5 ms·

The current uses in Windows I'm aware of (not including external programs) are: - :$I30, :$Bad, $Info, $SDH, and a number of others, internally used to name th

The current uses in Windows I'm aware of (not including external programs) are: - :$I30, :$Bad, $Info, $SDH, and a number of others, internally used to name the stream that stores the children of directories. But the stream names seem pretty unnecessary to me; they aren't exposed to external code so they could well be different files and it wouldn't affect any user. - :Zone.Identifier, for denoting whether a file is from an untrusted origin (so you can get that annoying pop-up every time you run a downloaded file) - :WofCompressedData, for the newer transparent file compression mechanism (older ones were different) - :Win32App_1, used for I'm-not-sure-what - :encryptable, used along with Thumbs.db, also for I'm-not-sure-what - I think there was one more regarding extended properties or something, but I can't think of it right now. Aside from breaking :WofCompressedData I don't think anyone outside Microsoft would shed any tears if it was removed.

voltagex_ 8y ago
How are the current placeholders for OneDrive implemented?
- mehrdadn 8y ago
  No clue! I don't use it and I uninstall it wherever possible, so I haven't really considered it part of the OS. :P But yeah, it's totally possible sync programs use it too.
- hug 8y ago
  Doesn't look like it's via ADS -- synced items on my desktop have only the single stream. Except for one item I just created to test that has a stream called "magic".
  - voltagex_ 8y ago
    Seems like it's done via a filesystem filter driver - calls to open files from OneDrive-unaware applications block until the file is downloaded.
    - mehrdadn 8y ago
      That's a different problem though, right? I thought you were asking where OneDrive stores the information necessary to know where the file is located on your cloud storage, and it would make sense for that to be in a stream.
      - voltagex_ 8y ago
        Yep, but it looks like most things are done server side, then everything OS-side is done through the OneDrive client and a driver. AFAIK, this is the second implementation of "online files". Sorry, I'll stop dragging this offtopic now.
      - sebazzz 8y ago
        Yes, but the stream will remain if copied to another NTFS volume. That may cause issues.
        mehrdadn 8y ago
        What kinds of issues?
        sebazzz 8y ago
        If you copy indirectly from OneDrive folder to another OneDrive folder, the file may not sync due to the ADS indicating that the data is already uploaded.
mehrdadn 8y ago
Correction: It looks like I messed up the first bullet a little when editing. Only :$I30 is used for storing directory contents. :$Bad, :$Info, :$SDH, etc. have different purposes.

voltagex_ 8y ago

How are the current placeholders for OneDrive implemented?

mehrdadn 8y ago
No clue! I don't use it and I uninstall it wherever possible, so I haven't really considered it part of the OS. :P But yeah, it's totally possible sync programs use it too.
hug 8y ago
Doesn't look like it's via ADS -- synced items on my desktop have only the single stream. Except for one item I just created to test that has a stream called "magic".
- voltagex_ 8y ago
  Seems like it's done via a filesystem filter driver - calls to open files from OneDrive-unaware applications block until the file is downloaded.
  - mehrdadn 8y ago
    That's a different problem though, right? I thought you were asking where OneDrive stores the information necessary to know where the file is located on your cloud storage, and it would make sense for that to be in a stream.
    - voltagex_ 8y ago
      Yep, but it looks like most things are done server side, then everything OS-side is done through the OneDrive client and a driver. AFAIK, this is the second implementation of "online files". Sorry, I'll stop dragging this offtopic now.
    - sebazzz 8y ago
      Yes, but the stream will remain if copied to another NTFS volume. That may cause issues.
      - mehrdadn 8y ago
        What kinds of issues?
        sebazzz 8y ago
        If you copy indirectly from OneDrive folder to another OneDrive folder, the file may not sync due to the ADS indicating that the data is already uploaded.

mehrdadn 8y ago

Correction: It looks like I messed up the first bullet a little when editing. Only :$I30 is used for storing directory contents. :$Bad, :$Info, :$SDH, etc. have different purposes.