Major Snow Leopard upgrade problem - all documents gone!

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Hello everyone,

Just a bit ago I finished the upgrade to Snow Leopard on my work machine. Everything went without a hitch until I logged back in after the upgrade... it's as if my account has been reset to a brand new account. All icons are gone on the desktop, my doc is reset, and worst of all the Documents folder is empty save one new file dropped into it during the installation! As far as I can tell the Documents really are gone, they don't exist anywhere on the hard drive.

Obviously this is a horrific problem... from my searching online I can't find anyone else who has experienced this. Thankfully I have Time Machine working and am restoring the lost files now.

Has anyone else seen mention of this happening to others?

Jacob
 
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What installation method did you use when installing 10.6?
 

CrimsonRequiem


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I don't see how that possible unless you reformatted the HDD. Then installed.
 

dtravis7


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Is there any possibility you renamed the user account before you did the upgrade?
 
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What installation method did you use when installing 10.6?

I don't recall it giving me an option for different install methods, I guess whatever the default is. I popped in the disk, ran the installer app, I think I had an option to do a "Custom" install (or something like that) which I didn't do. I guess I assumed going the default route would be a plain upgrade.

But it obviously didn't do a wipe and install... my applications are still installed and the user accounts are still there. It's like it just wiped my Desktop, Documents, and settings.
 
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I don't see how that possible unless you reformatted the HDD. Then installed.

Definitely didn't do that... as I mentioned in a post a moment ago, what is gone seems to be selective. The system's user accounts are still there, the applications I've installed (like Firefox) are still there, but things unique to my account are gone.
 
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todd51

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I'm assuming you have never backed up your Documents on an external drive or even a flash drive?
 

cwa107


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You did make a backup prior to the install, yes?
 

dtravis7


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This is really a strange issue. I have not seen anyone so far have this with 10.6. I wonder what went wrong?
 
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Ouch

A friend of mine just lost all the files on her MacBook desktop.

Her ailises no longer connect with her files.

She can open the documents in Word however.
 

cwa107


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A friend of mine just lost all the files on her MacBook desktop.

Her ailises no longer connect with her files.

She can open the documents in Word however.

Sounds like she renamed her home directory somewhere along the way.
 
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same problem here but no backup with time machine!!!

>HELP

Can someone help me, I have the same problem.
Since I ve installed mac os x Leopard it's like if my account was new...
- MY DOCUMENTS ARE GONE -
I have no idea what happened but I didn't have my Time machine on
so I don't have a backup and I really don't know what to do now.

I try not to panic. Can someone please help me??
 

cwa107


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>HELP

Can someone help me, I have the same problem.
Since I ve installed mac os x Leopard it's like if my account was new...
- MY DOCUMENTS ARE GONE -
I have no idea what happened but I didn't have my Time machine on
so I don't have a backup and I really don't know what to do now.

I try not to panic. Can someone please help me??

Did this happen immediately following the upgrade, or later after you used the system for a some time?
 
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Did this happen immediately following the upgrade, or later after you used the system for a some time?

The problem is, I didn't use my laptop for two three days after upgrading
- I only saw it a fews day later, I suppose immediatly...

What difference would it make?

Thanks, muzzy
 

cwa107


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The problem is, I didn't use my laptop for two three days after upgrading
- I only saw it a fews day later, I suppose immediatly...

What difference would it make?

Thanks, muzzy

What I'm wondering is if it was a direct result of the upgrade. If the machine was functional immediately following, the symptoms point to a renaming of your home folder.
 
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I know, that already happened once to me :Oops:

But the thing is I didn't rename anything. I can see my "lost" file on InDesign for example, but the link to the document is gone, same with windows.
It's like a new account BUT my pictures and my music are here. Only my
document folder is gone. I normally make back ups but I didn't for a month...

-and my usual settings like docksettings are also gone-

What could that be - my files are nowhere??
 

cwa107


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When you open Macintosh HD, and go to the Users folder, do you see more than one folder?
 

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