Folders missing after upgrade to Ventura 13.3.1

I'm sorry if I am blunt, but if you don't take the care to have a backup of your data, that's on you.

You should not expect an update to wipe all your data, of course (*); but it's not just "before an update", it is something that you should do regularly. Apple has made it so easy to do, with Time Machine.

If the data was lost, it can't certainly magically reappear.

But I think it is there, as it always has.

OMGjustgetmein wrote:

All of my personal folders and files on my MacBook Pro were deleted since it received the Ventura 13.3.1 update last night. iCloud does not show my info either (and I thought all of my files in Finder were automatically saved to the cloud). After an hour with the Apple Help desk, the advisor believes that likely all of my data is lost.

Most likely they are just missing from the sidebar.

Hover near the word Favorites, and click ">" to disclose.

Also, the sidebar is just a quick way to reach the data. Even if it's empty, it does not mean that the data is not there. You can press Command-Shift-H to open your home folder, and see your Documents, Pictures, etc.

I was able to put the Documents folder in my sidebar but it is empty. Where is all my stuff? I'm panicking here. When I click on the folder a message pops up "The operation can't be completed because the original item for "Documents" can't be found". I get the same message when I click on "desktop".

Someone at the Genius bar helped me make room on my hard drive so I could do the upgrade. Could he have accidentally deleted my documents? I watched as he did it and there was nothing that seemed like it.

apl4kt wrote:

I don't have "preferences" in Finder. This is a brand new MacPro M2 bought late 2022

Preferences have be renamed "Settings" in macOS Ventura.

Favorites appears in the Sidebar of Finder windows. You can add any folders you like, to make them quickly accessible. Other sections that typically appear in the Sidebar are "Locations", "iCloud", "Tags".

If they are just missing from the side bar: Open Finder, preferences, sidebar and be sure documents is checked off. If that is not the case then double click on your Drive (e.g. Macintosh-HD) then users, your user ID and then you should see your files.

All of my personal folders and files on my MacBook Pro were deleted since it received the Ventura 13.3.1 update last night. iCloud does not show my info either (and I thought all of my files in Finder were automatically saved to the cloud). After an hour with the Apple Help desk, the advisor believes that likely all of my data is lost.

Unbelievable fail.

Also, apparently for the last 15 years that I have been purchasing Apple products the sales people should have told me to 'back up the entire laptop on an external hard drive' before any update. Really? I am going to the Apple store to see if they can uninstall the Ventura update -- in the hopes that some data may be recovered.

Where is the word "favorites"? I don't have this in my sidebar...., only as the heading for the folders which are just the generic Apple ones; not all my ones I had carefully curated the last 5 years running my business.

Epic FAIL by Apple not to Mirror our Folder Layouts and just recreate it again...AS was PROMISED in the Upgrade wording

You may have activated “Documents and Desktop in iCloud”. Click iCloud Drive in the sidebar. Do you see a Documents folder inside the iCloud Drive? Are your documents there?

Do you have a backup drive that you could retrieve from? Never have anyone do anything to your Mac unless you have a backup first.

I don't have "preferences" in Finder. This is a brand new MacPro M2 bought late 2022

Try in finder to change the way of displaying elements. Chose - order by name. It should help.

In my case, when the ordering is set to Unordered - I can not see my folders.