Copy Files Off My Mac

[G4PPC]

I am trying to clean up my Mac and get back some needed Free Space as I was down to like just 50gb. But in order to copy the files off my Mac to my USB Pin Drive most the time I have to compress the folders into Zip files otherwise they won't copy at all.

However when I copy those Zip files over to my Windows Computer where I have my 2.5tb Backup Drive, and Extract them it creates a Shadow Copy Folder called _MACOSX of All the Extracted Folders and then when I try to delete this Shadow Copy Folder on Windows it tells me "the path file name is too long for the destination path" and there is no Destination Path because it is being Permanently Deleted. Then if I try to Force Delete the Folder by Holding Control Shift and then Clicking Delete it say's "The Source File Name is Larger Than Is Supported By The File System" and tells me I need to rename the path or folder or file, I checked and they are Shadow Copy plist files but when I go into the folders where the Source Files are Windows won't let me Rename those Files.

How can I stop My Mac from Creating Such Files in the the First Place?

Then How can I delete these folders off my Windows PC?

As it is right now I am stuck with these Junk files I can't remove off my Windows PC.

Also can you stop your Mac from Creating Junk Files?

 

[DeltaMac]

What kind of file do you consider a "Junk File"?
(If they are truly "junk files", then why not just delete them from your Mac in the first place, Why are you backing up files that you are calling junk?)

Which Mac is this?
How large is the storage drive in your Mac? Maybe you can upgrade to more internal storage?

Maybe it would work better for your backups if you convert the 2.5TB backup drive to a format that can be used on either the Mac or the PC. Formatting to ExFat can be a good choice for that purpose.
Then, you could just plug that backup drive directly to your Mac whenever you need to clear files off

 

[G4PPC]

The Junk files are the ones that are being created once I extract the Zip files that I created on my Mac in these _MacOSX Shadow Folders on Windows that they are Creating when I extract them those are not even present on my Mac AFAIK as I even have the hidden folders shown on My Mac. The copied files are not junk most of the files are downloaded Software Programs that I want to backup some are for Mac and the others are Windows Programs that I downloaded on my Mac. Everything that is in the Normal Folders it extracts are working Archives and Extension Files that I downloaded. I just had a thought that I should keep them zipped up, as some the files in there just have the .app extension and windows can't handle App files. Maybe I shouldn't unzip the Folders onto my Windows PC.

My USB drive is using Extended Fat, but I think my Windows PC is using Fat32 and not NTFS. A Firewire or Thunderwire Backup Drive with Extented Fat would probably be better than Backing up to My Windows PC. I'll have to look into that..
It's my Mac with BigSur. I think I probably need to upgrade my SSD too as I only have a 500gb Drive.

Either that or my Mac does have these Junk Files on it but I can't see them on there, If I could see such files I would just remove them directly from my Mac.

Thanks, for the suggestions.

 

[DeltaMac]

You can view hidden files (and delete or move, if you prefer) on your BigSur Mac, just press Shift+Command+. (period)
Press Shift+Command+[period] to re-hide those files.

 

[NoBoMac]

Something does not sound right on the Windows side re: disk formatting, long file names parameters.

But to zip up stuff without the MacOS extended attributes/ACL/metadata information:

zip -r -X Archive.zip *

Will create a zip for all files and folders in the current directory/folder minus the ._ files.

 

[G4PPC]

You can view hidden files (and delete or move, if you prefer) on your BigSur Mac, just press Shift+Command+. (period)
Press Shift+Command+[period] to re-hide those files.

I sure wish I would known that before as I had used a terminal command to permanently show hidden folders, I'll have to turn hidden files back off to try that. Thanks for the tip.

Something does not sound right on the Windows side re: disk formatting, long file names parameters.

But to zip up stuff without the MacOS extended attributes/ACL/metadata information:

zip -r -X Archive.zip *

Will create a zip for all files and folders in the current directory/folder minus the ._ files.

Awesome, I always wondered how you could get rid of those. Thank you.

Edit: I actually just went through one those Folders on my Mac and deleted all the extra Folders out of it by putting everything I wanted to save in the Main Folder and now I am able to copy it with out compression. To bad I already deleted that other folder off my Mac though it probably just needed to be cleared out too.