thanks again Doc. Useful info. I resolved my problem this afternoon following a second reading of your previous advice.

Mike S.

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