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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Lost photo, music and document files - h

kliner - Feb 17, 2007 - 2:25 am

I'm new to this so please bear with me. I have an iBook G4 with OS X Version 10.4.8. Last night I went through my home folder (the one in the finder that shows a little house with my name next to it) and deleted a bunch of empty folders that came pre-installed on the computer (like the one for on-line magazines that I never use). I didn't touch my document folder, picture folder or music folder. When I was done I noticed that my desktop changed from the photo backdrop I had to solid blue. I lost all of my web bookmarks and everything in my photo, music and documents folders. Its like I have a new computer. This morning I was prompted to do an update for Java and day light savings time, I thought this is what caused the problem but know think I may have inadvertently deleted important folders that I thought were blank. Is there any way to get my files back, are they just hiding on my computer somewhere. Please help . . .

Thanks in advance
Randy

rykummer - Feb 17, 2007 - 3:10 am

Did you delete your Library folder? Or any files in your Library folder?

kliner - Feb 18, 2007 - 8:12 pm

Thank you for your help. I did not knowingly delete any folders that had anything in them, only empty folders. It is possible that I threw the Library folder away by mistake . . . but my computer still has a Library folder that is itself full of folders. I also still have a "Document folder" but all my files with are gone, the only thing in this folder is the "Appleworks User Data" folder. I also still have a "Picture folder" but all of my iPhoto picture files are gone. I do not have a "Music" folder and all of the files I loaded into iTunes are gone. When I bring up iTunes now I get the "iTune Software License Agreement" like its the first time I've ever used it. Also, we use Yahoo email accounts and the Bookmarks that we had saved are also gone.

Thanks again for your help.

kliner - Feb 19, 2007 - 8:31 pm

Please see my response above. Thanks . . . .

rykummer - Feb 20, 2007 - 2:51 am

You can check Spotlight to see if your files still exist on the drive.

You Library folders hold files that are necessary for the system, preferences and more. There are Library folders in your Home folder and in the root level of your hard drive ('Macintosh HD'). If you wipe out important system files, you can only restore them by reinstalling the operating system.

It's not as bad as it sounds.

Put the cd that came with the computer (disc one) in the drive. You can also use a newer, but not older, OS X stand-alone disc.

Reboot the computer and hold down the 'c' key as it's restarting.

Walk through the steps to reinstall the computer, and select "Archive & Install" when it gives you the option.

This will take anywhere from 30-45 minutes (sometimes longer), and it will install a clean copy of the OS.

Don't worry, as long as you select Archive and Install, it won't delete any of your personal files.

If something in the system is missing that has caused all of this confusion, this will fix it.

Just remember to be very careful when "spring cleaning" in the future!