Private/var folder (5.66GB) on my desktop; can I delete it?

It got there as I was copying ApplicationSupport/CrashReporter, Logs/DiagnosticReports from the root Library,and Application Support/CrashReporter, Application Support/Rapport/User/Logs from the Home/User/(Me)  Library folder. The invisible private/var folder appeared as I was dragging copies of these to the desktop.
I emailed these to Trusteer for troubleshooting, because of Rapport conflict prblms with other Safari extentions (see other discussions on this).
The prblm is I now can't remember where this private/var folder came from, and I'm afraid I might have dragged the original rather than a copy, and I don't want to trash it until I'm sure.
My MacBk Pro has been booting up and acting normally since this folder is on the desktop, so I guess this is a good sign. My understanding is that a folder/file on the desktop is inactive anyway.
Can I trash it w/o consequences????

Thnx baltwo, did that, got:
Charless-MacBook-Pro:~ ChasM$ chflags hidden /private
chflags: /private: Permission denied
Charless-MacBook-Pro:~ ChasM$
This despite that I'm logged in as Administrator, and that I added "Administrator" and "Me" to Terminal Permissions Read/Write priveleges; "System" already had Read/Write.
By the way, I assume that when it works, this is supposed to make my invisible Private folder visible??
Also, I tried typing in these commands rather than pasting - same result

Similar Messages

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  • Etc,tmp, and var folder won't hide in Leopard

    Hi can someone help me hide the etc,tmp,and var folder in Leopard 10.5.4
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    drwx------ 3 root admin - 102 Jun 4 09:32 .Spotlight-V100
    d-wx-wx-wt 2 root staff - 68 Jun 4 09:02 .Trashes
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root admin - 0 Jun 4 09:32 .com.apple.timemachine.supported
    drwx------ 19 root admin - 646 Jul 5 12:08 .fseventsd
    -rw-r--r-- 1 Robert admin - 166 Jul 5 12:26 .hidden
    -rw------- 1 root wheel hidden 131072 Jun 30 03:51 .hotfiles.btree
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel - 68 Sep 24 2007 .vol
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    -rw-r--r--@ 1 root admin hidden 2 Jun 4 21:23 Desktop DF
    drwxrwxr-x 3 root admin - 102 Jun 4 19:37 Developer
    drwxrwxr-t+ 58 root admin - 1972 Jun 30 00:20 Library
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel - 68 Sep 23 2007 Network
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel - 136 Jun 4 19:26 System
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    drwxrwxrwt@ 7 root admin hidden 238 Jul 5 12:09 Volumes
    drwxr-xr-x@ 40 root wheel hidden 1360 Jun 4 19:23 bin
    drwxrwxr-t@ 2 root admin hidden 68 Sep 23 2007 cores
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel - 512 Jul 5 12:08 dev
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    dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel - 1 Jul 5 12:08 home
    -rw-r--r--@ 1 root wheel hidden 10293308 Jun 9 19:37 mach_kernel
    -rw-r--r--@ 1 root wheel hidden 10742313 Jun 9 19:37 mach_kernel.ctfsys
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel - 1 Jul 5 12:08 net
    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 root wheel hidden 238 Jun 7 19:43 private
    drwxr-xr-x@ 66 root wheel hidden 2244 Jun 4 19:23 sbin
    lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 11 Jun 4 09:04 tmp -> private/tmp
    drwxr-xr-x@ 11 root wheel hidden 374 Jun 30 00:16 usr
    lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 11 Jun 4 09:04 var -> private/var
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    private/tmp
    private/etc
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    *Hi Tim. Looks like I do have the developer tools but for some reason maybe not that one tool. So I downloaded your file (thank you so much for allowing me to download it and for uploading it) and put it on my desktop as you suggested. Still no luck. The files still appear eventhough the commands went through.*
    *See below (my terminal window afterwards)*
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    roberts-imac:~ Robert$ sudo ~/Desktop/SetFile -a V /private/etc
    roberts-imac:~ Robert$ sudo ~/Desktop/SetFile -a V /private/var
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    drwxrwxr-t 34 root admin - 1224 Jul 5 11:34 ..
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    drwx------ 25 root admin - 850 Jul 5 15:22 .fseventsd
    -rw-r--r-- 1 Robert admin - 166 Jul 5 12:26 .hidden
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    drwxrwxr-x 3 root admin - 102 Jun 4 19:37 Developer
    drwxrwxr-t+ 58 root admin - 1972 Jun 30 00:20 Library
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel - 68 Sep 23 2007 Network
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel - 136 Jun 4 19:26 System
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    drwxrwxrwt@7 root admin hidden 238 Jul 5 15:23 Volumes
    drwxr-xr-x@ 40 root wheel hidden 1360 Jun 4 19:23 bin
    drwxrwxr-t@ 2 root admin hidden 68 Sep 23 2007 cores
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel - 512 Jul 5 14:51 dev
    lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 11 Jun 4 09:04 etc -> private/etc
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel - 1 Jul 5 14:52 home
    -rw-r--r--@ 1 root wheel hidden 10293308 Jun 9 19:37 mach_kernel
    -rw-r--r--@ 1 root wheel hidden 10742313 Jun 9 19:37 mach_kernel.ctfsys
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel - 1 Jul 5 14:52 net
    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 root wheel hidden 238 Jun 7 19:43 private
    drwxr-xr-x@ 66 root wheel hidden 2244 Jun 4 19:23 sbin
    lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 11 Jun 4 09:04 tmp -> private/tmp
    drwxr-xr-x@ 11 root wheel hidden 374 Jun 30 00:16 usr
    lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 11 Jun 4 09:04 var -> private/var
    *For some reason the entries below do not change:*
    lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 11 Jun 4 09:04 etc -> private/etc
    lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 11 Jun 4 09:04 tmp -> private/tmp
    lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 11 Jun 4 09:04 var -> private/var
    *I've noticed that the folders that are hidden start with an "l" and the others start with a "d". (example below)*
    lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 11 Jun 4 09:04 var -> private/var (example 1)
    drwxr-xr-x@ 11 root wheel hidden 374 Jun 30 00:16 usr (example 2)
    *Any other guesses??? Appreciate your help on this.*
    Does that have something to do with it?

  • Private/var/log/asl files are huge: weird iTunes stuff

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    Mon Jul 25 15:46:26 HBs-MacBook \[0x0-0x13013\].com.apple.iTunes[110] <Notice>: 2
    Mon Jul 25 15:46:26 HBs-MacBook \[0x0-0x13013\].com.apple.iTunes[110] <Notice>: 3
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    Mon Jul 25 15:46:27 HBs-MacBook \[0x0-0x13013\].com.apple.iTunes[110] <Notice>: 11315
    Mon Jul 25 15:46:27 HBs-MacBook \[0x0-0x13013\].com.apple.iTunes[110] <Notice>: 11316
    Mon Jul 25 16:04:26 HBs-MacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: PM notification cancel (pid 110, iTunes)
    Mon Jul 25 16:04:28 HBs-MacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: PM notification cancel (pid 110, iTunes)
    Mon Jul 25 16:04:28 HBs-MacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: IOPMrootDomain: idle cancel
    Mon Jul 25 16:28:32 HBs-MacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: PM notification cancel (pid 110, iTunes)
    Mon Jul 25 16:28:32 HBs-MacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: PM notification cancel (pid 110, iTunes)
    Mon Jul 25 16:28:32 HBs-MacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: IOPMrootDomain: idle cancel
    Mon Jul 25 16:35:36 HBs-MacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: PM notification cancel (pid 110, iTunes)
    Mon Jul 25 16:35:36 HBs-MacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: PM notification cancel (pid 110, iTunes)
    Mon Jul 25 16:35:36 HBs-MacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: IOPMrootDomain: idle cancel
    Mon Jul 25 16:40:33 HBs-MacBook loginwindow[31] <Notice>: DEAD_PROCESS: 0 console
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    I think the following will do the trick for you (from http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10329979-263.html?tag=mfiredir):
    Fix: Restart log managers after removing asl data
    Open the Terminal application and enter the following two commands to stop the log managers:
    sudo launchctl stop com.apple.syslogd
    sudo launchctl stop com.apple.aslmanager
    Then create a folder on your desktop called "temp" (to store the moved "data store" files), and enter the following command in the Terminal to move the "ASL" data to the new temporary folder:
    sudo mv /var/log/asl/* ~/Desktop/temp/
    Finally, restart the "syslogd" process with the following command (the aslmanager will be started when needed by syslogd, so it doesnt need to be manually restarted):
    sudo launchctl start com.apple.syslogd

  • Hard Drive filling up: SubmitDiagInfo, /private/var & log issues

    This topic is part question, part help for people I've seen having a similar problem in other threads. My issue is different enough from the other issues, that I wanted to post it as a separate topic.
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