[Photocro]

Running Leopard on Mac Pro Quad Xeon. I have, a couple times, seen "Recovered Files" in the trash. I did not put them there and do not know how to handle them. I believe that this is what occurred when I first started using the MP and accidentally trashed my System Preferences. Not wanting to make this mistake again I thought I better ask for some input from the forum. These particular files happen to be Adobe Bridge CS3. If they are needed, as I think they are, how do I find where to replace them to? Thanks.

[TETENAL]

It's normal that they appear from time to time and they are not needed. In fact it's practically impossible to make any use of them whatsoever. You can safely delete them.

Technically they are temporary files created by applications that have not been deleted by the application that created them after use (either because it crashed before it had a chance to delete them or because it was sloppily programmed).

[Photocro]

The reason I asked was because I think, think is the operative word here, that I deleted my system preferences, since brought back with Pacifist, when I deleted them in trash where they appeared as these do. Is this just an Apple (Jobs) type of mistake or what can I do to make sure that I am doing the right thing as far as those items that appear in the trash that are unexpected? Were it not for the loss of the sysprefs, however that happened, I would not be concerned.

[mchladek]

Is it indicative of a larger problem if a recovered files folder is persistently showing up in the trash? I would say about 50% of the time I boot up there is a recovered files folder in the trash.

I first noticed it several months ago when I was still using my old iBook G4 running Tiger. I figured it was just something weird with my installation of Tiger (it was doing a couple other strange things). I'm now on a new MacBook. I stupidly used the Migration Assistant to transfer everything from my old iBook. Now, of course, I'm having the same thing happen under Leopard. I created a new user, but it's still doing it.

Any ideas? Or am I just being paranoid?

Thanks!

[TETENAL]

It's not an indication of a problem.

[CharlesS]

It just means you've got some app that isn't cleaning up its temp files properly.

[Hal Itosis]

Originally Posted by Photocro 

The reason I asked was because I think, think is the operative word here, that I deleted my system preferences, since brought back with Pacifist, when I deleted them in trash where they appeared as these do.

Deleting /Applications/System Preferences.app (or moving it to the trash) would require an admin password.
[i.e., indicates a very deliberate user action... and/or, a funky "installer" program.]

Originally Posted by Photocro 

Is this just an Apple (Jobs) type of mistake or what can I do to make sure that I am doing the right thing as far as those items that appear in the trash that are unexpected?

Could always browse the Applications folder back in time (via Time Machine), and see what date it last existed.
That would be a handy way to recover it... and the date might provide a clue (e.g., was an app installed just after?).

[Big Mac]

Those files are located in the Trash for a reason - they're almost completely useless. Don't worry about them.