I’ve been using OSX for almost a year now which, naturally, makes me an expert on all things OSX and gives me the right to rant about it. It’s been a mostly pleasant year, but there are some issues with this god-sent operating system. The single most annoying thing about OSX is how it’s handling USB keys (or any other external storage for that matter). I really want to smack somebody for this cock-up.
So, what is the issue? Well first, it’s issues, plural. And that’s not very OSX-y.
The first issue is that heaven forbid you insert a USB key right after you wake your computer from sleep. It just won’t detect it. You have to wake it, log back in and then you can insert and use the key. Not a deal braker but quite annoying if you like to get things done fast.
Second issue: hidden junk folders. Yes I know what they are and yes I know that I choose the settings so that they are visible in finder. But, as there always is, the thing is that this stupid folders leak to my other machines. The most common use case for me is to copy a movie onto a USB key, plug it into my Samsung TV and enjoy the show. But now, since I’m using OSX, I always have to make two extra key presses on my remote to get past those useless folders. And it loks ugly and I don’t like ugly. It’s also not user friendly, and I was under the impression that Apple was in the user friendly business.
Same thing happens if you plug the key into a Windows machine and I really really don’t want to explain those folders every time to non-OSX users.
And the third issue is how OSX handles deleted files. It apparently creates a hidden folder (.Trashes) on the USB key, where it stores deleted files from that key. And that means you can’t use all of your free space. Unless you empty the trash every time you remove a file from the key. Annoying can’t begin to describe this. Especially in the beginning when I didn’t know OSX has this “feature”.
Awesome job there Apple.