---
id: mac-storage-basics.what-are-hidden-folders-on-external-drives
url: https://storagestudio.us/faq/mac-storage-basics/what-are-hidden-folders-on-external-drives
category: "Mac storage basics"
subcategory: "Disks, APFS and formats"
question: "What are .Spotlight-V100, .fseventsd and .Trashes on my external drive?"
alt_questions:
  - "spotlight-v100 folder external drive"
  - "fseventsd folder"
  - "trashes folder usb"
  - "hidden mac folders on drive"
  - "delete spotlight folder external drive"
short_answer: "Spotlight's index (.Spotlight-V100), the file-change log (.fseventsd) and the drive's Trash (.Trashes). They're usually small; leave them, and empty the Trash with the drive connected."
tags: ["hidden files", "external drive", "spotlight"]
related: ["https://storagestudio.us/faq/mac-storage-basics/what-are-ds-store-and-dot-underscore-files", "https://storagestudio.us/faq/mac-storage-basics/does-the-trash-take-up-space"]
applies_to: "all"
last_reviewed: 2026-10-01
---

# What are .Spotlight-V100, .fseventsd and .Trashes on my external drive?

They're folders macOS creates on drives it uses:

- **.Spotlight-V100** — the drive's Spotlight search index.
- **.fseventsd** — a log of file changes used by Time Machine and other apps.
- **.Trashes** — the drive's own Trash.

They're normally small. Leave them alone; to get rid of .Trashes contents, empty the Trash with the drive connected, and to stop indexing a drive, add it to Spotlight's Privacy list.