._ files (was: No OpenStack ..... ! Now Ending !)

[Thomas McGrath III]

What this article doesn't say is what happens if you don't see both  
file, then what does not 'safely ignoring' the file do? Is it unsafe  
to delete the file in some cases?

And how does the file get put back together? Does the OS know how to  
do this?


"The second new file has the name of the original file prefixed by a  
"._ " and contains the resource fork of the original file. If you see  
both files, the ._ file can be safely ignored. Sometimes when  
deleting a file, the ._ component will not be deleted. If this occurs  
you can safely delete the ._ file."

Tom

On Mar 9, 2006, at 12:03 PM, Robert Brenstein wrote:

>> Francis,
>>
>>> One more small point. When I drop my files onto (would
>>> you believe it ?) a Lexar JumpDrive, and move to the PC,
>>> I find that I have twice the files I thought. I get the same
>>> number of Alias ? files, equivalent to the files I copied.
>>> How do I remove this problem ?
>>>
>>
>> I have simply ignored the files that whose names start with "._".
>>
>> I suspect these files contain the resource fork data -- if the  
>> file has any.  Since Rev stacks have nothing in the resource fork,  
>> it shouldn't be an issue...and hasn't been for moi.
>>
>> Rob Cozens, CCW
>> Serendipity Software Company
>
>
> For those wondering about those ._ files, here is the explanation  
> from the "guilty" party, Apple itself:
>
> http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106510
>
> For most files, these ._ are actually empty and in case of Rev  
> stacks safely ditched.
>
> Robert
>

Thomas J McGrath III
3mcgrath at adelphia.net

Lazy River Software™ - http://www.lazyriversoftware.com

Lazy River Metal Art™ - http://www.lazyriversoftware.com/metal.html

Meeting Wear™ - http://www.cafepress.com/meetingwear

Semantic Compaction Systems - http://www.minspeak.com

SCIconics, LLC - http://www.sciconics.com/sciindex.html