Home folder not viewable in target mode

Hello all
We recently had someone drop their powerbook and break the screen
I am trying to move all of their stuff to a new machine
When I boot it into target mode, the home folder on the old machine (target mode) shows up as completely empty. However if you use quick look or get info, the home folder shows up as containing 15Gb of data
Is it possible that these files are merely hidden
The old machine was file vaulted so could this be causing the problem
If we try to attach another screen we get only the first leopard screen and nothing else ie no icons or toolbar - just a completely blank desktop and nothing else
If it is possible the files are hidden how can I get them to show up when the machine in target mode
The target machine is a macbook pro running leopard
Thanks all

Lasteph said:

The old machine was file vaulted so could this be causing the problem

Click to expand...

That is the problem.

If it is possible the files are hidden how can I get them to show up when the machine in target mode

Click to expand...

You would use system preferences to turn OFF FileVault. You'll need the FileVault master password for that. If the owner doesn't know it, you can save yourself a lot of time and just give up at that point -- there's nothing to be done from there.

accessing system preferences in target mode

Hello
Thanks for that reply
How can I access system preferences in the target machine thru another machine in target mode.
If I can do that then I can see if the original machine holder can actually remember the file vault password
Is it the fact it is file vaulted like to be causing the files not to show up

Lasteph said:

Hello
Thanks for that reply
How can I access system preferences in the target machine thru another machine in target mode.
If I can do that then I can see if the original machine holder can actually remember the file vault password
Is it the fact it is file vaulted like to be causing the files not to show up

Click to expand...

You can't..

I can't remember if you could in Leopard but you can reset the file vault password with you apple ID in .6 and .7.

I'd try mounting the volume in single user mode and see if you can access the files there.

It's also possible that the drop damaged the HDD

If you have access to a machine that is about the same vintage as the one that is messed up try taking the external drive from the "bad" Mac and using it to boot the good Mac. This may not work depending upon the configuration differences of the two machines.

problem resolved

Hi
Slydudes idea of using the broken mac worked.
I managed to boot up a mac mini with the same chip and OS with the broken machine
This then allowed us to login normally and recover everything
Thanks very much

Glad you were able to recover everything. I keep an external hard drive dock around for those and similar situations.