What are they?
._ files are created automatically by Mac OS X and contain metadata related to the accompanying file that was placed there by programs in the Mac.
Deleting these files is not advised because they contain information that could not be supported by the file format that Jungle Disk is presented as for your computer (which is FAT32). This information is referenced by programs when their associated files are opened on the Mac OS.
Is this is Jungle Disk-specific problem?
No, this kind of thing also happens when storing data from multiple operating systems to a network-based drive or external hard drive. Because Jungle Disk is multi-platform, Macs will split extra information for files into these ._ files (since the drive type being used in these cases is not Mac-specific).
How do we get rid of them?
Files starting with periods in Mac and Linux are made hidden automatically, but Windows doesn't handle period-prefixed files this way. So our recommendation (rather than deleting these files) would be to make them hidden in Windows as well.
There are a few ways to do this, but first make sure you have Folder Options set to "Don't show Hidden Files, Folders, or Drives".
- Open Start
- Type in "Folder Options" and run this program
- Go to the View tab
- Set the radio button to "Don't show Hidden Files, Folders, or Drives"
- Click OK
Once done verifying this, either of these two options will walk you through hiding files/folders that you no longer wish to see in Windows:
- If you see just a few files or folders beginning with a period (.) or period-underscore (._), you can right-click the file/s and select Properties. Then check/enable the Hidden checkbox and click OK.
- Or, if you'd rather run a command that causes all files and folders beginning with a period (to include period-underscore files) to become invisible, open Command Prompt, then run this:
attrib +H J:\.* /S /D (but be sure to change the drive from J to the drive letter of your choice)
Note that this attrib option will run through every file and folder on your drive, so this could take quite a long time, depending on the size of your disk.