Relocated Items Folder

Mcounselor wrote:

How do you restore a deleted Relocated Items folder?

Relocated Items Folder on the Desktop after an upgrade was an " alias/"

the original can be found in Finder>Go>Go To Folder>  copy and paste:

/Users/Shared

I would have no concern about these files.

This is general house cleaning as the macOS transitions to the new apfs and the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina and moving forward w/ Big Sur.

macOS Catalina /Big Sur runs in a read-only system volume, separate from other files on your Mac. When you upgrade to Catalina, a second volume is created, and some files may move to a Relocated Items folder

About the Relocated Items folder

While creating the two separate volumes during the upgrade process, files and data that couldn’t be moved to their new location are placed in a Relocated Items folder. The Relocated Items folder is in the Shared folder within the User folder (/Users/Shared/Relocated Items) and available though a shortcut on the Desktop. The Relocated Items folder includes a PDF document with more details about these files.

ref: Apple Support - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210650

ref: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/a-relocated-items-folder-upgrading-macos-mac-mchl8ae423a3/mac

Further reading if you would like to understand more:

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc5/working-apfs-volume-groups

Assuming you dragged it to the Trash and emptied the Trash so it can't simply be dragged out again, the usual method is to restore a Time Machine backup.

Mcounselor wrote:

Thank you. I was hopeful your instructions would solve the problem, but when I open the "/Users/Shared" location, I get the following folder directives:

-Previously Relocated Items

-Configuration

-Private

-etc

-postfix

None of these folders contain my missing files. Any other suggestions?

Thanks again for your help!

What missing files...?

If iCloud Drive got turned on then look there for" Desktop & Documents"

Use iCloud Drive to store documents on your Mac, iPhone ...

Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple ...

How to Restore Your Desktop and Documents After Disabling ...

https://iboysoft.com/mac-data-recovery/recover-lost-missing-disappeared-documents-folder-macos-mojave.html

It's created upon upgrading macOS. After upgrading it gets backed up along with everything else.

If you see a Relocated Items folder on your Mac after upgrading macOS - Apple Support