Aqua-Soft ForumsWhat the heck is a ".DS_STORE"? When ever I look on my schools Apple Share server I find a file named .DS_STORE, and in a zip file ive seen the same file..
requires a big "hmmmmm......"
What The...
I think Mac computers add that to compressed files for some reason or another.. whenever GodPunk sends me a zip from his Mac it's got a .DS_STORE inside it as well.. I just delete the file... nothing happens on this end. Maybe Macs need it?
it stores the folder's view settings.
There's a file for that in Windows too. I can't remember its name..
i believe in windows it's desktop.ini
Originally posted by Cerebral@Jul 25 2003, 11:46 AMI think Mac computers add that to compressed files for some reason or another.. whenever GodPunk sends me a zip from his Mac it's got a .DS_STORE inside it as well.. I just delete the file... nothing happens on this end. Maybe Macs need it?
I actually think it's a file that is invisible to Macs, and only turn up on PC's because there is no reason to hide them. It probably just stores random folder info....folder name, size, etc, which PC's don't need. Windows has a mystic file similar to .ds_store....it's called thumbs.db, and every once in awhile, it pops up somewhere. Weird!
-godpunk
Actually godpunk, DHSMaroon13 already got it on the nose. The .DS_STORE is similar to the desktop.ini
The Thumbs.db is actually a file that stores image thumbnails and is created after you view a folder w/ images in thumbnail mode. Of course, that is if you didn't disable thumbnail caching.
Originally posted by mimeryme@Jul 31 2003, 12:52 AMActually godpunk, DHSMaroon13 already got it on the nose. The .DS_STORE is similar to the desktop.ini
Ah, ok. 
I never actually took the time to investigate....after all, the files are invisible to me anyways, so I never think twice about em! 
-godpunk
The .DS_Store files are created by the Macintosh OS X Finder.
They keep track of folder view options, icon positions, and other visual information about the folder they are in.
Now wait a godpunk minute! The .DS-STORE appears on the Apple Share server to an iMac w/ Mac OS 9.2.1! Macs are awesoem that way
.DS_Store is created by the filesystem as a way to keep track of the directory structure.
It is not part of Mac OS per say as it is inherent to most Unix based file systems.
Desktop.ini is only set in Windows on folders that have customizations made to it's views, where as .DS_Store is in the root of every directory regardless of user tweaks.
It's key to the journalized file system which makes recovery of a directory or directory structure very easy as well as speeding up file searching capabilities.
The underlying core of OSX is FreeBSD, which uses UFS, which is a journalized file system.
Actually, OSX uses HFS+, a mac only filesystem. Theyve been using it since OS8.1. And guess what I found out. They dont turn Journaling on by default. So Macers, turn it on.
And UFS ISNT journalized, but UFS2 has "background snapshots" that are very similar to journaling.
DS_STORE is not a UNIX things, its a mac thing.