If the 'finder' cant find it, is it gone?

I'm very new to mac. I had some files that I put on my desktop. I had to restart the computer. When I came back they were gone. Opened finder, but it didn't see it. Missing something? Thanks in advance.

was it a file, or a disk image that was mounted. If it was a disk image that was mounted it is not gone, you just have to re-mount it by clicking on the .dmg file that is its source.

it was some quicktime files. Not sure what a disk image is but let's say that it is. Where would you go to remount the .dmg source? Thanks so much

Blade Borge said:

it was some quicktime files. Not sure what a disk image is but let's say that it is. Where would you go to remount the .dmg source? Thanks so much

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You would go to where you saved it. If you aren't sure where you saved them, then do a Spotlight search on those file types. If you can't find it that way, then chances are it is gone, gone, gone.

by spotlight, you mean the search bar in the 'finder' window right?

Blade Borge said:

by spotlight, you mean the search bar in the 'finder' window right?

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No. In Tiger, it is the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of the Menu Bar.

If you don't have tiger you will have to just do a regular finder seach with the bar you are refering too.

Open Apple + Space Bar

its your friend.

as for why it disappeared... was it a normal restart or a crash restart?

it was a normal restart. I'm using the mac at my school lab. Everytime something is put on the desktop or 'document's, it disappears on restart. Very frustrating. Is this normal?

The best person to ask is the System Admin at the school.....Do you have your own user acct on the lab mac?

Have you successfully saved anything to the HD that's available to you whenever you log on?

Blade Borge said:

it was a normal restart. I'm using the mac at my school lab. Everytime something is put on the desktop or 'document's, it disappears on restart. Very frustrating. Is this normal?

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It has probably been setup that way by the school admins.

Our school used a similar system - you could leave stuff, but the desktop would be rebuilt at startup...

Aptmunich said:

It has probably been setup that way by the school admins.

Our school used a similar system - you could leave stuff, but the desktop would be rebuilt at startup...

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Exactly...

I NEVER save stuff on school HD's for even a minute.

Most systems are setup to refresh the hard drive on reboot. (So they don't get all "junked up")

You file is almost certainly gone. Next time e-mail yourself the files

My school has all the macs set up the same way. We have no account to save files to, we're are recommended to have a UBS drive with us at all times. The computer is turned off or rebooted, all the settings, files, desktop space go back to default. This helps the school not having the macs get bogged down with issues such as missing files and/or HD space being used up too fast.

D'oh...

I have never had this, is it a high school or college we are talking about?

Aptmunich said:

It has probably been setup that way by the school admins.

Our school used a similar system - you could leave stuff, but the desktop would be rebuilt at startup...

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exactly. they don't want you cluttering up the network.
do you have a network folder? thats what we had. you have to save it there. ask your admin.

in any event, it would be who of you to get yourself a USB mem stick or something of that nature.