need to access trash folder of computer connected via firewire boot mode

Question

need to access trash folder of computer connected via firewire boot mode

I accidentally moved an important system file to the trash (did not empty the trash). When I tried to restart the computer (unaware that I had trashed a file that would thrash my OS), all it did was stall on the grey Apple screen. So, now I need to go and move that file back to where it was, except I can't boot. So, that means using another mac and accessing the "broken" mac using firewire target disk mode. I am doing that now; the only problem is that I cannot figure out how to look in the hidden trash folder of the machine that is hooked up in firewire target disk mode. I have tried doing a search for invisible ."trash" folders. I have tried turning invisible files on in the finder using the "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE" command. But I just cannot find the trash folder of the computer. It's a macbook running the latest version of Leopard.

FYI I think I deleted a uiserver or displayserver important file when I was just trying to delete the plist.

THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP!

Macbook Black Core 2 Duo 2.2, Mac OS X (10.5.2), 2 GB RAM

Posted on Jul 22, 2009 2:33 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 22, 2009 3:30 PM in response to Jensen Gelfond

ok, so I took action myself and put the following items back in their original locations (I assumed the locations for those items on my Macbook was the same as those on the iMac I'm using with the same OS version):

com.apple.WindowServer.plist
com.apple.systemuiserver.plist

Now I can boot! Problem solved. This will probably be the last time that I mess with system-level plist files.

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Answer 2

Niel

Level 10

726,737 points

Jul 22, 2009 2:39 PM in response to Jensen Gelfond

Look in the .Trash folder of your account's home folder on that drive. If you've moved the home folder off that drive, you will need to know or determine the numeric ID of the account you were logged into at the time; choose Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu when the home folder or top level of the drive is open and enter .Trash/ or .Trashes/UID/ depending on the case.

If you need to determine the UID, start with 501 and increment the number until you find the correct one.

(45791)

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Answer 3

Jul 22, 2009 2:39 PM in response to Jensen Gelfond

Hi Jensen Gelfond;

Have you tried to boot using the install DVD for you Mac?

You should be able to boot from the install without any problem unless you have a much more serious problem.

Allan

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Answer 4

Jul 22, 2009 3:00 PM in response to Jensen Gelfond

Ok! I found the trash folder, so thank you for that. Here's the next step if you know what to do. I have found the following files that I put into the trash. Which of these files is incidental, and which should I return to my hard drive - and where?

com.apple.WindowServer.plist
com.apple.windowserver.051712A9-8D09-53B5-873F-29AEA8DE0F99.plist
com.apple.windowserver.0017f22e352a.plist
com.apple.windowserver.0017f22c37a3.plist
com.apple.windowserver.0016cbd029d6.plist
com.apple.windowserver 15-20-43.plist
com.apple.systemuiserver.plist
com.apple.systemuiserver.051712A9-8D09-53B5-873F-29AEA8DE0F99.plist
com.apple.systemuiserver.0017f22e352a.plist
com.apple.systemuiserver.0017f22c37a3.plist
ReaderforPalmOS-30.plist
ReaderforPalmOS-305.plist

Thank you!

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Answer 5

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Jul 22, 2009 3:35 PM in response to Jensen Gelfond

the only crucial file here looks to be com.apple.WindowServer.plist which should go to /System/Library/LanuchDaemons on the broken mac. how did you manage to accidentally delete it? it requires an admin password to do so. in general you should be VERY careful deleting or modifying anything in /System/Library. it can easily make your system inoperable just as it did in this case.

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