Woah where did my HD go?

Question

Level 1

15 points

Woah where did my HD go?

Ok accidentally clicked on "guest account" to log into my mac...was taking a while to log in so i walked away, came back a minute later and i was greeted with my normal login list again, my usual acc, and the guest user, this time i clicked on the correct one and when it started up i now have a VERY simple desktop, std snow leopard desktop (not my normal desktop pic) and cant see any HD.

Ive been using macs for decades.. what the heck have i done here? repeated restarts and logins never get me back to me usual user acc?... errrm panic kicking in

Macpro 8X 6GB/2TB 2x23" MacBookPro 17", iPod touch 16gb, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Sep 12, 2009 8:51 PM

Reply

Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 12, 2009 8:55 PM in response to Wingrove

it could be that your finder preferences got reset. are your documents, music and other data in the right places and accessible? to show hard drives on the desktop go to finder preferences->general and check the appropriate box.

Reply

Answer 2

scb

Level 5

5,388 points

Sep 12, 2009 9:01 PM in response to V.K.

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8884349#8884349

This might also help.

Reply

Answer 3

Wingrove Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 12, 2009 9:02 PM in response to V.K.

looks like everyone of my user settings was changed???

none of my installed extra system prefs, desktop pics, whats in the dock, finder settings (yes including show drives) everything hmm and argh. i am NOT impressed by the snow leopard so far
j

Reply

Answer 4

Wingrove Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 12, 2009 9:05 PM in response to V.K.

all the mail in mail .app hmm this is rather annoying to say the very least.. just at the tail end of nearly a DAY of doing a nice clean install of ALL my apps as the first SL install was very buggy with nearly all apps quitting often

Reply

Answer 5

Wingrove Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 12, 2009 9:06 PM in response to V.K.

i have a time machine backup, from before, wondering of theres a particular pref i could try reinstating

Reply

Answer 6

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 12, 2009 9:22 PM in response to Wingrove

Wingrove wrote:
all the mail in mail .app

what do you mean? do you have your Mail data or not? do you have ANY of your data in any apps or in the home directory? It looks like it made a new empty home directory for you with all default values. look in the /users folder at the top level of the hard drive. is your old home directory there? is there something extra there too?

hmm this is rather annoying to say the very least.. just at the tail end of nearly a DAY of doing a nice clean install of ALL my apps as the first SL install was very buggy with nearly all apps quitting often

Reply

Answer 7

Wingrove Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 12, 2009 9:39 PM in response to V.K.

sorry, i mean all the mail i previously imported in via migration assistant is not there. i open mail and it asks for new acc info.

Re is my old home directory there, well tricky question as i AM logged into my usual user acc. so it is still there under users as im in it. just my acct and 'shared'

Reply

Answer 8

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 12, 2009 9:50 PM in response to Wingrove

well it certainly looks like it made a separate empty home directory for you.
I'm still not sure what happened to the old one. the fact that you are logged in does not mean that it's using your old home directory at the moment. if the old home directory is unavailable when you try to log in it will make a new or temporary one which will contain default preferences and none of your data. that's clearly what you are seeing. control-click on the home icon in the sidebar and select "open enclosing folder". which folder does it open? also, which folder in that folder has a home icon?

Reply

Answer 9

Wingrove Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 12, 2009 10:00 PM in response to V.K.

theres just my folder "Jason" if i control click the folder that opens is jason.

Interestingly it all went awry after i accidentally clicked to log onto 'guest' from the list rather than 'jason', login took a while then oddly brought me back to the login choice list window, of course this time i chose 'jason' which now looks like the classic 'start from scratch' user acct

Reply

Answer 10

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 13, 2009 7:04 AM in response to Wingrove

try restarting, then log in to this account and see if the same thing happens. BTW, did you use filevault on that account?

Message was edited by: V.K.

Reply

Answer 11

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Sep 13, 2009 7:35 AM in response to Wingrove

Sept 8th on MacFixit:

Snow Leopard wiping home directory after guest log-in?
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10346974-263.html

I would especially keep my eye on MacIntouch reports and MacFixit, esp after any OS updates.

Reply

Answer 12

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 13, 2009 7:44 AM in response to The hatter

wow, thanks for that link! I never seen anything like it and didn't think it could happen. if Snow leopard really does do that, that's a very serious bug and needs to be addressed ASAP.

Reply

Answer 13

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Sep 13, 2009 9:50 AM in response to V.K.

Probably thought 10.6.1 would address it? That, and the Flash out-of-date, gotta wonder who was minding the shop.

Windows 7 had 10 million beta and then the RC, over a period of 8 months hammering on it. This feels like the early beta. I've had zero issue with the RC (May).

I figure two major updates puts it in March '10.

Reply

Answer 14

Wingrove Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 13, 2009 12:55 PM in response to The hatter

wow thanks Hatter, that article is spooky, like someone was looking over my shoulder, exactly as it happened. My recommendation to all is remove the guest login function all together.

Reply

Answer 15

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 13, 2009 1:02 PM in response to Wingrove

Wingrove wrote:
wow thanks Hatter, that article is spooky, like someone was looking over my shoulder, exactly as it happened. My recommendation to all is remove the guest login function all together.

yes, in this case, it would certainly be wise to disable the Guest account. also, you mentioned that you have a TM backup. log in as a different user and restore the entire home directory of the affected user from TM from before this happened.

Reply