Why After resetting the PRAM on my Mac Pro with OS High Sierra I have two desktop folders

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Why After resetting the PRAM on my Mac Pro with OS High Sierra I have two desktop folders

After resetting the PRAM on my Mac Pro (Mid 2012) with OS High Sierra (10.13.6) I have two desktop folders. The one that is my actual showing desktop and that shows up in the Finder window sidebar does not have all the items on it that were there before the reset.

The path shown for it is (myusername) with a little house symbol in front of it > Desktop.

The original desktop that DOES have all the items in it before the reset but is NOT showing as my desktop is MacSSD1 > Users > (username) > Desktop. (MacSSD1 is the startup disc.)

Why do I have two desktop folders?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Mac Pro, macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 11, 2024 9:57 PM

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Answer 1

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NoseGuard-00 Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 12, 2024 5:39 PM in response to BDAqua

Ha! It wasn't until I attempted to run Disk Utility that I realized that after the PRAM reset apparently the startup disc changed to the other bootable hard drive I have. So I thought I was booted from MacSSD1 because that's what I always boot from, but I wasn't.

So, mystery solved. Operator error. (I have a clone of MacSSD1 on another HD partition, so it's bootable.) Thanks for your time. Interesting that the startup disc was changed without me touching anything though.

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Mar 12, 2024 1:58 PM in response to NoseGuard-00

In Finder's Menu, select Go menu>Go to Folder, and go to "/volumes". (no quotes)

Volumes is where an alias to your hard drive ("/" at boot) is placed at startup, and where all the "mount points" for auxiliary drives are created for you to access them. This folder is normally hidden from view.

Drives with an extra 1 on the end have a side-effect of mounting a drive with the same name as the system already think exists.

Do you see a MacSSD & a MacSSD1 ?

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Answer 3

NoseGuard-00 Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 12, 2024 4:09 PM in response to NoseGuard-00

All the stuff that was on my desktop is still in the MacSSD1 > users > Doe > desktop folder so I haven't lost anything. I can always copy what I want back to the live desktop and delete that folder. I'm just puzzled about what happened there.

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Mar 12, 2024 5:16 AM in response to NoseGuard-00

What is the difference between myusername & username, are there more than 1 user on that Mac?

Have you run Disk Utility's Disk First Aid on all connected drives?

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Answer 5

NoseGuard-00 Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 12, 2024 1:25 PM in response to BDAqua

They are the same. Both are the name of user on the startup disc. If the name was "Doe" one path to the desktop is (house icon) Doe > Desktop, the other is MacSSD1 >Users > Doe > Desktop.

I have not run first aid. Will do that.

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Answer 6

NoseGuard-00 Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 12, 2024 4:06 PM in response to BDAqua

No I only see the MacSSD1 and the 3 other hard drives I have attached to this machine. No MacSSD. I'm waiting for Disk Utility to finish on the 4 TB drive that I use for time machine then I'll restart and see if anything's different.

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