What are these files?
Mar 4, 2024 19:25:42 #
DirtFarmer wrote:
THAT's good to know if I can't find the install for HexEdit.
That was the name of the program I had by the way, HexEdit.
Your link is a different one, but I saved it just in case.
Mar 5, 2024 10:08:32 #
I see those files when I open a drive on my PC written from a Mac. I routinely delete them with no issues.
Mar 5, 2024 11:19:00 #
StanMac wrote:
I have started to see files in my folders of images with the leading characters of ._imagefilename.jpg since Microsoft updated me to Windows 11. Google tells me the ._ indicates an "extended attribute" file. What are the extended attributes they contain? What purpose do they serve? And can I delete them without corrupting the associated image file?
Stan
Stan
These are normally hidden on MacOS. They contain information used by the Mac operating system. They are not used at all by Windows. You may safely delete them if your files are on a Windows PC. MacOS will generate new copies of them if you move them to a Mac for some reason.
If you mix the Apple ecosystem with Windows, you inevitably run into various risks and quirks… One of them is the need to use the proper operating system command to UNMOUNT drives before unplugging them, regardless of which OS you are using.
Cross-platform users often use drives formatted with ExFAT, to be compatible with both operating systems, but if you unplug a mounted ExFAT drive, you most probably WILL destroy data, often corrupting the drive beyond recovery. Been there, done that, reached for the backup... I now LABEL my drive hub cable with a big red UNMOUNT FIRST! button whenever I plug it into my laptop.
Mar 5, 2024 13:57:13 #
User ID wrote:
I doubt that its Adobe RGB. That would have affected the file names of the real jpg images, as is shown below with files from exactly the same camera model:
Yes, Adobe RGB files start with the underscore and it is possible to have mixed files if you have different modes with different settings. This isn’t that though. The ._ is definitely a Mac OS thing. Looking at the dates of those files it’s likely that at some point, (that point being 6/25/2021), that SD card or flash drive was inserted into a Mac and those original non ._ JPEG’s were opened and those files created.
Mar 5, 2024 13:58:31 #
Mar 5, 2024 15:13:40 #
I suspect these files are "corrupted" files and were generated when the SD Card was not properly "Ejected" from a Windows 11 Computer. One of the members of our Photo Club gave me an SD Card with many of these type "._xxxx" files. I also could not open them in any photo editor I tried. Then I used Recuva (from SanDisk) to try and see if it could Recover/Rescue the corrupted image. Recuva could not recover them and issued a message saying that the files were not photographic images.
I deleted the "corrupted files", the opened it's normal corresponding .jpeg file and the image popped up like normal.
Just my recent personal encounter with these type files.
I deleted the "corrupted files", the opened it's normal corresponding .jpeg file and the image popped up like normal.
Just my recent personal encounter with these type files.
Mar 5, 2024 15:15:01 #
FrankN wrote:
Do you have the “show hidden files” option turned on?
Next obvious question. Are they hidden...
Mar 5, 2024 15:16:13 #
burkphoto wrote:
These are normally hidden on MacOS. They contain i... (show quote)
Interesting.
We don't use Macs, so we have no cross-platform anomalies.
Mar 5, 2024 15:22:45 #
Dickbas wrote:
I suspect these files are "corrupted" fi... (show quote)
You could not open them because they are APPLE MacOS -generated files. They are meaningless on Windows Systems, and they are NOT images. MacOS generates these metadata files for its own use. They don't affect the original files, only the way MacOS treats them. If you delete the ._xxxx files, then move the JPEGs back to MacOS from Windows, it will generate new copies of them.
The ._ files are invisible to MacOS USERS. We never see them. I only know about them because I used to have one foot in the Windows world, and the other in MacOS. I ran MacOS with Parallels Desktop so I could run Windows on the same machine. I would occasionally see the ._ files. I learned to ignore them. You can sort a folder/subdirectory so you don't have to deal with them, or you can highlight the ._ files and delete them, whichever makes more sense to you.
Just remember that if you ever have some very arcane reason to use image files in the Adobe RGB color space, a CAMERA may write those files as _MG_1234.JPG instead of IMG_1234.JPG. A Mac System-generated metadata file beginning with ._ is totally different from an image file beginning with _ (don't get confused!).
Mar 5, 2024 15:40:14 #
Longshadow wrote:
Interesting.
We don't use Macs, so we have no cross-platform anomalies.
We don't use Macs, so we have no cross-platform anomalies.
Good! I worked for 25 years in an environment where I had a Mac and a Windows PC in my office. We used both systems in various places in our photo lab, so I had no choice. At one time, 1994 to 2005, I wrote FileMaker Pro database solutions for both platforms. Each OS had its pros and cons, and certain software or hardware we needed, so we used them both as needed.
At one time, Kodak's Professional Imaging System lab software was all on the Mac. In 1998, just as Steve Jobs had swooped in to save Apple from sudden death, Kodak announced that DP2, the coming replacement for KPIS, would run on Windows NT and later enterprise versions of Windows. Starting in 2002, we gradually moved away from Macs on the production floor, as we replaced older equipment. By 2005, most of the Macs were gone. DP2 was pretty sweet. KPIS had been a bit wonky. It also helped that we bought dual processor Dells to run DP2, which were faster than five year old Macs.
Mar 5, 2024 17:31:29 #
StanMac
Loc: Tennessee
OK, this is all starting to make sense. I downloaded all the images I had on my old iPhone 4 to my PC and for each image, there was one of the ._ files. When I get some time this evening, I will check the SD card files that have the corresponding ._ files to see if they are images of my significant other or members of her family, in which case the card was probably inserted into her Mac to download those images for her use. Thank you all for your support and in solving this mystery for me.
Stan
Stan
Mar 5, 2024 17:40:42 #
StanMac wrote:
OK, this is all starting to make sense. I downloa... (show quote)
Glad you're getting closer to a reason and "solution".
Mar 8, 2024 15:24:10 #
Harry02
Loc: Gardena, CA
StanMac wrote:
No. When I click on it to open it, my image viewe... (show quote)
I is an OS slut.
What you're seeing are files marked for and being deleted by a Mac computer.
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