Unhide Files

[thegraz]

I searched for quite some time on Google and this forum and could not find a correct answer (not to say its not out there, I just gave up searching). Hopefully someone here can help me out.

I am running 10.8.5 and I am trying to unhide some files. Before anybody freaks out at how easy this should be, please note:

I know how to change visibility of hidden files (defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE)

I have attempted to remove the hidden flag on the files (chflags nohidden /Volumes/NONAME/my\ file.mp3)

These files originally came from a windows computer running windows 7​

I did see somewhere that the windows properties for hiding/unhiding files differs from osx which is probably why I am running into this problem but I can't figure out how to unhide these files and would like to know. Thanks in advance.

I have attached a couple screenshots to show what I'm talking about.

Please let me know what I can try or if you need any more information from me. Thanks!

 

[chown33]

Copy and paste this exact command-line into a Terminal window:

ls -lO /Volumes/NONAME ; diskutil list

Then copy and paste the complete output into a reply here.

 

[thegraz]

Graz:~ graz$ ls -lo /Volumes/NONAME ; diskutil list
total 57472
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:40 A-Trak
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:37 Android
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 13:58 Bassnectar
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:39 C2C
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 13:41 Deadmau5
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 13:41 Duck Sauce
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:41 Gramatik
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:43 Groove Armada
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:41 Justice
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:37 LOST.DIR
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 13:57 MSTRKRFT
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 graz 12385577 Jan 11 13:51 Magical World feat. Nelly Furtado.mp3
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:43 Massive Attack
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:41 Pance Party
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:42 Pendulum
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 graz 6049409 Jan 11 13:51 Run The Heart (Sleigh Bells).mp3
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:42 STS9
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 graz 10422281 Jan 11 13:51 Where Is My Mind.mp3
drwxrwxrwx 1 graz 32768 Jan 11 14:41 Zeds Dead
/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *251.0 GB disk0
1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 250.1 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
/dev/disk1
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_partition_scheme *368.9 MB disk1
1: Apple_partition_map 30.7 KB disk1s1
2: Apple_HFS Command Line Tools (... 368.8 MB disk1s2
/dev/disk2
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_partition_scheme *288.5 MB disk2
1: Apple_partition_map 30.7 KB disk2s1
2: Apple_HFS LegacyDocsetCD 288.5 MB disk2s2
/dev/disk3
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: FDisk_partition_scheme *2.0 GB disk3
1: DOS_FAT_16 NONAME 2.0 GB disk3s1

 

[chown33]

Please use the exact command-line. Case is important for the 'ls' command I posted.

I didn't expect to see @'s on any files, so please use this exact command-line, and post the complete output:

ls -leO@ /Volumes/NONAME

I can see from this:

/dev/disk3
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *2.0 GB     disk3
   1:                 DOS_FAT_16 NONAME                  2.0 GB     disk3s1

that NONAME is formatted as an MSDOS FAT-16 file-system. This determines which features are available to chflags, chmod, etc. and which are not.

I need to see the output from the correct 'ls' command to determine if the FAT-16 hidden flag is accessible. I suspect it's not. This would mean you'll have to set the files to be unhidden using Windows.

Or you could try duplicating the files in Finder (select file, choose "Duplicate ⌘D" from Finder's File menu) and see if the duplicate retains the FAT-16 flags or not.

I don't have any hidden files on any FAT-16 drives, so I can't test this. The hidden attribute that chflags needs is settable and removable on FAT-16 (OS 10.8.4), but I suspect that all the FAT-16 attributes (hidden, system, read-only, etc.) are inaccessible to chflags or any other command.

 

[thegraz]

Apologies for the case issue. Here is the output from the correct input:

Graz:~ graz$ ls -leO@ /Volumes/NONAME
total 57472
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:40 A-Trak
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:37 Android
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 13:58 Bassnectar
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:39 C2C
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 13:41 Deadmau5
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 13:41 Duck Sauce
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:41 Gramatik
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:43 Groove Armada
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:41 Justice
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:37 LOST.DIR
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 13:57 MSTRKRFT
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 graz  staff  - 12385577 Jan 11 13:51 Magical World feat. Nelly Furtado.mp3
	com.apple.FinderInfo	      32 
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:43 Massive Attack
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:41 Pance Party
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:42 Pendulum
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 graz  staff  -  6049409 Jan 11 13:51 Run The Heart (Sleigh Bells).mp3
	com.apple.FinderInfo	      32 
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:42 STS9
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 graz  staff  - 10422281 Jan 11 13:51 Where Is My Mind.mp3
	com.apple.FinderInfo	      32 
drwxrwxrwx  1 graz  staff  -    32768 Jan 11 14:41 Zeds Dead

I tried to duplicate it but the results unfortunately were the same.

 

[chown33]

It's as I suspected: the FAT-16 attributes don't appear. If they were accessible, then the '-' that comes after 'staff' would show 'hidden' for each item with the hidden attribute.

What do you intend to do with the files? If they can be duplicated to another place on disk, can you use the duplicates? Because there might be a command-line that can do the duplication while stripping off MSDOS attributes.

If you need to use the originals on the drive, then the only alternative I can think of is to remove the hidden attributes using a MSDOS command (attrib) on Windows.

 

[thegraz]

They're just being used on my phone. My phone actually sees them so it isn't a huge problem since I know how to view/un-view hidden files. I was just wondering if there was an easy fix. I appreciate the time you spent trying to help me out, thanks!

I'll probably just try to switch it over on a PC next time I'm around one. Thanks again!