12-08-2011, 01:20 AM

I'm on Snow Leopard and I admittedly made a very sloppy move. I have a folder where I keep all my writings. I'm really shy about that and got paranoid that someone would snoop through my computer (even though I setup the screen lock), so for extra measures I dumped the folder in one of the obscure library files.

I didn't pay attention to which folder it was figuring I could just do a file search to recover the folder. Now when I use spotlight there's no trace of the folder. I've searched for individual file names and no trace of them either. I'm now in the very painstaking process of going through every library sub folder hoping to find something (no luck). Is is possible that I dumped it into a folder that "eats up" files on restart (I'm obviously not a mac expert). I ran Cocktail around the same time, but I can't remember if it was right before or right after I moved the folder. Could the folder have deleted if it cleaned out something in the libraries?

Any tips on recovery would be much appreciated. Thanks so much.

12-08-2011, 01:45 AM

The folder is probably buried somewhere. Unless you're familiar with the Unix file hierarchy, it can be next to impossible to find something that's been buried deep.

If you can remember any words from your writings, download this free program called "EasyFind" and use it to search with. The download link is here.

12-08-2011, 03:33 AM

Thanks for the EasyFind link, I'll definitely check it out. I think I'm on to something though. I noticed spotlight was only checking file/folder names in the library folders under my username under the "Places" list in the sidebar of Finder. I just realized that there's another library folder in the Macintosh HD section under the "Devices" section. I did a little experiment and I noticed spotlight wasn't turning up any files or folders from that library folder. Is there a way/how can I expand my search options to find folders in that directory?

12-08-2011, 10:58 AM

There are three Library folders on your machine (~/Library, /Library and /System/Library). You would know if you put it in one of the two outside of your home directory library folder because each requires elevated privileges (in other words, you would have to enter an admin password to put them there). If you didn't have to enter a password to copy them there, the files are in the home directory library folder.

Do you remember the name of one of the files? If so, I can provide a command to enter that will search the folder and tell you where the files is.