strange "/private" folder in root directory after Time Capsule restore

[g-boac]

I have a strange "/private" folder in my root directory (Macintosh HD) after a Time Capsule restore today.

The folder is ~5GB in size, and appears to have been created during the restore process. The files in the folder have strange-appearing "system" file type names.

Can I safely delete this folder? Not sure why its there, but given its size, I'd prefer to delete it.

thanks,
Mark

 

[spinnerlys]

It's normally a hidden folder, which is used by the system.

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=mac+os+x+private+folder&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[angelwatt]

Not strange, vital. In other words, don't touch it.

 

[BlueRevolution]

As for making it disappear, try repairing permissions, then restarting the computer.

 

[g-boac]

setting /private folder flag back to "hidden"

As for making it disappear, try repairing permissions, then restarting the computer.

Hi BlueRevolution - just found out that folder is indeed very important!!!

angelwatt and spinnerlys: thank you so much for your leads.

Bottom line is that for some reason, the hidden folder flag was unset during the Time Machine restore. The Terminal commands for resetting this flag can be found right here on our Forums.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/648139/

Thank you again to everyone for your quick responses!!

Mark

 

[BlueRevolution]

No. That folder is a necessary part of the system, but is normally hidden in Finder. Try repairing permissions in Disk Utility.

Edit: Whoops, this was in response to your original post, and should've been posted some time ago. Why did it wait to show up until now?