Lost all "My Documents"?!

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Hi all

I was wondering if anyone could help. I've lost all of the files that were saved in the "My Documents" folder and I don't really know how it's happened. The only things I have done which I think could have caused the problem is...

1) Updated the operating system to OSX 10.4 from an old one.

2) Changed the user name on the profile. (I changed it by going into Apple / system preferences / accounts / username )

I have been informed that the operating system update should not have affected it and i think I checked all my docs after that update so I'm pretty sure it's not that.

Also, I have been searching forums about "home folder" problems and most seem to tell you to open the hard drive and then open Users and the old profile will be in there. When I do it, it's not! It's just got the current one and one called shared?!

I've used the apple F search facility to try and locate the files but no joy. Can anyone help at all? I'm stuck and desperately need those files.

B
 
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In fact... I only changed the "Name" in the user account rather than the "Short name". Does this mean it shoudln't have made a difference?
 
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Bummer...hope someone can give you an answer soon because I would like to know now.
 

dtravis7


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Does it make a difference that I've only changed the name field rather than the Short name field? I thought the link to the directory doesn't change unless you change the short name?

I've tried renaming the folder to what is was and it didn't work. Also, I've looked in Macintosh HD/Users to see if there was any other user profile but there's only the current one and a shared one so I can't really follow the advice of other posts?!
 

dtravis7


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Does it make a difference that I've only changed the name field rather than the Short name field? I thought the link to the directory doesn't change unless you change the short name?

I've tried renaming the folder to what is was and it didn't work. Also, I've looked in Macintosh HD/Users to see if there was any other user profile but there's only the current one and a shared one so I can't really follow the advice of other posts?!

Is the Short Name and the name on the Folder next to Shared the same? Since you are using 10.4, use Spotlight The Blue circle with the Magnifying glass by the clock and try searching for your documents. When I first saw your original message I figured you did what everyone else does and changed the name on the folder itself. NEVER do that!!!
 
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Sorry...no I didn't change the name on that part of the folder. I did it through the apple / system preferences / accounts and then changed the name field. It wouldn't let me change the short name field.

I'll try that spotlight then but I'm not on my mac at the moment unfortunately. Is it better for searching than the usal "apple F" search on the hard drive? Because I've trioed that and still no joy.
 
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Could it be anything to do with my firewall settings? I've recently changed the settings by turned the firewall on.....would this have any effect?

I just thinking of all changes I've made recently and whether or not it has caused the problem?!
 

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No, the firewall is for networking. Changing that will do nothing to your files on your machine. What OS did you upgrade from to 10.4?
 
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I'm not sure really but I know it was an old one. The only thing is...I'm sure I checked all the "my documents" files after the upgrade and they were all still there.
 
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Also...if this helps....the error I get when I click on the my docs folder says something like "unable to open as cannot locate alias". I'm not sure of the exact wording.
 
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The error message is ....The alias "My documents" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.

Please help!!
 
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Have you run a Cmd/Apple-F or Spotlight search for a known name of a document, rather than for the Document folder itself?
 
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Yeah I've tried the Cmd/ Apple F search on some of the file names but it's not coming up with anything. I've not tried spotlight yet though....is this different?

I am beginning to think it may be down to my upgrade from OSX 10.4 to 10.4.9. Not sure what to do?!
 
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Using Spotlight probably wouldn't make any difference, but it's there, so you might as well use it. But Spotlight indexes the drive, so if it misses a file when indexing, it won't find it, even if it's sitting on the desktop.

Grasping-at-straws-wise, download the free EasyFind. I've had better results with it than with Spotlight. And EasyFind doesn't index.
 
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I've tried both Spotlight and EasyFind and I've still not managed to locate them.

Apple Support told me to try a disk repair and disk permissions repair because it could be down to the update from OSX 10.4 to 10.4.9 but that hasn't worked.

Has anyone else got any other ideas? :(
 
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Am I doomed? I've lost loads of stuff that I desperately need.

Anyone got any ideas where i can go from here?
 

dtravis7


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Where was the My Documents folder located? Inside the User/Username or in the root? I have never in my years of installing OSX updates had any folder or files go away.
 
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Yes it was located under the users / "username"

I've no idea why this has happened?! :[
 

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