(NEVER DO THIS:) Just typed "sudo rm -rf/*" in Terminal, what to do?

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Level 1

7 points

(NEVER DO THIS:) Just typed "sudo rm -rf/*" in Terminal, what to do?

I'm always up for a good joke myself so I can't really complain about this one, but yeah, what the heII - I just fell for the (apparently) old joke to type the above command into terminal. Yeah, I'm an idiot, I know, but the question here is - what to do now?

The system boots up fine, although I've read it will go into an infinite reboot cycle after a certain uptime. I've got a recent Time Machine backup and a Snow Leopard Install disc at home.

Can I just install OSX over the ruined system?
Will that work at all?
Or do I have to kill the whole thing (via disk utility from the Leopard install disc), re-install OSX and get my data back with Time Machine?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks a ton,
V

Macbook 5,1 2.4GHz IC2D, 4GB 1067MHz, Mac OS X (10.6.6), iPhone 4, 32GB ger, FW 4.01, T-Mobile

Posted on Feb 20, 2011 7:29 AM

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Answer 1

T5GP5Ox32

Level 3

590 points

Feb 20, 2011 7:47 AM in response to VNDL42

You can do it like said before but I would suggest just wiping everything and starting completely fresh from Time Machine. It will work if you just overwrite without erasing though.

Follow this as well when you get to the restore point: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427

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Answer 2

T5GP5Ox32

Level 3

590 points

Feb 20, 2011 7:30 AM in response to VNDL42

Best option would be to erase everything, reinstall and then restore from Time Machine.

And if you're going to run something that you don't know what it does, especially in Terminal, then look up what it does first or don't do it.

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Answer 3

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Feb 20, 2011 7:39 AM in response to VNDL42

VNDL42 wrote:
I just fell for the (apparently) old joke to type the above command into terminal. Yeah, I'm a noob, an idiot, got pwned and all that, I know. So the question here is - what to do now?

The system boots up fine, although I've read it will go into an infinite reboot cycle after a certain uptime. I've got a recent Time Machine backup and a Snow Leopard Install disc at home.

Can I install OSX over the ruined system?
Will that work at all?

Yes, it should work. In fact, it's one of the new new features in 10.6. But having nuked the system it really won't matter if you install over or erase and install.

You can also use your TM backup and use the restore feature, unless that's still functional and you wrote a backup after the Terminal command.

Good luck. Let us know...

-mj

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Answer 4

VNDL42 Author

Level 1

7 points

Feb 20, 2011 3:28 PM in response to VNDL42

So yeah, restored from my TM backup via the OSX install disc and the system seems to run fine, thanks a lot guys, seriously.
I still messed up as I forgot that I exclude my music and video folders in TM to save space on my backup drive. So I learned two lessons today, a) don't enter sudo commands when you're not 100% sure what they're doing (I guess I hereby choose to stay away from the terminal completely) and b) make sure to remember what folders you exclude from your backup so you don't add subfolders that you care about to them.

And yeah, bad ******* joke, or trap, however you want to call it. But like I said, I guess this is what I get for entering commands into terminal I don't know sh*t about.

Thanks again for your help.
V

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Answer 5

KJK555

Level 4

2,906 points

Feb 20, 2011 9:57 PM in response to VNDL42

Hey, it can happen to the best of us.

Rules for "rm".

Try to avoid using "sudo" with rm whenever possible.

Avoid the "r" switch (recursive into directories option) whenever possible.

If you use the "r" switch, use the "i" switch too (interactive option), also avoid the "f"
(force without prompting option).

Use "v" verbose option, to see what is being deleted.

Always type in the full path name, rather than changing to the directory first.

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Answer 6

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,210 points

Feb 20, 2011 7:37 AM in response to VNDL42

Well, if you typed it exactly like you posted, it didn't do anything.

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Answer 7

VNDL42 Author

Level 1

7 points

Feb 20, 2011 7:43 AM in response to VNDL42

Yeah no, it deleted basically everything system wise, can't even access preferences. So installing the system over the fried one is not the best idea?

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Answer 8

VNDL42 Author

Level 1

7 points

Feb 20, 2011 7:46 AM in response to VNDL42

Ah, sorry I didn't see Macjack's reply. The TM backup is from this morning so it should still be okay, not sure if TM itself is still on the system at all. Or can I run TM from the install disc?

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Answer 9

VNDL42 Author

Level 1

7 points

Feb 20, 2011 7:54 AM in response to VNDL42

Thanks a lot guys, I will try this tonight and let you know how it went.

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Answer 10

WZZZ

Level 6

13,238 points

Feb 20, 2011 9:43 AM in response to VNDL42

I'm always up for a good joke myself so I can't really complain about this one....

That's about as good a joke as poisoning the water supply or setting off a small nuclear device.

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Answer 11

KJK555

Level 4

2,906 points

Feb 20, 2011 10:40 AM in response to WZZZ

Hey, you haven't lived until you 'RM'd yourself! LOL 🙂

There is nothing like the feeling of watching your desktop slowly disappearing in front of your eyes.

Kj

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Answer 12

VNDL42 Author

Level 1

7 points

Feb 21, 2011 3:04 AM in response to VNDL42

Thanks again, will keep these in mind.

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