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Rockbox generated files whose names begin with "._"

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iPodVT:
Please forgive me if the following question has already been asked/answered, or if I have chosen the wrong forum in which to ask it.  I searched for a previous mention but didn't find it.

Question:  Is it possible to make the File Browser show all files except not the Rockbox generated files that begin with "._"?  None of the settings choices in File View -> Show Files seem to provide for this.  There are gazillions of these files on my iPod when viewed from within Rockbox, and for me they often make the File Browser unwieldy to use.  I don't see them if my iPod is connected to my computer and I'm browsing the iPod's disk from the computer's file viewer - not even when invisible files are being shown - so it kind of seems like they are some sort of virtual files.

Thanks.

bluebrother:

--- Quote from: iPodVT on April 23, 2023, 09:13:42 AM ---Question:  Is it possible to make the File Browser show all files except not the Rockbox generated files that begin with "._"?

--- End quote ---

Rockbox doesn't generate such files. All Rockbox files live in the ".rockbox" folder (except for the ones you save explicitly somewhere else, like playlists.) The ".rockbox" folder is usually hidden, but you can disable that.

Are you on Mac? MacOS saves extra information for files, and when copying such files to a non-Mac volume (i.e. FAT) it will create extra files to store these information; those files that with "._", and MacOS treats files starting with a dot as hidden so Finder won't show them. Depending on your settings in Rockbox it will hide such files. See https://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-ipodvideo/rockbox-buildch8.html#x11-1490008.2

iPodVT:
Thank you very much for your reply and explanation.

Based on what you wrote I've done some follow-up reading and observing, and now I better understand the situation.  I apologize for assuming and incorrectly stating that those file "._' files were generated by Rockbox.

I use Windows for formatting my iPods in iTunes, and also for installing/updating Rockbox.  For all other things - most prominently for managing my music library - I use macOS.  I know about the showing and hiding of invisible files on the Mac, and I often intentionally show hidden files.  When I connect my iPod to my Mac and show hidden files I still don't see the "._" files even though they are there - it's the Mac that is creating a 'virtual' unified file kind of state for those files on the iPod's non Mac volume.  In Windows I see that those files are hidden unless I check the Hidden Items checkbox.

So would it be possible for Rockbox to have a Show Files setting that would allow the user to choose Show or Hide for invisible files?

In lieu of that, my immediate solution for my 'problem' will be to select the Supported setting under Show Files, and add Show Files to my shortcuts so that I can quickly switch to All when necessary.  But I would love to be able to just hide the invisible files while keeping all other files, both supported and unsupported, visible.

Again, thanks.

philden:
An alternative is to delete these files. I use a Mac to organize my music, and use the Terminal to delete unwanted file system generated stuff before synchronizing the directories to my iPod.

You can also use the Rockbox plugin "Disktidy" to remove the files.

iPodVT:
Thanks very much for your reply and info.

At your suggestion I have run DiskTidy and it seems to have accomplished what I want by getting rid of all of the "._" files.  I had used DiskTidy once before - a long time ago - but then I totally forgot about it.

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