Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

gberz3 · Sep 7, 2007, 01:23 PM

Hi All,

I'm looking to solve an issue with ".DS_Store" and "._filename" files created on Network drives using OS 10.4.10. Basically the old faithful "defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true" works, but only for ".DS_Store" files. The "._filename" files still get written. I've also tried BlueHarvest but it doesn't seem to have any effect on the "._filename" files either.

So I have two questions:

1) Is there a way, perhaps through Growl, to get system notifications on file copies and then check for a "._filename" to delete?

2) Does anyone have an *automated* solution that actually works for both?

. . .I'd prefer to not use items like BlueHarvest as I need a solution for multiple machines and my pockets aren't deep. As I said, I'd really like to tie in to system notifications and trigger a script or something based on that. Anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

reader50 · Sep 7, 2007, 01:46 PM

.DS_Store files are Finder data about window position / size / etc.

._filename files contain resource fork and metadata when a file is copied to a filesystem that doesn't directly support the extra data. You could delete the resource forks from files before copying, this will cost you such things as thumbnails, custom icons, and attached notes.

Note: if you copy a Mac app to such a filesystem, then delete the ._filename portion, the app will be completely broken. On files, the extra data is usually optional. On apps, it's part of the program.

peeb · Sep 7, 2007, 01:49 PM

You can stop os 10.4 from creating some this crap on network drives in the system preferences. Unfortunately this has not been fixed for non-network drives yet.

gberz3 · Sep 7, 2007, 01:52 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

Note: if you copy a Mac app to such a filesystem, then delete the ._filename portion, the app will be completely broken. On files, the extra data is usually optional. On apps, it's part of the program.

Hrm, I thought OS X was supposed to have gotten rid of the need for the "antiquated" resource fork.

The issue is actually Macs interacting with Windows servers. The Windows users are getting quite miffed at the Mac users for leaving "those annoying invisible files" on the server every time they edit an "In Design" or "FreeHand" file of some sort.

Is there any quality way around this issue?

reader50 · Sep 7, 2007, 01:58 PM

Check the prefs on InDesign and FreeHand, on the Mac side. They're probably set to save with custom icon or thumbnail. Turn that off.

Thumbnails are saved as a custom icon in the resource fork, and create the fork as needed. This is the most likely reason why the fork is being created. If you want to get fancy, you could copy the file back to a Mac volume, then examine the resource fork with ResEdit, see what info is being saved in it.

Chances are you can turn off some optional Save parameter in the Mac prefs, so it no longer gets created. Provided you change the pref for every Mac that accesses those files, of course.

peeb · Sep 7, 2007, 01:59 PM

There is no automated way yet. I hope this will be fixed in Leopard. You could script something like FinderCleaner to delete everything every 10 minutes or so, I guess. It's very annoying.

gberz3 · Sep 7, 2007, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

Check the prefs on InDesign and FreeHand, on the Mac side. They're probably set to save with custom icon or thumbnail. Turn that off.

Well, those were just two examples. The "._filename" is actually an issue with Quicktime, MS Office, and I suppose pretty much any other files that are exchanged. One thing -- I tried copying a Quicktime file to a Windows server, deleted the "._filename" file, copied it back and it still works fine. The resource fork seems to not matter.

I'm not familiar with FinderCleaner, but I'll give it a try. I'd be perfectly happy with being able to "trigger" a cleaning event upon network-copy of some sort, if in fact the system reports events of that nature.

Anyway, thanks for the posts. Keep 'em comin.

peeb · Sep 7, 2007, 02:13 PM

There is, IIRC, a bug where OSX creates these automatically, even where no resource information is being saved.

gberz3 · Sep 8, 2007, 01:41 AM

It would appear that FinderCleaner works well. There are two problems though:

1) It always requires authentication (which is only a problem depending on your perspective)
2) It isn't automated

I suppose I can use a single Mac on the network to regularly mount the Windows network drives and clean them. If anyone has other suggestions, feel free to advise.

Regards.