Hiding files on an external drive

[cannonbones]

I run a 10.4.8 on a 1.5 gig Powerbook.
I know how to hide files on the external drive.

My question is: If another user with a separate mac mounts the
external drive, will the files/folders remain hidden?

If they do not remain hidden from the new finder, is there away
to secure those files on the external from new computers?


thx

 

[mklos]

If your making the files hidden with something like a unix command then they will stay hidden as the attributes are attached to the file itself, not the finder app. So you can plug that HD into any Mac and they will remain hidden in Finder and only accessible if you know the exactly location and filename.

The only other way someone could see them is if they knew a little Unix and went to the terminal and used the ls -a command which displays ALL Unix files, including hidden ones.

However, on a Windows PC if the files were to show up they would NOT be hidden. But if the HD is formatted as HFS+/HFS+(Journaled) then the HD won't mount in Windows anyways.

 

[pianoman]

i have some pretty sensitive files on my computer but i don't hide them. i put them in an encrypted (password-protected) disk image. might you consider doing this instead? i suppose you could also hide the .dmg file so even if someone finds it, they'll need a password.