Trouble with Archive Utility

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Trouble with Archive Utility

Hello, I had been trying to download an opensource photorestore program as I accidently deleted a picture file of my Mom and really want to bring it back if possible. It kept coming on and saying: unable to archive. Error 2-no such file or directory. In Terminal I placed "bunzip2" and "tar" and this is what I got back: bunzinp2: can't open input file Tar: No such File or Directory. Is there a way to replace this file or the whole archive utility so it has this file without having to totally redo my Snow Leopard software? I really don't want to start over from scratch and lose this file which is in the trash but is not showing up, thus needing the photorestore program. If replacing the file is possible can you please send me the link to it. Thank you. Jean

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Using Thunderbird and many open source software, 120 G External

Posted on Sep 12, 2011 7:16 AM

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Answer 1

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anokienurse Author

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Sep 12, 2011 10:57 AM in response to anokienurse

No I haven't emptied the trash, I knew better than that. I had tried to download photorestore an opensource program that Picasa recommended (this is the photo program I have as when I upgraded iPhoto was not part of it). When I contacted the developer for testdisk-6.13-WIP.Mac_intel.tar.bz2 he had me go to terminal and type in "bunzip2" and "tar" and I sent him this information: bunzip2: can't open input file tar: No such File or Directory. So my question had been here was does this mean I need to reinstall archive utility? I didn't want to wipe out everything in my computer just to get this program working again. The developer than told me to open terminal use "pwd" to Print the Working Directory (comes up /users/jean) "ls" to list the content of the directory and then "cd directory_name" to change the name of the directory. Find the testdisk archive and run "tar xjf testdisk-6.13WIP.mac_intell.tar.bz2". He seems to indicated that this should then open the download of the photo restore program so I cound then try and find and restore the picture file that I accidently deleted. I didn't want to have to pay for a program to restore my photo's when I knew there was an opensource one that I could then just donate to.

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Answer 2

Sep 12, 2011 2:29 PM in response to anokienurse

Right (I think). You're trying to open a .tar file with a .bz2 extension? Developer appears to be a Linux type.

Archive Utility ought to be able to open that, but if it's failing, you can try the Unarchiver. You should have no need to use terminal and there's no need to re-install Archive Utility (which afaik you can't do without re-installing the OS). Frankly it seems more likely that the .tar.bz2 file is corrupt.

Next, if it's in the trash but not visible, your photo file must somehow have been made invisible; that should be possible to make visible by a visit to terminal, but I'm not going to attempt to tell you what to enter in there; I'll leave that to someone who knows what they're doing with Terminal.

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Answer 3

Sep 13, 2011 2:41 AM in response to anokienurse

Ah, a new twist.

Not often I suggest this, but in this case it may be necessary. Open Disk Utility in the Applications / Utilities folder. Select Macintosh HD and click on Repair Disk Permissions. There'll be a whole raft of permissions messages, most of which you can ignore. Just ensure the bottom line says something like 'Permissions Repair completed successfully'.

Then try opening the .zip again.

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Answer 4

Sep 13, 2011 5:27 AM in response to anokienurse

Just lifted the Terminal instructions for invisible files (shamelessly from a post by Wzzz).

Tried them on my iMac just now and they work fine.

Open the terminal and type or copy/paste:

To make visible;

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true

killall Finder

To revert to default;

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false

killall Finder

Copy and paste the first line in each case, press return and wait until the prompt appears again, then copy and paste the second line and press return.

Close Terminal

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Answer 5

Sep 12, 2011 8:48 AM in response to anokienurse

A photo restore programme won't retrieve deleted data. You say the file's in the trash but doesn't show; has the trash been emptied?

I don't understand what you were doing with archiving. Were you trying to zip the file when it disappeared?

If you have deleted it, you'll need recovery software to retrieve it (if it hasn't been overwritten already). Deleting a system utility will only create even bigger problems for you. Re-installing the OS will probably lose the file for ever.

Data Rescue 3;

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php

Stellar Phœnix;

http://www.macintosh-data-recovery.com/

Both programmes will give you a free download to scan your HD and see if the files are recoverable, but you'll have to pay for the full application to actually recover them.

Note that you'll need to be able to run the utilities from another drive to rescue any viable files.

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Answer 6

Sep 13, 2011 1:29 PM in response to anokienurse

If you trashed the com.Apple.Finder.plist, you'll need to reset your Finder preferences, including what to show on the desktop and icon sizes.

Then right click on an open area of the desktop and choose view options;

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Answer 7

anokienurse Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 12, 2011 2:58 PM in response to noondaywitch

Thank you noondaywitch for your answer and a link to the unarchiver. I have emailed the developer as when I used his link and tried to open it as per his instructions it came on and said that the testdisk-6.13 was Truncated tar archive and then tar: error exit delayed from previous errors. And yes, the photorestore program could be used on any type of computer, he had links for Windows PC, Mac and Linux. And it was the link that Picasa recommended for restoring deleted files.

I sure would appreciate someone being able to help with Terminal and trying to make that file visible again to see if I can put it back where it belongs without the use of a photo restoration program. I had been using the facial recognition with Picasa and I hadn't clicked on the actual picture just checked that this face was correct, so I don't know where the pictures were located within my files. If I knew that if nothing else I could go back in TimeMachine and restore just those files. Can someone help that is more familiar with Terminal. Thank you.

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Answer 8

anokienurse Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 12, 2011 3:53 PM in response to noondaywitch

I downloaded The Unarchiver into my download folder and tried to unzip it. It comes on and says: Unable to unarchive "The Unarchiver2.7.1zip" into downloads-Error 1-operation not permitted. I tried placing it in my Application folder with the same message except it says applications. I am not sure what the problem is, might someone know what my problems is? I am the administrator of my computer so I don't understand why it is telling me it is not permitted. Thank you. Jean

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Answer 9

anokienurse Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 13, 2011 7:13 AM in response to noondaywitch

Thanks, I tried it but nothing invisible showed up in my trash, so it may have been overwritten. And as to running disk permissions, that was the first thing I did before I did anything. I downloaded the Unarchiver and then ran disk permissions before trying to unzip it, I am going to try again also going and trashing the com.apple.finder.plist as per Jason Tomczak. I found a post at http://jasontomczak.com/2009/08/30/snow-leopard-are-your-zip-files-not-unzipping / that state Snow Leopard has a problem with opening .zip files and what to do about it. I tried doing the second suggestion of launching the unarchiver app (I assumed he was talking about Mac's Archive Utility) but was unable to find the "archive formats" that he was talking about so he may have been talking about the actual Unarchiver application once it was installed. Hopefully it will work this time by trashing the com.apple.finder.plist after running disk permission. Thanks for your help. Jean

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Answer 10

anokienurse Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 13, 2011 8:07 AM in response to noondaywitch

I tried to revert to default by doing what you had above and now my HD icon is back on my computer and I have a couple of files on my desktop (easier to work with when there) that appear to be smaller than I remember. I have tried restarting my computer (which seemed to be slow to respond) with no luck, guess it doesn't make any difference in the workings of my Mac but haven't been used to seeing it there since upgrading to Snow Leopard. What do you think? Jean

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