Lion: files disappeared

toMACsh said:

Sorry to say, but the only reasonable explanation to your dilemma is user error. What you described should have worked, therefore the only conclusion to be drawn is that you didn't actually do exactly what you described. Somewhere along the way, you must not have carefully observed where the file was going to or what you named it. Since it sounds like a simple copy and paste job, you could try again to be sure you're doing it the way you've described it. And files really do not disappear on their own. It's simply not possible. It takes user input to delete a file. It also takes user input to lose a file.

I'm drawing a blank on the acronym AI at the moment. Perhaps someone who knows what that is will have some more insight.

Click to expand...

Dear All,

I've been suffering from a similar problem so I decided to revive this thread.

First of all and, believe it or not, I've been using Macs since the Mac 512 and never stopped ever since. I am also and Educational Technologist so although I am not an engineer I have my share of need to understand computers to help others using them for the past 30 years.

I thought this might be in need since I am respectfully and totally disagreeing with toMACsh.

Even if I tend to agree that most of the times and odd problem is explained by some extraordinary user action, there are times where other forces prevail!

Just before sharing my problem with you, let me tell you I recently had an odd problem of Finder misbehaving until eventually it did not startup! Strange enough, Windows on Bootcamp did!

Did all the standard things - safe boot, permission repair, even checked the S.M.A.R.T. status. To no avail. My - now proved - simplistic approach was that if Windows started OK this was not due to a hardaware problem!

Alas, it was. Returning my Macbook Pro to an Apple Authorized Dealer they foud (ready?) that the culprit was a faulty disk cable! I had someone on Apple Support Foruns to explain me that it was indeed possible (my first thought was that I was swindled by the dealer): ir seems Applw uses a much more sophisticated way of controlling the disk and windows did not so thar would explain why the faulty cable could function without a glitch on Bootcam and did no starup on Mac OS. There. There are oddities on the Mac.

Now to my present problem: some times when I uncompress a file with Stuffit Expander, the file does not show up on the folder listing! However if I search for it, it does show up!

So there you have it without user error: a new file not showing up in Finder as it should but after all being there if you search for it!

I am still tying to figure out why (again the SMART status is OK and its a fairly new disk) but I thought of giving you this tip: check with Search for the disappeared filename. Maybe as with me the file is there and is just too shy to show up on first call...

Weird.

Best regards,

-- joão

ps not sure if I'm right but I suspect "AI" to mean Adobe Illustrator

Well, reading through the whole thread again, I see that one person reported getting up from the computer, everything was fine, and coming back to it later, and folders were gone. That is what my statement "files do not disappear on their own" was in response to. I stand by that.

Then you'll note another person describes some strange happenings while at the computer. I then amended a subsequent declaration due to this.

This thread contains several different circumstantial factors from several different people. Weird things do happen, but not if the computer is not touched.

toMACsh said:

Well, reading through the whole thread again, I see that one person reported getting up from the computer, everything was fine, and coming back to it later, and folders were gone. That is what my statement "files do not disappear on their own" was in response to. I stand by that.

Then you'll note another person describes some strange happenings while at the computer. I then amended a subsequent declaration due to this.

This thread contains several different circumstantial factors from several different people. Weird things do happen, but not if the computer is not touched.

Click to expand...

Agreed.

A folder WONT disappear if you get up, move away from the computer, and that cable goes haywire, but you WILL loose a Folder, if you get up from computer, cable goes haywire, you go back to computer and do something like unzip a file, and BAM its not where it should be.

Ill stand by ya 100% mate

Someone in the thread mentioned TotalFinder, which has been known to cause some weird issues. I wonder if any of the other people who've had this problem were also running it, or AutoCAD (the other program that was mentioned).

Happened to Me

Hello,

Yesterday, after working on a project all day, I decided to split a file into two separate MS Word documents. The first, original, file kept much of my writing and research. The second file began to take some of the data and began to write a paper. After renaming the first file to X_Notes.dox, I saved the second file as X. I continued to work for a few more hours on the files, saving along the way.

At night, I closed the files and went to bed. This morning when I awoke, X_Notes was completely gone and X reverted to a file I had saved after first creating the file, negating hours of work afterward.

Normally, I use TimeCapsule once a week. However, I've been working abroad for a month and haven't had time to back up. Since I've never had an issue, I never considered it an important priority. I do not have Adobe Illustrator, nor TotalFinder. I have searched my trash and the entire machine, revealing no trace of the file.

Are there any other solutions to attempt?

Re:

Yes, toMACsh, you've certainly noted previously files cannot disappear on their own. The comment is, and was to the other posters, not helpful. To answer your question, the file was on an internal hard drive. After a thorough search this morning, I restarted the machine and received a .tmp file in the trash. The file was a version of the document from at least 1 week ago. This is the only trace of the original document, or the copy/pasted version.

Another disaster created by MS Word's poor handling of recovery and sometimes saving of files. I know it's probably too late for you and that you have some work to do to recover, but please look in your Word Preferences, Backup, and select "Always Make a Backup". That offers the best protection against what you just experienced. Also select the location for the Backup somewhere easy to find, such as your Documents folder.

Thank you, chscag. I will definitely turn on the backup function. I've just never seen an instance where the file disappeared completely without any trace. Oh well, live and learn.

Go into Finder and check Documents. Fingers crossed.