remove ._ files from USB flash drive

bensaundersbensaunders
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have copied some music from my iTunes library to my USB flash drive to play through the USB connection on my car stereo. However, when I plug it in I the USB drive has a ._file associated with every music file I've put on there. It still plays fine through the car stereo, but it tries to play the ,_ file between every track, leaving a slightly annoying pause.



I understand that these are something to do with the HFS file system, and I can view & delete these files on a Windows PC, but is there any way to remove these files without plugging it in to a Windows PC?



Thanks a lot,



Ben

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    aizmovaizmov Posts: 989member
    You can from the Terminal using rm



    read up on it





    or you can show all hidden files in Finder



    type in the Terminal



    defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES





    you'll need to relaunch Finder
  • Reply 2 of 8
    grafixgrafix Posts: 1member

    Ben, I have the same issue and have been searching everywhere on how to remove those files, since, as you know, you have to wade through all the ._ titles to play what you want! I have a little app that turns on Hidden Files and removed two of them (not the Trash) to no avail. Still have the same issue. Even called Apple's Tech Support and -- ready for this? -- they haven't a clue and suggested I Google it! LOL! Still searching for an answer. :-/

  • Reply 3 of 8
    mac fan 1965mac fan 1965 Posts: 7member

    Those files are part of the resource forks the HFS file system uses. Out of curiousity, how did you guys copy your files? It surprises me that the people at Apple had no idea what was causing it. Resource forks typically handle extra file information, like icon info that's not necessarily important to the actual contents of the file. You can do a Google on them if you like, which puts me in the same class as Apple tech support I suppose!;)

  • Reply 4 of 8
    mac fan 1965mac fan 1965 Posts: 7member

    I just realized this thread was started 4 years ago!!:D

  • Reply 5 of 8
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member

    In the terminal type the following;

     


    find . | egrep -- "*,_$" | xargs rm

     

    I hope this helps.

  • Reply 6 of 8
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    relic wrote: »
    In the terminal type the following;

    <pre style="border-style:dotted;color:rgb(51,51,51);height:46px;padding:5px;">
    find . | egrep -- "*,_$" | xargs rm
    </pre>

    I hope this helps.

    You'd have to make sure to set the current directory to the external (cd /Volumes/external) before doing that otherwise it'll look for those files on the system drive.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post





    You'd have to make sure to set the current directory to the external (cd /Volumes/external) before doing that otherwise it'll look for those files on the system drive.

    Oh right, good point, I took for granted that was obvious, oh and "find /" will search the entire drive, "find ." will just search your present location, "pwd".

  • Reply 8 of 8
    macfantasymacfantasy Posts: 1member

    Or use this free app from Mac App Store:

    http://macpaw.com/cleanmydrive

     

    “Remove junk from external HDDs and flash drives automatically”

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