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Forum Discussion
How to stop ._ (dot dash) files being uploaded
I recently switched my storage folder from internal hard drive to my external drive. Since then, in every drive there's a duplicate under the extension of ._xxxx as well as "conflicted copy of xxxx"....
There is no way to hide ._ files, they are created by OSX to store extended attributes when the files are on a filesystem that doesnt support OSX extended attributes.
How much space they take up depends on the data stored in them - most of the time they are less than a Kilobyte in size.
Robert S.
Super User alumni
Super User alumniWhat you are seeing are OS X system files which are normally hidden by the Mac OS filesystem.
They can be deliberately made visible, but the usual reason is because the Dropbox folder has been moved to a non-Mac filesystem (i.e. FAT) which ignores the hidden attribute of those files. Almost invariably it turns out to be the use of a removable external drive of some sort.
You can delete them but, if that's the case, they'll continue to be recreated every time you access that folder on your Mac.
The effect would have been mitigated by ensuring the target volume was first formatted to the native MacOS filesystem. However, I would also note that Dropbox are pretty clear that they don't support removable drives or network volumes because there's a high risk of data loss associated with such devices.
