.HFS+ Private Directory Data?

Question

On my file exchange partition that both Mac and Ubuntu should have access to, I cannot manage to get access from Ubuntu.

This partition was created with the Disk Utility in Lion.

Unlike before, there is a file or directory called .HFS+ Private Directory Data? (including the questions mark!) This was not there the last time I create such a partition. I cannot delete this file/directory.

What is this? Why can't I copy/delete files onto this partition from Ubuntu? It worked the last time I created such a partition. This partition has journaling disabled.

This .HFS+ Private Directory Data? cannot be seen with ls -la in the Terminal of Mac OS!

Answer 1

".HFS+ Private Directory Data\r" and "␀␀␀␀HFS+ Private Data" are special folders used by the HFS+ filesystem to handle hard-linked folders and files, respectively. They're normally pretty well hidden, but apparently something went a little wrong and one of yours became visible. Don't worry about it, though -- as long as they're doing their jobs, you shouldn't need to interact with them directly.

Answer 2

Oh well! Repairing permissions with Disk Utility did the trick...