carbon copy cloner– documents gone

K

katezzz

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The hard drive in my G4 Powerbook failed, ironically as I was doing a back up. When it came back from repair with nothing on it, I restored my home folder from my last back up, which was two months ago. But all my applications were gone, so I tried to clone them from my 2005 iMac with Carbon Copy Cloner. I've done this before successfully. This time, though, after reading the instructions, I checked a box that said something about replacing rather than merging...something, can't remember what. If you know the app maybe you know the checkbox I'm talking about. I ran disk permissions before cloning and thought everything was fine, and shut down. But today when I restarted the iMac so many things are gone! There is no longer a Documents icon in the sidebar, and my desktop picture is back to the default. There are some icons under the Desktop icon, and I can access certain files that were in folders on the desktop. Where did the rest of my documents go? I know they're there somewhere because the same number of gigabytes as before are there. I am distraught. Can someone help me fix this? The files on the two computers were not the same, so I'm reluctant to restore from that February back up. My applications don't work either. I am so disheartened.
Kate
 
Kate:

Your procedure is a bit unconventional, even if you did it before. I would know where to begin. You could search for the files/folders individually by using a utiltiy like EasyFind. However, I think you will still have somewhat of a messy situation, even if you did find everything.

In my mind a fresh install and restore will be the best way to go, however, seeing that you did not go that way, I suspect that you have your reasons.

As I said, I can't say that I understand your procedure, but let's try this:
• Either install an OS from disk, or clone your OS from your other computer.
• Drag the Users Folder from your backup to the desktop
• Move items to the places you want them.
Apparently the cloning bit complicated the issue. You don't need to clone data files, as they copy quite well.

Please do post back with further questions, clarifications, comments or an update.

Cheers :)

cak
 
Thanks for responding. I appreciate it.

I thought more people used Carbon Copy Cloner– it seemed to me a couple of years ago it was familiar to many. In any case, I'm afraid to mess with my other computer. I'm afraid I'll do more damage and forever lose all ability to access any files. I was hoping someone would know how to undo what I did. My guess is that if I were able to restore some user settings (but I don't know where or how) things would go back to the way they were. Clearly if I had Time Machine this wouldn't be a problem. A PC systems analyst friend told me Windows has a way to go back to a certain time, so I would imagine the Mac OS would too, even if it were some commands in Terminal, something not designed for the average user but nonetheless possible. What the clone did, I guess, is put all my user preferences and settings back to their defaults, as if it were a brand new install, rather than archive and install. I didn't clone data files to my laptop, just applications like Photoshop. I will try your suggestion of copying the user folder from the back up to the desktop, if I can do that with BackUp, which is what I used. I really do appreciate your input.
 
Hi!

Sorry, I have been away for a while.

I thought more people used Carbon Copy Cloner– it seemed to me a couple of years ago it was familiar to many.
CCC is still a very popular utility. My reference was to the way you went about the procedure of backing up. One would either clone the entire volume or the Users Folder/Home Folder.

I am not sure where you are in the process, or whether you have already resolved it to your satisfaction. Please let me know where you are.

Cheers :)

cak
 
Hi again,

You might have misread my original post. When my laptop came back with a new hard drive, all my third-party applications were of course gone. I restored my home folder from my Feb. 1st back up which was on a LaCie external drive (the Powerbook hard drive failed as I was doing an overdue back-up on April 1). So I had many of my documents. But no third-party apps.

So I cloned my third-party applications from my iMac to my Powerbook. (I thought they weren't working but most of them are.) But what happened is the cloning operation changed something on my iMac and nothing is the same– my desktop image is back to the default, and those third party apps are now all asking for me to register them. I opened Mail and it wanted me to configure it as if it were the first time. So all my archived mail is not available. Also, my documents folder is gone. Even the icon is gone. Yet my user profile is still there because I have to login with a password. So, does this make any sense to you? Does this give you a clue what that little checkbox I checked on an advanced pane of CCC did?

Also, not to complicate matters, but another scary thing happened. I plugged that LaCie drive into the iMac and suddenly anything I selected started flashing like a strobe light. I quickly ejected it and shut down. I'm afraid to do anything now. I'm afraid I'll lose everything on the external drive! Could it have the devil in it?* Could it have caused my Powerbook hard drive to fail? Maybe I should take it to the Apple store and see if they can do a diagnostic. I wonder if they would.

kate

*joking
 
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