Need to retrieve files in users/.trash

S

suzenlvlasvegas

Registered
I accidentally deleted my local user account shortcut/alias from the sidebar. I have not been able to see my deleted files through Finder, but can access the files through an application i.e., launching Word and opening a "Recent file."

The path that allows me to open the file is (found it under File, Save As):

Computer name/Macintosh HD/Users/susan.muehlfelder/.trash/susan local/Desktop1108

1. How can I restore the files in the above path
2. How can I restore the local account to the sidebar allowing me to get back to these files for the future?
3. Will I be able to log back in after I turn off the computer under my local account?

I will leave my MAC logged on until I hear I can turn it off. Thanks in advance for an expedited response as I'm truly afraid to to anything at the moment!

Thanks so much,
Suzen in LV
 
Hello suzenlvlasvegas & welcome to the forums :)

If you navigate to:

MacintoshHD ~> Users​

Can you see a House icon with your User Name to the right of it? If so ... when you click on it does it display the folders that have their alias' in the Finder window sidebar;

  • Desktop,
  • Documents,
  • Pictures,
  • Music,
  • Movies,
  • Public &
  • Sites, etc?

If all of the above is good, then just drag the house icon from the Users folder onto the sidebar again to create a new alias.

In a perfect world you should be up and running again but if you couldn't see the above folders in MacintoshHD ~> Users ~> YourUserName, then we may need to look more closely at this issue.

If the latter is true, then is the deleted Home Directory alias still visible in your Trash? You could drag it from the Trash, back onto the Finder Sidebar and it would then be rescued and disaster averted.

The .Trash folder is hidden and you would need to enable visibility of these hidden files before you could recover anything.

What version of Mac OS are you using? You can enable visibility using Terminal, or if you have a 3rd party app like TinkerTool, you can tick the box "Show hidden and system files" in the Finder section.

Using Terminal for Panther,Tiger & Leopard:

Launch Terminal from your Applications ~> Utilities folder and type the following, being very careful to type exactly what you see below ...

Code: 
[I]defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE[/I]

Press enter/return then type:

Code: 
[I]killall Finder[/I]

Press return again to execute the command.

To hide the files just execute those same commands, but just switch that TRUE to FALSE.

Hope this helps you out .... :)
 
If you simply removed the "house" icon from the sidebar, then navigate to /Users in the Finder, and drag your home folder into the left-hand sidebar.

The sidebar holds "shortcuts" or "aliases" to various folders. They are not the actual folder, and just because you are missing them from the sidebar does not mean they're gone off of your hard drive.

You can drag folders in and out of the left-hand sidebar to customize it to your needs.
 
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