08-24-2007, 05:59 PM

Once in awhile I get these recovered photobooth folders in my trash bin, I usually choose to emtpy the trash when I see this but I don't understand what's causing this to happen.

Right now there are two folders in my trash bin, one called Recovered Files and Recovered files#1

In Recovered Files lies a bunch of folders that start with com.apple.photobooth while in Recovered Fiels#1 is just a folder called plugtmp with some document in it called simply "S".

I'm assuming these are unimportant and I can just delete them but I'd like to know if I'm wrong before I do.

08-24-2007, 10:53 PM

I'd actually love to know too..I saw this in my trash bin the other day and was wondering if it actually gets deleted.

Also, does anyone know of a sure way to get rid of things in your computer?

08-25-2007, 02:15 AM

Me to, I always seem to get these in the bin, and I just delete and all seems ok, but I would like to know also just "What they are"
Chris

08-25-2007, 07:24 AM

I think it's just shabby programming. Instead of the app's cache/temp files deleting themselves upon quitting the application itself, they will end up in the trash when a shut down or restart prompts the move: that's why you see the remaining files that you then have to delete yourself.

QuarkXPress does the same thing, so does iChat when you exchange files or Mail.app when you add attachments to your emails.

08-25-2007, 07:46 AM

Thanks, so it its ok then to do that.

08-25-2007, 07:57 AM

MacHeadCase is right, they are temp files that many (most) programs use for normal behavior. When you close a file or quit the program, those files are supposed to get cleaned up. No human interaction is required. However, when a program crashes the clean up doesn't happen. MS Office leaves turds all over your drive, most programs leave them in the trash.
They really should not be there if the program closes correctly. You can safely delete them, but you need to see if you can figure out the problem. Directory errors, permissions problems, up to date patches, etc.

08-25-2007, 08:01 AM

BTW Sherman, just to be clear: for me the QuarkXPress, Mail.app attachment temp files, etc. that I cited as examples appear on themselves upon restart or boot after a shut down, not after a crash.

But if other members' temp/cache files end up in the trash because the app is constantly crashing then yes, this has to be absolutely looked into, just like you say. This crashing thing certainly is not normal behaviour on a Mac.

06-11-2009, 03:48 PM

Ran across this the other day. A friend was doing some editing of her Address Book (OS X 10.4.11 on G4 Powerbook 1.25 Ghz).
"All of a sudden" she reported " all the entries vanished. Just gone.
In her trash I found a series of "recovered files #1", "recovered files #2"...etc. folders. Each had a number of items in them but there was an interesting one that went "Trash/UserName/Addr244/..." and inside this were a number of number folders each containing a vCard. The "Addr244" differed in each folder. After some study we determined that each "Addrxxx" folder contained a different number of sub folders, and each "Addrxxx" corresponded to a GROUP in her address book.
So we added a new group in AddressBook then dragged the "Addrxxx" folder into it - the vCards were added to the main library and the group. Repeated this procedure through "recovered files #7". Lived through the "Duplicates" warning on import. She eventually go her AddressBook back into some kind of order.
Interestingly each vCard had a number of Categories entry in its notes field that seemed to correspond to previous group membership.