Mac OS Hierarchy HELP

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Level 1

9 points

Mac OS Hierarchy HELP

Installing to a new hard drive, I thought I should re-organize my files according to the standard 10.5 hierarchy, instead of keeping everything in my personal organization model from OS9 many years ago.

However, I am confused about Devices, Places, Users, Documents, etc, and how they relate and work together.

Can anyone suggest an _*Intro to Mac OS Hierarchy*_ resource for me?

Thanks.

G-5 desktop/laptop / Intel Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 3 GB DDR SRAM

Posted on Aug 23, 2009 11:16 AM

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Answer 1

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Allan Eckert

Level 9

79,512 points

Aug 23, 2009 11:30 AM in response to Craig1259

Hi Craig1259;

I also am somewhat confused by your question. I know what the folders, Users and Documents, are. The other two, Devices and Places, I don't and can't find on either of my Mac.

If you can give us additional information on Devices and Places, such as a full path maybe we can help there.

Users is a folder where OS X keeps all of the files for all of the users on your Mac. In my case there is a folder in Users called allan, which also has the little house icon to indicate home. Inside of allan is a folder called Documents where all of my documents are kept.

I would strongly recommend against moving anything around in any of the system folders including Applications. Many of the files in the system folder are expected to be located in certain locations and if moved can cause the system to get very upset.

Allan

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Answer 2

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

Aug 23, 2009 11:47 AM in response to Craig1259

In addition to Allan's comments why not stop down to your local book store and peruse the books on OS X.

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Answer 3

Aug 23, 2009 12:23 PM in response to Allan Eckert

Devices are computers and external drives that your mac is networked with. Shared will show connected servers. Places are common folders you access on a regular basis and want easy access too.
The folders for these listings are hidden by the system. I can't remember the path to them. These items are only displayed in a finder window sidebar.

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Answer 4

Craig1259 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 23, 2009 12:29 PM in response to Barry Porter1

Thanks for the help everyone. Each of the responses helped point me in the right direction. I did find a good resource online. (To Sig's point, it is an online copy of OSX Leopard for Dummies!)

_ http://books.google.com/books?id=4x4QXHYp50UC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=macoshierarchy&source=bl&ots=ueTi9xwCdE&sig=oCkujbV5VsWD5peKsoHXAsxgRsk&hl=en&ei=poiR St2qJdu3twf1wJHPBA&sa=X&oi=bookresult&ct=result&resnum=9#v=onepage&q=mac%20os%20hierarchy&f=false

Thanks again for the help. On to the next problem! 🙂

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