Document version saving in Mac OS 10.7.5

Thanks, Linc. Unfortunately, I can't think of any volume that is not MacOS Extended. The external drive is a Lacie portable purchased from the Apple Store, which indicates to me that it came preformatted as such. The MacBook Pro has a replacement drive purchased from OWC MacSales, also preformatted (and exclusively Mac). And, of course, the iMac drive is the original one. All three drives have nearly 600 GB of files loaded into them, and this problem seems to affect only a few Photoshop files when opened in Apple's Preview app.

So how does an occasional file lose its origins identity while so many others are not affected?

Linc, you asked, "Can you save versions on the same volume in other applications, such as TextEdit?"

I suppose I do. I typically work a 14-hour day as a publisher, and I'm constantly transferring files from the iMac via the Lacie portable drive to the MacBook Pro, to continue working on them in the evening. Then I transfer the modified work back to the iMac the same way, via the Lacie (or previously, by an assortment of other external drives until they reached capacity).

The only times I've encountered this message were quite recently, and the only files affected were illustrations done with Photoshop and then altered slightly in Apple's Preview application.

I wonder if the problem may be related to any of numerous strange things that have happened since I acquired the iMac two years ago, as a replacement for a Mac Pro desktop. The conversion from Snow Leopard to Lion introduced many glitches. Among therm, I had to abandon file transfers over WiFi, because the iMac wouldn't grant me permission to alter those files. Gaining access required a tedious process, and I switched to hard drive transfers as an easier alternative. I still use Snow Leopard on the laptop.

A month ago, the iMac refused to start up until I coerced it by various means, and then it stopped displaying most of the sidebar items, including the Desktop. I had learned sidebars could be restored from the Library file, but it had disappeared from my user folder. I believe it's still on board, but visible only under a different user log-in. I left it alone, for fear of further problems while I was facing a major publishing deadline. I could access sidebar destinations like the Desktop by navigating to it. That raises a new question:

As I'm writing all this detail, hoping for a clue, I just wonder if the Desktop folder is the "volume" in trouble. I keep all my working files there, by habit, because the Desktop is, or was, always open on startup. There's at least 300 GB of stuff on the Desktop, and maybe it won't accommodate any more permanent storage?

If that's not it, I just don't know what "volume" is refusing to allow changes.

I'm sorry to take your time on all this. I do appreciate it.

To Linc --At your suggestion, I tried it again with a TextEdit rtf file, and to my surprise it produced the same warning as the Adobe jpg file.

To Linc and MartinR -- With both the rtf and jpg files, this happened on what I presume is the troublesome volume. It's the one labeled Macintosh HD !!!

But when I moved those files to the Desktop, the problem disappeared. From what you've said, I would have expected the Desktop to be the problem volume -- but not the Macintosh HD.

MartinR, you asked why I would make changes to a Photoshop file in Preview. Despite its simplicity, Preview has certain advantages, in my work, over Photoshop. I'm sole proprietor of a small publishing company, and I create display ads for over 100 advertisers in an annual directory; and I also produce covers and other artwork for myself and other authors. Over the years, variations in ALL the artwork have multiplied, and I often have to sort through the versions to locate the one I need to publish or republish. Opening all of them in Photoshop takes forever, but Preview is almost instantaneous. If the file is an illustration of characters in a book, I often have to make minor adjustments to the colors. In Preview, adding a touch of Sepia warms up flesh tones which are difficult to match in Photoshop. And it's the jpg file that goes to press or into a promotional video, not the .psd.

There are other issues, too -- like the frequent freezes and crashes in Photoshop and the huge memory consumption. (I can't leave Photoshop open when I'm on the Internet, because it slows everything down.)

One more thought that may cause the problem. Because I'm a one-man shop (except for outside advertising sales, which is my wife's department), my computers are jammed with everything that would typically be spread among many separate workstations in larger businesses. I do all the accounting, word processing, graphic arts, video editing, marketing and promotion, website, computer maintenance, internet and social media, email, Rotary and other club services, and on and on for 14 hours a day, for 6 and sometimes 7 days a week. That's a lot of stuff to jam into any computer, and it may be one reason my iMac has been behaving like a lemon. It's so confused that it won't print Adobe InDesign or Acrobat documents on any of three HP printers, but it will print Photoshop. HP can't explain this, nor can Adobe. They blame each other or they blame Apple. And so it goes...

Forgive my rambling. It drives me a little nutty when the main hard drive refuses to store versions.

MartinR, I included a reply to you in another note for Linc. Thanks for your interest and help.

--DEH

MartinR, as you'll see in another reply to both you and Linc, it appears the problem is with the Macintosh HD, not the Desktop, strangely enough. In order to work with multiple versions, which is extemely important, I have to work from files stored on the Desktop. When the files are on the Macintosh HD, it refuses to allow changes.

Is my iMac a lemon?

MartinR, you suggested that I could use an alias on the desktop as a way to have quick access to files on the hard drive. I'm sure that's good advice, except in my case, because I have so many files, that I occasionally have to consolidate a bunch of folders into another folder to reduce massive clutter. I have a collection of aliases now that don't know where the original documents went.

This is interesting, Linc. I've been using Mac computers since the Macintosh Plus and Macintosh II around 1987, at least four years before today's college grads were even born. Every Mac I've owned since then has become a direct descendant of all the previous ones combined.

The earlier Macs I owned were set up for a single user. No log-in was required. All the files were in one place on the hard drive, and I never lost track of them. When I upgraded to newer units, I followed whatever instructions were provided for file transfer. Then somewhere, or somewhen, Macs were made for multiple users, with log-in names and individual home folders. That's where the trouble must have started for me. The Migration Assistant either allowed me to put the files where I was accustomed to finding and working with them, or it did that on its own. I saw no warning that my customary arrangements were no longer suitable.

My two active computers are on different versions of the OS.

On my MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard), the sidebar contains DEVICES, which contains the icon for the MacBook Pro and the icon for Macintosh HD. Inside the MacBook icon is a duplicate of the Macintosh HD icon and an icon for Network.

Below DEVICES is PLACES, which contains the house-shaped HOME FOLDER, the Desktop, Applications, and about two dozen other items which I assume are aliases for the folders and apps I use frequently.

Clicking on the HOME FOLDER in PLACES opens a window that includes the Desktop again, along with Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Movies, and a whole lot of miscellaneous folders that arrived there somewhat mysteriously. It also contains an Applications folder that contains an Akamai folder with a few items inside. The main Applications folder is in the Macintosh HD startup folder where I assume it belongs. This startup folder also contains a lot of working files that apparently do not belong there, but should be relocated to the home folder, according to your comment. Right?

---NOW, to the iMac with the Lion OS:

Its sidebar suddenly has lost everything except DEVICES. The space for PLACES will not accept the Desktop, Applications, and other aliases for frequently used items. I haven't tried to log out and back in as another user, to restore the sidebar functionality, because it seems to involve starting all over, and I'm reluctant to do that.

My greatest fear is that Adobe InDesign won't be able to locate all the linked graphics used by advertisers in the directories I publish. There are at least a thousand of those links, scattered in dozens of places, and I don't want to put them where neither I or Adobe can't find them. It would jeopardize my entire business.

I just wish I could operate as a single user again, with files where I can find them. I've never felt comfortable with Apple's system of files within files, like Russian eggs. When you've got 26 years of files (well, not quite -- many of those are gone), but thousands of files nonetheless, the system of hiding them within so many vertical layers gets very complicated. I never use iPhoto for just that reason. (I don't mind when the folders are on one desktop, regardless how many addirtional folders are within those folders. It's when they're in different USER places or otherwise farther removed from their traditional places -- that worries me.

I'll be interested in your take on this, but I'll understand if you can't spare the time. I'm marking your responses as helpful, for what you have offered already.

Linc, you are a tremendous asset to this forum. Your 75,510 points must be way near the top!

I trust you have solved my problem. I don't know why Apple hides information, like Show, so I wouldn't know it's there without hovering the cursor over it. I had previously brought the empty sidebar question to another forum, and the solution proposed there involved playing around in the Library file.

Assuming I can now start moving files where they belong (they do actually move, not copy, right?), I can anticipate better performance and other good things, thanks to you.

Good job!

David Henderson