A few minutes ago, I went to check the mail on my iMac (running 10.4). Mail didn't recognize that I'd been there before--asked me to enter all my account information, etc. I did a search on my hard drive for my mailboxes and they were gone. For some reason I can't fathom, I decided to restart my computer. When I did so, I found that I'd lost all my settings and that 50GB worth of stuff (mostly video files) on my desk top were gone.
What happened? And did I really lose all my mail?!
Rae
suddenly not so enamoured with Macs
Well, I managed to find all my information. I have no idea how to restore things, however. It seems like I created a 'sub' user account. When I open Finder, I see my account name on the left, as though my account is active, but my mail and desktop are empty. I double click on the name and it brings up a Finder window with icons for the empty desktop, an empty library, and the pictures and documents folders, as well as a sub-folder with my account name which has all my stuff in it.
Am I making any sense at all? :-(
Thanks,
Rae
And I should add that this is on my iMac running 10.4, not on the clamshell. :D
Sounds like you somehow moved your User folder to the wrong place. First, simply try moving the folder that is named "YourUserName", ie "Raven" so that it is at the top level of the folder named "Users".
Your startup drive is the one that contains the System, Library, Applications and Users folder - there may be loose files and other miscellaneous folders as well - but those four main folders are essential. Inside the User folder should be one folder for each user account and another folder named named Shared.
Each user folder is named "short name", which is the short form of the accounts user name (the long name entered in the Accounts panel of System Preferences is abbreviated to become the short name, and cannot easily be changed-sigh!). The current user's Home folder has a special "house" icon, while the other user's folders, if there are any, will have a plain appearance.
If you think of your Home folder as your "My Documents" folder, it's the same idea. Inside your Home folder are several essential folders - Documents(for general stuff), Library(where your individual prefs, fonts, mail etc. live), Desktop(where files that appear to be on your desktop actually reside), Movies, Music (iTunes lives here), Photos (iPhoto stuff), and Sites (where your personal website is), and any other folder you want to access from this account only. You can't see inside other user's folders or copy/move there stuff and vice versa.
Of course, you can create folders anywhere you like, but that can quickly lead to trouble if you move one of the "Special" folders to the wrong place - and that's what I think has happened. I fthis sounds like what's happened - we can fix it.
Dan
Yup, I think that's what I did. *relieved* How I did it, I have no idea. I managed to 'restore' everything except my dock (good excuse to clean it up :D).
Ah, I love Macs. Windows would have eaten all my files and then spit in my face.
Thank you very much for your reply and the excellent information you provided. I've been on Macs for four years now and every time I think that I'm a full convert, something like this happens. :)
Rae
PS I could see you grinning and rolling your eyes at my three slightly panicky messages... I have to keep reminding myself that Macs don't betray us the way PCs do. :D
I honestly wasn't rolling my eyes. Honestly. I had something in my eye.
Glad to hear everything worked out. Strangely, it's easier to explain this kind of problem to Windows and ex-Windows user. Old school Mac users aren't used to this whole this file must go here, these folders are off-limits, kind of operating system.
Until OS X, Mac users only had to worry about one special folder - the System Folder - everything else was pure anarchy. For some reason, I still find myself explaining why OS X is this way to Mac users, instead of just explaining how to make it work as Windows users are quite used too.
I mean, really, who knows why Apple/Microsoft does anything the way they do?
:-D
I don't know why, either, but I do know that Macs work and PCs suck. :)