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Q: Cannot open System preferences, Safari, iTunes, Word, Appleworks, etc.

Ho. Yesterday I was "cleaning" the laptop from old  files,  music, photos, etc, when suddenly I could not open the System preferences, iTunes, iPhoto, microsoft Word, Safari, cannot fix the time,  etc.  I think it happened after I moved to the recycle bin all the documents that were in the Finder, on the left side where says  all documents, all music  and then I emptied the recycle bin.  I don't know what I did to it but ... well,  I think I am in a serious situation here (I hope not too serious).  Any suggestions?  Thanks.


iBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jun 11, 2014 11:08 AM

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Q: Cannot open System preferences, Safari, iTunes, Word, Appleworks, etc.

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  • by K Shaffer,Solvedanswer

    K Shaffer K Shaffer Jun 11, 2014 12:02 PM in response to estepario
    Level 6 (14,269 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 11, 2014 12:02 PM in response to estepario

    You could start the computer from the Leopard 10.5 DVD

    installer disc and consider an 'archive & install' could help

    at least restore the system to a functional state. However

    anything you put into the "Trash" will not recycle or be

    available directly to recover, since it the process of trash

    sets up those files so marked to be overwritten by the OS.

     

    If you perform an 'archive and install' using the booted DVD

    (hold C key on start, to run from DVD) it will make a second

    new system folder and the old folder will be renamed as a

    "previous system" that will not run the computer. You may

    be able to look through there for anything left that you made

    in a user file or other, that had not been removed via Trash.

     

    A recovery software or service could attempt to find and

    restore the lost files that Trash marked as gone, but it

    likely would cost quite a bit of money; and in order to not

    have those files over-written by the system, the computer

    should not be used until a recovery service is performed.

     

    The need to create a backup scheme to safe copies of all your

    important documents, images, video, and so on, starts at the

    beginning of using a computer; with a Mac, it's best to have an

    off-computer independent self-powered hard disk drive, and

    with an older Mac, that should be a FireWire400 if you were to

    consider using it as a bootable device to run a full clone from.

     

    Time Machine can do some backups, if the system isn't too

    old or from before that existed; that has limits & conditions.

    Of course backups need to be done ahead of any issue.

     

    So hopefully an archive & install can give you a new system

    folder and at least not take away anything not already lost.

    There may be some other ideas out there, but none that I

    would recommend due to lack of situational information.

     

    That may be your best bet, to get the machine working.

    But all your Trashed Files are likely lost.

     

    If you could start the messed up Mac in Target Disk Mode

    and see it as an external HDD to another Mac (FireWire)

    that could save you from overwriting files in that drive;

    and see about repairing it from another Mac. That way

    the Mac you want to recover from won't be overwritten.

     

    PS: This has not let me edit to add, a second/third try.

     

    You could see if a prosoft Data Rescue or other utility

    from the era of your OS X version may work, or see if

    this free non-GUI application to recover data/image/etc

    files may help. It is not an easy thing.

    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

     

    My earlier attempts to post a detailed edit on to the main

    post here were not allowed, maybe due to a few URLs

    to help you fix the problem, using third party retail tools

    that can be about $100. for data recovery on DVD.

     

    Good luck!

    Edited 3x failed 2x