invisible files question

macanoid(tm) · October 30, 2007 6:42PM

After I had done a backup and rebooted the following folders appeared: var, tmp, etc. All aliases, all at the root level of my hd. Can I delete these files? And if not, any idea how to set them to 'invisible' again? I've tried various things but nothing has worked so far.

I'm running Leopard btw

Thanks very much!

1337_5l4xx0r · October 31, 2007 3:26AM

DON'T delete them. I'm not sure of a fix m'self.

macanoid(tm) · October 31, 2007 3:30AM

thanks for the warning. I had no plans of deleting them, at least, not for now and not until I know for sure they can be deleted. Pretty annoying this.

Marvin · October 31, 2007 8:23AM

You can try using Tinkertool to make invisible files invisible assuming that it has made all files invisible.

If it's just a few files/folders, you can use File Buddy to set the invisible flag on each item.

Open File Buddy, choose file > get info, select the folder then click the invisible check box. You may need to relaunch the Finder for it to disappear.

macanoid(tm) · October 31, 2007 8:33AM

Thanks for the help. I had already tried Tinkertool, but to no avail. When opening the folder in FileBuddy, it was already marked as invisible, even though it's clearly visible. I un-marked invisible, and saved, then marked invisible again, but nothing happened - really weird.

1337_5l4xx0r · October 31, 2007 6:29PM

Open Terminal.app and type:

ls -l /

(those are L's, not i's) and paste the results in here.

teedoff087 · October 31, 2007 10:52PM

Those are aliases to subdirectories in the /private directory. Don't delete them. I have them on my Tiger install too.

macanoid(tm) · November 1, 2007 1:43AM

again, thanks for the help. these are the terminal results:

total 41373

drwxrwxr-x+ 162 root admin 5508 Oct 31 15:38 Applications

-rw-r--r--@ 1 root admin 24576 Oct 27 17:43 Desktop DB

-rw-r--r--@ 1 root admin 197186 Oct 30 10:56 Desktop DF

drwxr-xr-x 6 rudy admin 204 Oct 29 21:27 Developer Tools

drwxrwxr-t+ 57 root admin 1938 Oct 28 00:03 Library

drwxr-xr-x@ 2 root wheel 68 Sep 23 23:37 Network

drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 Oct 27 17:43 System

drwxr-xr-x 6 root admin 204 Oct 30 16:51 Users

drwxrwxrwt@ 7 root admin 238 Oct 31 17:37 Volumes

drwxr-xr-x@ 40 root wheel 1360 Oct 26 20:19 bin

drwxrwxr-t@ 2 root admin 68 Sep 23 23:37 cores

dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Oct 31 17:34 dev

lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 11 Oct 26 20:19 etc -> private/etc

dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 1 Oct 31 17:35 home

-rw-r--r--@ 1 root wheel 10243756 Oct 10 06:38 mach_kernel

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 10696809 Oct 10 06:38 mach_kernel.ctfsys

dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 1 Oct 31 17:35 net

drwxr-xr-x@ 6 root wheel 204 Oct 26 20:23 private

drwxr-xr-x@ 66 root wheel 2244 Oct 26 20:21 sbin

lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 11 Oct 26 20:19 tmp -> private/tmp

drwxr-xr-x@ 9 root wheel 306 Oct 27 19:47 usr

lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 11 Oct 26 20:19 var -> private/var

Marvin · November 1, 2007 9:42AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macanoid?

Thanks for the help. I had already tried Tinkertool, but to no avail. When opening the folder in FileBuddy, it was already marked as invisible, even though it's clearly visible. I un-marked invisible, and saved, then marked invisible again, but nothing happened - really weird.

Try deleting your Finder preferences com.apple.finder.plist.

macanoid(tm) · November 1, 2007 4:29PM

thanks for the suggestion - unfortunately, no effect whatsoever. I'm lost here, really, nothing I try or do, the files remain visible, while they're supposed to be invisible. Weird!

Marvin · November 1, 2007 9:33PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macanoid™

thanks for the suggestion - unfortunately, no effect whatsoever. I'm lost here, really, nothing I try or do, the files remain visible, while they're supposed to be invisible. Weird!

That is strange, if you make a dummy file and use say File Buddy, are you able to make those files disappear?

A workaround you may be able to use is to add a .hidden file to the root directory and add the names of stuff that you want to be invisible.

You'd open a terminal and type:

touch /.hidden

then type

open -e /.hidden

this will open the file in TextEdit. Then you add the names of files/folders that you want to be hidden so the file would look something like:

etc

bin

usr

var

Once you're done, save the file and then reboot.

Also maybe check out xFile and see if that does a better job than File Buddy:

http://rixstep.com/4/0/xfile.shtml

jcoakes9 · November 13, 2007 4:56PM

I had the exact same problem. The only solution I've found involves the developer tools which are installed from the install DVD.

After you install the developer tools, open the terminal and enter the following command:

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a V

Before you hit enter, drag and drop the file you want to make invisible onto the terminal window. Makes sure there is a space after the V before you drag and drop the file. Press enter, doing one folder at a time.

It is easy to make anything invisible, so be careful. You can always use tinker tools if you accidentally makes something invisible, use the following command:

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a v [path to file]

(note the lowercase v)

For the symlinks (the ones like etc with the arrow on them) you'll need to restart for them to register the change.

-Joakes

macanoid(tm) · November 14, 2007 2:37AM

thanks for all the help. I finally managed to get FileXaminer to work. For now I've stopped using Synk, because after every backup I needed to make some 20 files invisible again, which ticked me off no end.

Meanwhile I've switched to SmartBackup (a very very nice program and very fast as well!), at least until Synk fixes the problem.

thanks again

fjpoblam · June 1, 2008 6:19PM

I just applied 10.5.3 and now find a bunch of tmp. files cluttering the otherwise simple Finder display.

I'd just as soon hide them...It'd be handy to be able to "click for invisibility" somewhere in the file information, but I don't see it.

Looks like, from what you're saying, I have to fetch a copy of "File Buddy"?

macanoid(tm) · June 3, 2008 3:50AM

You can do this via the terminal, just search google. Try this: google search

invisible files question

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