Removing Invisible Mac Files on FAT32 USB Stick For TV

[monkey man]

I've "researched" this but it always ends up with Terminal madness. I've no clue how to use Terminal, and every "recommended" procedure I've tried has failed or I've run into problems entering the commands. I don't feel comfortable with the Terminal approach; who knows what damage I might have already done?

It's the .DS_Store (I think that's right) and .Trashes folders / files, I think. The TV sees multiple folders, and "replicates" all my (K-Pop EDM) videos with the "._" prefix. This means that to watch my beloved happy clips I have to scroll through all the "phantom" files first to get to them. It's a right PITB.

There's no doubt many of you would know about these old-fangled files; even I'm aware that Spotlight and the Finder create them. The problem is in removing them.

Help, please.

[cleamon]

I've "researched" this but it always ends up with Terminal madness. I've no clue how to use Terminal, and every "recommended" procedure I've tried has failed or I've run into problems entering the commands. I don't feel comfortable with the Terminal approach; who knows what damage I might have already done?

It's the .DS_Store (I think that's right) and .Trashes folders / files, I think. The TV sees multiple folders, and "replicates" all my (K-Pop EDM) videos with the "._" prefix. This means that to watch my beloved happy clips I have to scroll through all the "phantom" files first to get to them. It's a right PITB.

There's no doubt many of you would know about these old-fangled files; even I'm aware that Spotlight and the Finder create them. The problem is in removing them.

Help, please.

Take a look at Path Finder - It has the option to view hidden files. http://www.cocoatech.com/pathfinder/
Plus if you use it instead of Finder, you can (virtually) eliminate the creation of the DS_Store files.

[monkey man]

Thanks cleamon, I appreciate that.

I use MainMenu to show invisible files, so no problem there. The issue is in getting rid of them, and it's not just the DS_Store files; it's that damned .Trashes one too...

[cleamon]

Thanks cleamon, I appreciate that.

I use MainMenu to show invisible files, so no problem there. The issue is in getting rid of them, and it's not just the DS_Store files; it's that damned .Trashes one too...

Well, I'm afraid to say, that terminal is the best solution. Anything else is just "hunt and peck".
This is what I use:

Code: Select all

find ./ -depth -name ".DS_Store" -delete

This finds files named .DS_Store, starting at the current folder ( ./ ) and below, and deletes them.

You could create a script (plain text file) with this command, put it on your desktop, double click it to run it. If you want it to only work on your USB stick, change the ./ to the path name of the stick. For example (assuming your stick is named "MyClips"):

Code: Select all

find /Volumes/MyClips/ -depth -name ".DS_Store" -delete

Of course, cleaning the folder ON THE MAC, before copying to the stick would eliminate them as well.

Chuck

[mikehalloran]

With Mavericks, a lot of old Terminal commands no longer work. The syntax is much tighter now--capitalization, spacing and spelling must be exact.

The good news is that any Terminal Command that works in OS 10.9 or 10.10 is backwards compatible as long as the function is.

Terminal supports copy and paste. I keep a text document called OSX Terminal Commands and an alias to it on my desktop. I call it up whenever I need to use Terminal. It's simple to copy and paste the commands into Terminal knowing that they will always just work. Just make sure that the ones you find online wok in Mavericks first.

[monkey man]

Thank you, Chuck and Mike.

I found the DS_Store files easy to delete with the Finder; I suspect they're sent to the .Trashes folder, but either way, I can empty the trash. It's the .Trashes one that I think I'll have to use Terminal for. Sorry if I've named that incorrectly; I don't have access to the thumb drive right now and have gone by memory (my memory's gone by LOL).

I tried numerous "strings" from the 'net, not dissimilar to the one you posted, Chuck, but my lack of knowledge got in the way. My substitutions where you seem to indicate that they're required must've been flawed.

I also have text files for the following, and they've always worked no problem: Dashboard Disable/Enable, QuickLook Plug-Ins Update, Screenshots-Set default file format, User Lib ƒ - Keep Visible. The trouble is, none of the the thumb drive routines I've tried have done anything. I'm literally a complete ignoramus when it comes to bash or whatever it is. Stash, no problem, but bash... it's a foreign concept.