All desktop files and Folders disappeared / moved

Hello,

All my desktop files and folders (I had a lot covering the whole screen) have disappeared, leaving only the Macintosh Hard drive icon.

If I click on the finder it now shows a folder in the sidebar called desktop which contains all these files and folders and a removable drive which also contains these files and folders. If I where to drag it from the sidebar it would disappear and I can not copy and paste them.

When I click on Finder > Mac Hard drive > Users
my username shows up as a removable drive rather than a folder.

What has happened and how can I get my desktop back to normal?

Many Thanks

P.S. When I try and create a new folder on the desktop the following error occurs:
"The operation could not be completed. An unexpected error occured (error code - 8058)

We have to ask.... what did you do prior to this happening? And do you have a backup?

chscag said:

We have to ask.... what did you do prior to this happening? And do you have a backup?

Click to expand...

I just logged on. Prior to that the computer was off. Yesterday I used it to check emails and everything was in order.

The files and folders are still there (somewhere) just not on the desktop and can't be moved back there.

The desktop has become a folder and a removable drive within the Finder. The items wont copy and paste and the desktop does not allow new folder to be created.

As chscag mentioned do you have a backup?
If you do and its Time Machine you can enter into TM and select date that the desktop was to your liking and hit restore and the problem is solved.

Your desktop file got corrupted for all the crap you are keeping on your desktop. Get out of that practice -- as you can see, it causes issues.

Update: After 2 reboots it has reappeared as normal. Meanwhile I am moving and deleting stuff.

Surely the amount of files on my desktop doesn't make it go corrupted!?

Keeping a ton a junk on the desktop is an extremely bad habit. Just don't do it. Put your stuff in the proper folders where they belong. The desktop is not that place.

bmac89 said:

CLIP...
The desktop has become a folder and a removable drive within the Finder. The items wont copy and paste and the desktop does not allow new folder to be created.

Click to expand...

The Desktop is ALWAYS a folder. It's located at /Users/<yourusername>/Desktop and it holds there the files and stuff you put on the desktop. I don't know what you did to cause the desktop not to display, but happy that the reboots got it back for you. Although having a ton of stuff on the Desktop won't actually corrupt anything (It's just another folder, after all) it is considered a poor practice and can lead to user problems. As bobtomay said, "Just don't do it." Although the Desktop is, in fact, a folder that is displayed on the screen, it's not intended as the place to store stuff.