04-06-2004, 02:19 AM

I am new to Mac, and today, my power cut off, when I turned the Mac back on everything seemed fine. When I went to get a file someone asked for online and was going to the folder, which is located on desktop..it was gone! It wasn't even in the Trash!

I have no idea how to restore his the correct way and this was the most important folder on my computer! Any suggestions?

04-06-2004, 09:54 AM

Well it depends on how it was deleted... if it's not in the trash, it's probably more or less gone :/

04-06-2004, 09:12 PM

That doesn't make sense though...there has to be a way of getting it back

04-06-2004, 09:21 PM

My guess is to try this: Finder - Applications - Utilities - Terminal. type ls /tmp and see if the file name comes up it may be possible ti drag it back to the Applications or desktop

04-15-2010, 10:19 PM

Hi!
I'm too worried because the same has happened to me!!
My most important folder who was in my desktop too, just dissapeared!!!!
I cannot find it anywhere on my mac
I could recover some of the files because 2 days ago I opened 3 of my files.doc who were in this folder so I saved it again.
Help please!!

04-16-2010, 08:56 AM

Originally Posted by copitl

Hi!
I'm too worried because the same has happened to me!!
My most important folder who was in my desktop too, just dissapeared!!!!
I cannot find it anywhere on my mac
I could recover some of the files because 2 days ago I opened 3 of my files.doc who were in this folder so I saved it again.
Help please!!

Ok, if you were able to open those three files, the real folder is still on your computer. What you probably lost is an alias (or shortcut) to the actual folder. Look in the Documents folder. Click on Documents on the left (sidebar) of any Finder window. Is the "missing" folder there? If so, drag it to the right side of your Dock, assuming it's on the bottom of your screen. This will make a new shortcut. Now control-click (right click) on it and choose Display as Folder.

04-16-2010, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by JohnXE

I am new to Mac, and today, my power cut off, when I turned the Mac back on everything seemed fine. When I went to get a file someone asked for online and was going to the folder, which is located on desktop..it was gone! It wasn't even in the Trash!

I have no idea how to restore his the correct way and this was the most important folder on my computer! Any suggestions?

I'm not so sure that you didn't also lose just a "shortcut". I don't quite understand the bold phrase. Try looking in Recent Items in the Apple Menu, and if you find one or more files from the "missing" folder, do the same thing I suggested above.

04-16-2010, 10:23 AM

How would you loose a file/shortcut though? I am still trying to figure out if this was a user error or something clicked accidentally (but what)

@OP - most of what I can think is mentioned above but I am sure there might be some other tips that someone will post...

04-16-2010, 11:59 AM

This is yet another good reason *not to keep files on the desktop.*

04-16-2010, 12:58 PM

I'm guessing you accidentally dragged it somewhere. I would search for the folder in Recent Documents, then in Spotlight. Where was the folder before it was on the desktop? Was it something you downloaded from the web? Is that what you mean by "someone asked for it online" or do you mean that someone online asked you to send it to them?

Not only is this a good reason not to keep important files on the desktop, it's also a good reason to buy an external hard drive and set up Time Machine to back up your system.

04-16-2010, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by chas_m

This is yet another good reason *not to keep files on the desktop.*

What? Why? The Desktop is just a folder, it's not any more dangerous than any other folder on your system.

04-16-2010, 09:57 PM

I disagree. The user interfaces the Desktop far more often that any other folder. Thus, the potential for "accidents" is greater. Now, to an experienced user, that shouldn't be an issue. Based on the questions presented, I'd venture to say we're addressing a different category.

04-17-2010, 09:23 AM

@ copitl, could it be that what disappeared was not a folder, but a mounted image? I ask because if you downloaded an installer image (.dmg) and then double clicked it, it mounted as a drive. When you rebooted, it unmounted and didn't remount on the restart. Could that be what happened?

04-17-2010, 05:34 PM

The file itself is probably still on the system. Now whether or not it was accidently deleted is another thing

05-01-2010, 04:47 PM

Hi, I have a folder with all received email on a subject, it was under the title "GMAIL".

Now it is gone. Not in trash that I can see. Other folders are all there.

I saw the folder once in some place as I was looking for it. It was a place that had a list of folders on the computer. The one I need was there but as I tried to move it to my mail I lost track of where I saw it.

Can you please help me?

Thanks, George