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can i delete hidden '.unwanted' folder on external hdd?

theDarkness

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Posted March 16, 2013 at 3:37PM

There's not much else to say about them-i have these '.unwanted' folder files in a couple of the external drives wallpaper and music folders? Does anyone know why they may occur? thanks

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northumbria61

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Posted March 16, 2013 at 4:22PM

Can you see the contents? Are they not just "sample" Microsoft OS files?

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theDarkness

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Posted March 17, 2013 at 2:33PM

they are hidden folders, but empty, no content in any of them. I wondered what their purpose might be if they were created by windows and not any specific program.

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northumbria61

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Posted March 17, 2013 at 3:40PM

I take it your external drive is your backup drive in which case they must have been copied? Like you I don't know the reason for them being there but if you are sure they are empty I would delete them.

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Bris

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Posted March 17, 2013 at 5:28PM

"Unwanted" files are the files of a multi-file torrent which the user decided not to download, but which are still created because they are adjacent to the downloaded files and share the same torrent piece. They are usually located in the hidden .unwanted folders in the torrent's folder structure.

Just copied this off the net.

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theDarkness

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Posted March 21, 2013 at 7:55PM

Im not 100% as Im wondering why they would be associated with certain folders, but it does sound possible-I will find out! thanks

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wee eddie

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Posted March 22, 2013 at 4:41AM

I could easily be wrong here but, if I remember rightly, all 'Plug & Play' Drives have a folder that contains their own specific Drivers.

If the Drive was either, WD (Western Digital) or Maxtor, that folder may contain the Free Back-up Software.

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theDarkness

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Posted March 24, 2013 at 11:51PM

My external hdd is a maxtor-the only other similar issue I have had is with unknown files popping up on a partition and the same external drive. I think I posted about that before, and it turned out that the system simply using them as temporary space for a program installation, and didnt delete these files afterwards, eg click here. Some of the other 'unwanted' hidden folders were possibly related to a download, but after a check there are no related programs installed, and I could not see these folders until now. I think you may be right about some old drives having their own drivers or files already present on a new drive, but I believe the external I have here did not.

The external hdd is shared but hardly used, so hopefully its not starting to become corrupt (western digital elements). It does seem to be working fine and passes error checks, although it has never been defragmented on a regular basis (!)

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