Lost iPhoto Library, mail, address book.....

I changed the name on the icon for "home" from dragonfly to Tina and lost everything in my iPhoto library! I tried to change it back but it said this name is taken try another!!! Totally perplexed I restarted only to find that I have lost everything on the desk top, all my address book info and all my mail. The computer thinks I am just setting up. The dash board it back to the original 12 icons! I must get my photos back! What can I do?

You can try changing the name of the current home folder to some other name and then rename the folder you changed the name to back to it origianl name. Then log out and back or reset the system and see if that work.

All of you data and configuration changes are stored in the old folder, so you have not lost anything.

See the sig.

MamaT, you have committed one of the few unrecoverable sins in the world of Mac. I'm afraid (as you have seen) your Mac does not respond gracefully when you change your userid. I wish I could help, but I'm afraid I have never read or seen any effective recovery from this, other than learning never to do it again! ... and keep regular backups!

Other M-F members, any ideas for what MamaT could do to recover her lost files?

Like technologist suggested, see the last link in his signature.

Resolution

Thanks for the info. I discovered that my wonderful Mac tucked all my data into another folder under users and that recovering it was a simple matter of putting the files back into the "offical" home folder which by the way switched itself back to the original name over night.

I will just have to get used to the name Dragonfly and I certainly won't make that silly error again.

"Dragonfly"? Is that the name it put it under, or the name you initially selected that you didn't like and so tried to change?

If you still want the new name, the way to do it is to go to System Preferences, Accounts, and press the "+" sign down in the lower left. This will allow you to create a new account of whatever name you want and then you can move your files there when done.

Could this be the ultimate solution to your problem?