Why hidden photo files on USB flashdrive?

[Steven SANH]

I can copy photos from the Photos app directly to my USB flashdrive. This is done successfully. (both heif & jpg)

However when I plug the USB into my Windows PC, there are lots of "hidden" files accompanying the original photo files listed on the USB flashdrive. Are these small hidden files required to be copied over to my PC?

 

[chrfr]

I can copy photos from the Photos app directly to my USB flashdrive. This is done successfully. (both heif & jpg)

However when I plug the USB into my Windows PC, there are lots of "hidden" files accompanying the original photo files listed on the USB flashdrive. Are these small hidden files required to be copied over to my PC?

Those are the resource forks for the files. Windows won’t do anything with them, you can safely ignore them all.

 

[Steven SANH]

Those are the resource forks for the files. Windows won’t do anything with them, you can safely ignore them all.

Thanks for your help. 👍

Okay so I can safely ignore copying these over to my Windows PC, but should I simply just ignore them on my USB flashdrive, or can I delete them? (I guess just leaving them there won't hurt, but there'll be over 5,000 photos!)

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Erase the drive once you have the photos off it onto your Windows computer... erasing the files is too time-consuming & it's simpler just to wipe the drive entirely.