getting dot underscore files when I copy music to zip drive.

Hi, I figured iTunes out enough to get my xmas music library loaded and categorized. I copied it to a zip drive to play in the car and I see a bunch of ._<filename> files mixed in with the mp3s on the entertainment screen, and it tries to play them (they're unreadable). Since most of the music came from my win netbook I thought they came from win. Seems they are an Apple hidden file that stores info about the actual file.

I have not checked my car's manual yet - kinda doubting the entertainment manual will say anything about these files. Does anyone know how to either not copy them in the first place or scrub the pen drive to delete them? i cannot see the files on the Mac nor Win. Only in the car.

I could have sworn I had this issues a while back and there was a simple fix... but I've tried various things to no avail. They may have been win deleted files though. This may be different from what I had before.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

as an aside, I read I can issue a terminal command to at least see hidden files, but it doesn't work. think it was:

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE and then did a killall Finder but they still do not show.

craftydad

I've run into the same problem before and wound up having to manually delete all those hidden files so my music player would not attempt to play them. There are several utilities which can scrub those files: Tinker Tool (free) and MacPilot (not free). I believe Tinker Tool only removes them on a network but am not sure. In any event, Google both apps. By the way, both of the apps will show hidden files as an option.

Thanks! I downloaded Tinker Tool - it does show the hidden files on the pendrive... but when I Moved To Trash, they all moved to a trash that's on the pendrive, and won't let me delete the trash folder. hmmm... I tried moving it to the Mac trash, but I get error code -50 whenever I try to delete or get rid of the trash folder. I don't see an Empty Trash for it.

Moving to the trash or deleting files does not move them to a different drive.
They are always moved to the trash folder on the drive where they reside.
They can only be deleted from trash while the drive where they reside is connected.
You use the Trash icon in the dock to empty the trash - no matter what drive the trash resides on.

Just a quick update - I read on the web about an app called BlueHarvest that will delete all the hidden files. I'm trying their 30 day free trial of the full app... and it works great. It keeps a little icon at the top menu bar.. once I'm done copying everything over, I just use that icon to delete all the hidden files on the pendrive (or whatever drive/folder I've highlighted). It's like $15 to buy, which I'll be doing.

Craftydad

If it wasn't going into your car, another fix (and free) would be to format it for Mac. But given your specific use, yes BH is probably the best option for you.