Why do I see .DS_Store everywhere now?

[JediAgent]

Problem:
What were once invisible files (such as .DS_Store) are now visible, and it is annoying. Every folder on every drive I look at is like this.

So I was moving my files off of my USB back-up drive onto my Macbook when I had a device removal problem (oddly, no cables were pulled) and when I plugged the drive back in it was showing all of the files that were normally invisible. I am not familiar with most of the files, but having used a flash drive in between OSX and Windows I have noticed the system makes .DS_Store files in every folder. That is how I figured out the files should be there, but should not be seen.

I am running 10.5.2 and I was under the impression that .hidden at the root level was not the place where this sort of information was kept anymore, so short of finding and file that begins with a period and somehow changing it to be invisible again, I don't know how to get this to go away.

Other problem, when the drive was plugged back in and showed those files my first reaction was that they were corrupt, and that if I deleted them the system would make new uncorrupt ones. Well a bunch of files are now functioning out of the trash, but I cant empty or move back because they are system files.

What to do?

[iTris]

have you tried repairing the drive with disk utility ? Moreover you should backup your data asap I've seen lost files soon after this kind of symptoms. You can also try alsoft's disk warrior. It is not free but saved my day a number of time, and, more importantly, never made the situation worst than it was.

To empty the trash you can try to choose the menu item with the alt (option) key.

[macworks]

What file system format is your backup drive formatted in? (Disk Utility will tell you)

[barhar]

01. Download 'TinkerTool 3.8a' (freeware).
02. Launch 'TinkerTool'.
03. Click on the 'Finder' toolbar icon button.
04. The 'Show hidden and system files' check box should display a check mark - click on the check box to remove the check mark.
05. Click on the 'Relaunch Finder' button.

Did the above steps resolve your problem?

[JediAgent]

Awesome!
Tinkertool worked great. I had even downloaded it a few weeks go because I thought it might be a good utility, but hadn't really used it yet. Thanks barhar, I think I found a OSX forum for me.