Beware! I Lost Everything!

Z

zippygaloo

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Up until this point in time I have never felt the need to backup considering I have never lost a single thing on my Mac since my first Mac years ago.

But today under OSX was different...

I booted all was well. I then noticed an alias file to my USERS folder. Thinking it was much like alias folders under OS9 or prior I simple dragged it to the trash and tried to delete it. The prompt I receive was the I "didn't have enough access privileges". I thought nothing of this since it was after all an "alias" file. So I dragged it onto a program called DROPNUKE which as it's name would imply simply nuked the folder USERS.alias and deleted it. So I thought. Well upon viewing my Users folder I noticed there was nothing left. I lost everthing. I had transfered stuff (utilities, programs, etc, etc. from the APPLLICTIONS folder (available to all users) to folders in my USERS folder (available only to me). Needless to say I LOST EVERYTHING. So my lesson learned today was....BACKUP! Also, does anyone know how and why this happened? Aren't alias files under OSX supposed to react the same as under OS9 or prior? I thought so!
 
i'm sorry to say you made the no. 1 mistake : don't compare OS 9 (and whatever was released before...) to OS X. It's totally different ! Okay, so the interface of OS 9 compared to OS X won't seem so completely strange, but that's all. Everything changed, we've got the Unix layer (kernel, rc.boot, bin, man, pico, whatever !!), we've got totally different commands in the GUI (try to create a folder the old fasion way to mention one...), we've got terminals (YES, let the revolution begin !), we've got logs nobody can't explain, we've got.... damnd, we've got so many, and on the other hand so less... Key message : Don't compare !

Mac OS rules, Mac OS X is the revolution.
 
What probably happened was that dropnuke looked for the original of the alias you dropped on it. If you had deleted the alias, OS X wouldn't have deleted the original, but dropnuke, depending on it's programming, might do exactly this. For yer interest, you might try the same with a dummy folder in OS 9. I believe you might get the same results, operative system not withstanding. So it might just not be OS X's fault.

However, I am certain I would do the same. So thanks for the warning. You might try to delete locked files through the terminal (command: rm -r [filename]). Also, use the command 'sudo su root' to change into root user with your own password. Once root user, you can alter the root password and login as root.
 
Hello,

I have found that rm -r chokes on locked files - even as root. Is there a possibility that this behavior was a result of the differences between a symbolic link, hard link, and a traditional MacOS 9 alias?

Jove
 
Most locked items you can just unclick the locked tab and you should have no problem deleting it. if that doesn't work drag it out of the trash reboot into 9.1 and delete it there... sure this is a hassle but nothing but the alias gets deleted that way... for sure!
 
Rebooting into 9 is about the only option when you have downloaded a garbage source project with a hundred locked files :-(

I did find a handle Apple script that will scan a directory and unlock all the files.
 
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