Desktop DELETED!!!, Desktop DELETED!!!

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This is bad. Real bad.

Here's the situation: I was using my iMac to sync my iPad. I had iTunes open and was transferring files from the Pages App to my computer. I grabbed one document and pulled it across to the desktop and dropped it there.
IMMEDIATELY I got the message: "You do not have permissions to do this."
At the same time, suddenly, everything on my desktop disappeared. Gone completely.

I have checked in finder, and the files are gone from there as well. I searched the recycle bin, no luck. I did a spotlight search for some of the files: nothing.

I am now speechless. I do not know what else I can do. I had some very important files on the desktop, for example an assignment due tomorrow and a particially made short film, among others.

The funny thing is that I just switched to Apple from Windows, to have LESS problems like this and I finally thought that my files were safe.

Please if anyone knows anything I can do, please, please, PLEASE help me.

Thankyou

PS. Another thing to note is I had just updated the ipad to version 4.3.3
 
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This is what Time Machine was designed for - open TM and go back to a point in time just before the issue, your files will all be there.
 
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I don't have Time Machine switched on. I did backup my files approx 2 weeks ago but this delete represents 2 weeks of work.

Are there any things that I can try to restore the desktop? I don't know whether it is normal for a Mac to simply delete files indiscriminately and not even send them to the recycle bin...
 

chscag

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Are you sure the files have been deleted? Something does not sound right about what happened. There is no way that the entire desktop would be deleted unless you purposely deleted the items.

The files may be hidden which is why Spotlight can't find them. Download the free "TinkerTool" application, select the Finder tab and turn on viewing for hidden files. (temporarily to find your files if they exist)

You can also turn off the hidden attribute by using Terminal but it's a lot easier to use TinkerTool.
 
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Something doesn't sound right.
Deleting a complete Desktop in one move?
Not visible in the Trash?

Mmmmmmmm

DavidH
 
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Thanks chscag, I tried it, but could not find anything.

It does seem strange to me to that the files could so suddenly disappear, it happened in a matter of seconds, in a flash. Which is also weird because I had approx 40GB of movies/footage on there so even if I HAD deleted them, it would have taken longer!!!

I literally thought that maybe Finder had just crashed, as happens on Windows quite often, but on restarting the computer I realised that there was something more..
 

chscag

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I just noticed that you stated iTunes was open and you were transferring Pages documents from the iPad to your computer. I'm wondering now if iTunes did a "sync" job on you and deleted everything off the desktop in the process?

In any event the important thing right now is to get your data back. Try not to use the computer for fear of overwriting what has been deleted.

The best suggestion I have right now is to try to use software which can find and recover deleted files. The best available software to do this is Data Rescue 3 which can be downloaded from here. Download their trial copy to see if it will work. Let us know. Also, if it does work, do not buy it direct from them as I know were to buy it at half the price.
 

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