"recovered files" folder in trash

[evilla]

Hi!

For a while now I've been getting this really irritating folder in my trash every time I restart; it's a folder named "recovered files"... it contains some sort of docs that can't be read by any common applications. I can delete them alright and computer seems to be working fine.
Any hints on why they're appearing or how to stop them from popping up?
Thanks

[trevor]

That's usually because some application that you are running is writing files to the /tmp folder and not cleaning up after itself. When you reboot, your computer sees these files in /tmp and since they shouldn't be there, moves them to the Recovered Items folder in your trash.

What apps are you running? Something is not cleaning up properly.

Trevor

[ThreeDee]

What is causing you to restart? Is there a problem with your Mac?

[evilla]

Hi and thanks to both for answering!

So, to trevor: I'm running a bunch of apps really, mostly safari, mail, word, photoshop, quicktime, itunes, the usual... What does /tmp mean?
To ThreeDee: I didn't mean that it restarts automatically or anything, it's just that whenever I switch off my mac and switch it back on later, the folder appears...
Is there any way I can stop whatever app is causing this from doing it?
Thanks again!

[tw]

/tmp is a folder that the system and various applications use for storing temporary files (things that are disposed of at the end of a session, rather than stored for further use). what ThreeDee was asking was whether your Mac is shutting down correctly, or whether it's crashing, or you're forcing a shut down with the power button. these 'recovered file' things usually appear when something crashes or closes too abruptly - I think the original idea was that you could open them and recover data after an application crash, though I've never seen that actually work.

I'd try opening these applications one at a time, doing something with it for a bit, then restarting your computer. check to see which one is generating the file (it might be a combination of files, or something in the system, so that may not discover the issue, but it's someplace to start)

[Bigc]

my recovered files folder usually consist of attachments that I dragged from Mail to the desktop...

[tw]

my recovered files folder usually consist of attachments that I dragged from Mail to the desktop...

ah, ok. are they attachments that you've opened? one possibility scenario is this: you get an email with an attachment, open it, drag the attachment to the desktop, then shutdown the machine before you close the applications the attachments are open in. sometimes when you move a file that an app has open, the app loses track of it on disk and doesn't know where to save the now open-but-orphaned file in memory. usually applications will ask you where to save those files before letting you shut down, but if you manage to shut it down anyway that's a good candidate for creating a recovered file.

[ThreeDee]

Uhhh... Maybe.

I mean HOW are you shutting down your Mac? Or you doing the good-apple-menu-shutdown-off? Or are you doing the very-bad-press-the-power-button off? Or the really-really-bad-unplug-the-power-cord :) ? If you are forcing the computer to shut off, this can cause the Mac to try and cleanup itself when it turns on again.

Doing a 'hard' shutdown can cause disk damage and file corruption. It could even fry your motherboard in extreme cases (I've seen it happen)!

[evilla]

Hey!


What do you mean it's bad to switch the mac from the power button?.... :confused: I mean...you get this menu that gives you the option of turning off, restarting, putting it to sleep and so on, right? Is that bad? Why so? I guess for now bottomline is turn it off from the drop-down menu...:eek:

[tw]

What do you mean it's bad to switch the mac from the power button?.... :confused: I mean...you get this menu that gives you the option of turning off, restarting, putting it to sleep and so on, right? Is that bad?

no, that's not bad. you probably don't know it, but there's a way to force the machine to shut down by pressing and holding the power button for 8 seconds. that's not good for the system at all, though it's sometimes necessary with kernal panics or badly frozen applications. just tapping the button and getting that menu is perfectly fine.

[game_on]

He's just asking if you ever have to forcefully turn off your computer by holding down the power button for 5 seconds or unplugging your computer and turning it back on. He's just being an idiot.

Here's what you do. Restart your computer one time, and those files will likely be there. Now, before you do anything else (Check your mail, open Safari, start iTunes), simply shut the computer right back down. When you turn it back on, you will notice that there are no files in your Trash folder.

There is a program on your computer that may be leaving small files out on your computer. (In your /tmp folder; Temporary file's folder) This is all probably because of poor programming. The maker of the program did not tell it to delete the small temporary files after it uses it, so Mac OS decides to put the files in the "Recovered Files" folder inside your trash can.

[evilla]

OK, thanks for the explanation, for a moment I was a bit freaked out... Not that I didn't know about forcing restart (I've actually had to do that a couple of times, though not lately, so I don't think it has anything to do with the annoying folder), but I got confused... In any case, it'll try what you said about restarting right after turning on. Regardless of that, is it bad for the computer at all to have those files popping up in the trash all the time? Does that affect its behavior in any way or should I just ignore them?

[trevor]

game_on, nobody in this thread is being an idiot. Please don't make personal attacks. If you disagree with a statement that somebody said, attack the statement, not the poster.

evilla, As I mentioned above, and as game_on said, you are running a program that is not cleaning up properly. But this is not a big issue. Just ignore those files, and when you would empty your trash normally, go ahead and empty it. In most cases, the only bad thing resulting from these files is that they take up a small amount of space on your hard drive, and don't have any value to you. Just like everything else in your Trash.

Trevor