This is a comment, not a question and I do not want an Apple excuse. Why would Apple relocate data in a Big Sur update? Apple couldn't be bothered to make this right? Apple just doesn't care? I lost most of my data, and cannot recover it according to Apple's directions.
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.4
Do you have a Rescue Plan In-Place. This comprises having 3 Backups using 2 methods and 1 Off Site incase of Theft, Loss or Natural Disasters. A Time Machine Backup is very useful and can be used to Revert to Previous Working macOS. For addition purposes - two Tested Bootable Clones each to separate external drives. This is insurance incase the upgrades goes sideways. At least one Tested Clone and / or Time Machine Backup should be Off - Site
I don't see any extra "Data" volumes. Everything looks like a normal Big Sur installation.
You could try booting into Recovery Mode to see if there is an option to restore a local APFS snapshot, but you would lose all data since the last update/upgrade. I doubt there is more than one local APFS snapshot, but if there is you would lose all data since that snapshot was made. When booted into Recovery Mode you would need to select the "Restore from Time Machine Backup" option. While you don't have any TM backups to an external drive, perhaps you still have a local APFS snapshot available, but I doubt it.
(1) Yes, Users contains an (a) "Guest" folder with the usual (original?) folders of Desktop, Documents, etc. to Pictures and Public. Public contains nothing, and the rest say, "The folder "Desktop" (and all others) can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents". However, "Get Info" indicates that these folders have zero bytes. (b) There is a folder identified with my name "rsecoy" with Applications (empty), "Relocated Items" (empty), Desktop which accurately contains items that were there prior to update, Documents containing items generated since the update, Music & Pictures which appear mainly intact except for some photos, and (c) Public and Sites that are empty. (d) There is the "Shared" folder with Relocated Items named as such, plus "Previously Relocated Items" 1 - 19 all of which are empty. (2) I tried to use Startup Assistant, and it did not do anything. (3) I have not knowingly used Startup Assistant or iCloud Drive. In fact, I have eschewed iCloud because I didn't think I needed it, and in case fees applied. (4) I was already using Big Sur and this was an update. (5) Finally, it is obvious that my computer knowledge is very limited, but I should be considered like an employee who is expected to generate work of value to a company and is not supposed to spend time with computer issues - hence, the staff IT specialist who does not contribute any income. I find nearly all the time a lack of understanding this by IT pros who are a necessary expenditure as only supporting the income producers. BTW, I know my rants are not helpful, but I do stand by them and want them to be supportive to others when applicable.
It is not my intention to be argumentative or belligerent; I just want to comment on my situation as it strikes me. Please allow that I am not an experienced user.
(1) Yes, I should have backups. However, this would never have been an issue had Apple not scrambled/destroyed my data.
(2) You may well be right because Disk Utility contains:
(a) a folder "Macintosh HD" "APFS System Volume - APFS" "1.03 TB", "Shared by 5 Volumes".
with subfolder "com.apple. os. update-F8CC . . . ." with "macOS 11.4 (20F71)", "1.03 TB", and "Shared by 5 Volumes".
(b) There is a second folder named "Macintosh HD - Data" "APFS Data Volume - APFS", "macOS 11.4 (20F71)", "1.03 TB", and "Shared By 5 Volumes".
(3) I have never heard that we should distrust Apple because their system changes may be seriously flawed. Also, won't some users have to go in blind and unsafe in order to generate the reviews and possibility of damage, which may have happened to them.
(4) I have no idea how Apple intends for me to use macOS.
(5) I am very surprised, actually make that astonished, that at least in some cases, macOS should not be used at all.
If possible, would you please help me with the "Volume" problems if you think that may be a possible fix? Thank you for the info already provided.
Thank you for your message. I've copied the results here:
Last login: Sat Aug 14 12:44:48 on console
The default interactive shell is now zsh.
To update your account to use zsh, please run `chsh -s /bin/zsh`.
For more details, please visit https://support.apple.com/kb/HT208050.
Ralphs-iMac:~ rsecoy$ diskutil list internal
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk2 1000.0 GB disk0s2
/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *28.0 GB disk1
1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB disk1s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk2 27.7 GB disk1s2
/dev/disk2 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.0 TB disk2
Physical Stores disk1s2, disk0s2
1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD - Data 561.5 GB disk2s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 486.3 MB disk2s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 622.9 MB disk2s3
4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 MB disk2s4
5: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 15.3 GB disk2s5
6: APFS Snapshot com.apple.os.update-... 15.3 GB disk2s5s1
Ralphs-iMac:~ rsecoy$
I appreciate your assistance,
Ralph
[Personal Information Edited by Moderator]
All modified config files and any data stored in a location that would no longer be accessible to the user is moved to /Users/Shared/Relocated Items/.
In all my updates, I've never seen it lose anything.
Where on disk was your data stored?
Did you have a backup?
There are so many things wrong with this, I can't list them all. Yes, I went to the Relocated Items folder and files, and there is nothing. Apple feels fine about invading our computers and jumbling up folder and file locations. Don't we have a file system that we want and need to find things? Apple just reached into and took control of the info on our computers - don't we have a right to privacy? Apple knew and intended to run files elsewhere without any notification? No, I stupidly did not have a backup, but I would have with a simple warning. I use only one partition, and lost all data in Documents, Contacts, Passwords and more. I lost some photos, which of course can never be replaced. Apple has acted in such an outrageous manner that I can't believe how they're doing business, but chalk it up to arrogance and invulnerability. In this case, they knowingly did not care what they did to the customer.
Without any information regarding what was lost from where, I can't begin to help.
Documents and Desktop could have be synched with iCloud Drive because the Startup Assistant suggests you turn that on. If you don't disable it, your Desktop and Documents folders are synchronized with iCloud Drive.
and lost all data in Documents, Contacts, Passwords and more.
That sounds like you created a new user account. Is there more than one folder inside of /Users besides Shared
Did you upgrade (from a previous OS) to Big Sur or was it an update (already had Big Sur installed)?
ralphjs wrote:
No, I stupidly did not have a backup, but I would have with a simple warning. I use only one partition, and lost all data in Documents, Contacts, Passwords and more. I lost some photos, which of course can never be replaced.
First you should not need any warning to have a backup. You should always have frequent and regular backups because random things can happen that can cause data loss (user error or hardware failure). macOS does include the Time Machine backup software for free so all you need to do is provide an external drive.
Check in Disk Utility to see if you have more than one "Data" volume which would indicate at some point macOS was upgraded or reinstalled incorrectly. If this happened, then your missing data could be on this other APFS "Data" volume. This happens quite a lot to users who are not familiar with the new partition and file system layout since macOS 10.15 Catalina.
Apple has acted in such an outrageous manner that I can't believe how they're doing business, but chalk it up to arrogance and invulnerability. In this case, they knowingly did not care what they did to the customer.
I agree that Apple should probably provide a notice when running the installer upgrade to alert users to significant changes before going through with the install. However, the user should also investigate the changes included with the new OS by first reading reviews from one of the many Apple fan websites or tech news sites. These sites always provide a summary of the major changes.
Plus any time you make a major change to your system you should make sure you have a good current backup since things can go wrong during any upgrade (or even a simple update patch).
FYI, keep in mind that it is best not to use macOS in a way that Apple did not intend as bad or unexpected things can happen. I have found that macOS can break down when it encounters something unexpected. I find this is happening more & more with each new version of macOS and corresponds with Apple's continued hardware decline with multiple design flaws.
If you want control of your OS, then you are using the wrong OS. However, no operating system is immune from making "unauthorized" changes. Even when using Linux which offers the user the most to operate and configure the system anyway they like has these issues if the distribution you may be using has already been configured to automatically allow certain modifications to help simplify system administration unless the user has manually configured those items to have more strict restrictions.
Response to Barney-15-E:
(1) Yes, Users contain
(a) "Guest" folder with the usual (original?) folders of Desktop, Documents, etc. to Pictures and Public. Public contains nothing, and the rest say, "The folder "Desktop" (and all others) can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents". However, "Get Info" indicates that these folders have zero bytes.
(b) There is a folder identified with my name "rsecoy" with Applications (empty), "Relocated Items" (empty), Desktop which accurately contains items that were there prior to update, Documents containing items generated since the update, Music & Pictures which appear mainly intact except for some photos, and
(c) Public and Sites that are empty.
(d) There is the "Shared" folder with Relocated Items named as such, plus "Previously Relocated Items" 1 - 19 all of which are empty.
(2) I tried to use Startup Assistant, and it did not do anything.
(3) I have not knowingly used Startup Assistant or iCloud Drive. In fact, I have eschewed iCloud because I didn't think I needed it, and in case fees applied.
(4) I was already using Big Sur and this was an update.
(5) Finally, it is obvious that my computer knowledge is very limited, but I should be considered like an employee who is expected to generate work of value to a company and is not supposed to spend time with computer issues - hence, the staff IT specialist who does not contribute any income. I find nearly all the time a lack of understanding this by IT pros who are a necessary expenditure as only supporting the income producers. BTW, I know my rants are not helpful, but I do stand by them and want them to be supportive to others when applicable.
ralphjs wrote:
(1) Yes, I should have backups. However, this would never have been an issue had Apple not scrambled/destroyed my data.
Your data can become scrambled due to many other reasons that are not associated with Apple at all. It doesn't matter the source. Things go wrong and things break.
(5) I am very surprised, actually make that astonished, that at least in some cases, macOS should not be used at all.
You mentioned you how you felt you don't have control over your computer. When using macOS you are putting trust in Apple to do what is necessary for you. Sometimes that will be good and other times it may be something you don't like. Other operating systems can give a user much more control, but at the price of a user needing to know a lot more about the computer and the OS in order to configure it to work like you want it to work. Even then a user still puts some trust into the OS, but usually the user's own decisions will prevail the majority of the time. You have chosen Apple so you have also implicitly agreed to have Apple make executive decisions when it comes to macOS updates and upgrades (the latter you have a choice whether to accept or not).
(2) You may well be right because Disk Utility contains:
(a) a folder "Macintosh HD" "APFS System Volume - APFS" "1.03 TB", "Shared by 5 Volumes".
with subfolder "com.apple. os. update-F8CC . . . ." with "macOS 11.4 (20F71)", "1.03 TB", and "Shared by 5 Volumes".
(b) There is a second folder named "Macintosh HD - Data" "APFS Data Volume - APFS", "macOS 11.4 (20F71)", "1.03 TB", and "Shared By 5 Volumes".
If possible, would you please help me with the "Volume" problems if you think that may be a possible fix? Thank you for the info already provided.
It is normal to have multiple APFS volumes with later versions of macOS. However, there should be only one "Data" volume.
Open the Terminal app in the Utilities folder and run the following command to list the internal drives and volumes. Either post a screenshot or paste the results here.
diskutil list internal
What system version were up upgrading/updating from?
Can you open Disk Utility, set it to show all volumes, make a screenshot of your hard drive and it's various containers/volumes and post it?
Big Sur Update Data Loss
