[RichL]

Since moving to OS X, I've noticed files that begin with a "." showing up on a USB flash drive I use.
In fact, at times, when I plug the USB drive into a PC, I'll see the orginal file, plus a file with the same name with a period in front of it?
Also, I notice files with a ".DAT" extension? I notice these mostly in the Dreamweaver Site files I brought over from my old MAC.
Can I erase any of these files without screwing something up??
Happy Holidays to all!!
RichL

[worthawholebean]

The system counts names wath a dot (".") as being invisible. However, Windows and OS 9 do not recognize this.
Are the files identical? Or is the dotted one blank (0 or 4 KB)?

[RichL]

The files are NOT identical.
They are usually a much smaller size as you mentioned, o or 4kb in size.
RichL

[RichL]

Thought I would refresh this thread, since I really did not get an opinion I can go with.
Can you delete files that start with a "." or "/" in Windows.
RichL

[pjskelti]

Yes, since Windows doesn't respect the file type.
Why would you want to delete them? They're used by OS X, and I'm assuming that since they're there to begin with, you use the USB device on both platforms?
Forget about them is the best advise I can provide.

[RichL]

The reason I am asking is I have some files with the "." which are visible.
They seem to be within some of my website files I brought over from OS 9 machine.
So I was wondering if I could delete them with cauing any pain??
RichL

[pjskelti]

If you mean uploading them via Windows, then yes, they can be deleted 'cause Windows hasn't the foggiest notion as to what they are, nor able to act upon/use them. They are only relevent when in OS X.

[csyria]

When you plug it back into the OSX machine, the .YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY files will e recreated if needed.