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August 27, 2005
FAT stuff that hangs around
When I delete a file on the MP3 player using the file browser on Ubuntu, the system "moves it to the trash," which appears to mean that it marks it as deleted in the File Allocation Table but leaves the file there on the device. You cannot see it in the file browser, but it's still there. You don't reclaim the space.
Great idea for big hard drives. But then you have to "take out the trash" even on your MP3 player. Maybe it should go ahead and prompt me when the media is a little flash over USB.
The real problem I see is in the trash itself. When I "empty the trash," the system throws out (permanently deletes) everything referenced as trashed. So I do this for my USB-connected, tiny flash memory at the same time doing it for the stuff on my relatively huge disk. It's like the natural way to clean up your desk being to throw out everything in the house you intend to remove some day.
Posted by Mark at August 27, 2005 10:01 AM