2 document folder?

I just noticed there are two document folders, Why?

There is one at the root of the HD and another at /users/yourname/

alot of my apps make folders in the second documents folder. Is the second one for apps and the first one for yourself?

thank you,
robert

I would imagine the one at the root level is for the system to use. Yours is in your Home account.

thats what I thought but it seems to be the opposite.

Post a screenshot mr g5

I was told to never mess with anything at the root level, that anything there belonged to the system and to leave it alone. Did you find any info on the Documents folder at root level being for the user? I am curious about this.

From my experience so far, as the default, the Finder or any application always points me first to the Documents folder in my account, never the Documents folder at root level.

And from what I learned with an old version of Irix (another Unix flavour) you sure didn't touch the root level without really knowing what you were doing!

The only other Documents folder I could find using Spotlight is:

Macintosh HD>Library>WebServer>Documents

I tend to agree ^^ you wouldn't shouldn't need to use/change this folder.

the root folder is empty and the the folder /users/yourname/documents is filled with folders like

Microsoft User data
DVD studio Pro Documents
Final Cut Pro Documens
Roxio Converted Items

These sound like they should be in the root, dont they?

Not really.

Root is the system level. And you are a user of the system. Each application, just the same as the system, is usable by any user on your Mac. Even if you have only one account on it, the Mac is ready to have multiple users.

That's why each document or file you create, no matter the application, is stored in your account. If you store files at the root level, any user can see them not to mention that the system could become confused if there are files there that have nothing to do with the system's job.

Maybe this can help?

Or maybe this article?

My feeling is that the Documents folder at root level is probably there in case a Mac OS X or Apple software updates need to install some Read Mes, User Manuals or some .pdfs for all users on the machine to read.

maybe I made this document folder at the root when I first got the system, and didn't know what I was doing.

Do you have a document folder in the root?

Yep I do.

I'm pretty sure that folder wasn't there when I first launched this lil' beauty of an iMac G5 I got 11 months ago but after an OS update I noticed this Documents folder in the root level.

Can't say for sure when it appeared.

It could also be lousy programming from an application I installed.

But I personally would not save anything in there for the reasons I stated previously.

ok thank both of you for the help. I'll move my stuff back to the other folder and leave this one empty.

I personally think that's a wise and safer choice.

last question, do you have a file called frameno.avi in your home document folder? I know I did not make this file, after doing some googling it looks like its part of ffmpegx.

also it does not open.

mr g5 said:

last question, do you have a file called frameno.avi in your home document folder? I know I did not make this file, after doing some googling it looks like its part of ffmpegx.

also it does not open.

Click to expand...

Are you in the process of encoding movies using ffmpeg? If not it's safe to delete this file.

ok thank you for the help.