Most of the time, it's because they contain data critical to the smooth running of your Apple and of course should not be modified.Īlso, if they were all set to be visible in Finder, your Mac would look horribly cluttered.

Hidden files/folders are commonly used for storing user preferences or preserving the state of a utility, for example.Īgain, there can be a number of reasons why files and folders are hidden.

This is a default setting but can be modified. Can't see your files on an external hard drive on Apple's Mac OS? Here's how to fix it.Ī hidden folder or file is a folder or file that the operating system normally does NOT display in Apple's Finder. How to show hidden files on your Mac hard drive? In addition, we share solutions to fix files that have 'disappeared' and are no longer visible on an external hard drive. Here are a few tips on how to show hidden files/folders on your Mac. What should you do to make those hidden files or hidden folders appear?ĭon't worry. You may need, for example, to find the normally-hidden system files within Apple's OS when trying to delete an uninstalled app's leftover data to ensure a clean slate moving forward or clearing cache on Mac. Apple has been hiding some system files for simplicity and also to prevent the accidental deletion of Mac users' data.

Windows cant view files on mac disk