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Is there a way to auto “put back” everything in Trash using terminal ONLY?

S

steve4900

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 17, 2014
1
0
Hi Guys,

I have an iMac which is not booting up... I've been told that the owners were trying to delete an application and put numerous Library files into the trash and as they did this the iMac froze and now it will not boot up (safe mode doesn't work either) the only thing I can access is the recovery mode (CMD R).

Ive started using the Terminal through recovery mode and have accessed the trash folder with all the library files and loads of other files.

Is there a command line that will auto put back these files into the right place as I don't know where they came from and it won't start with out them

Other details
The Disk utility says everything is ok.
They don't have a back up
Don't have the CDs

Thanks for the help
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,136
15,598
California
I've never seen any way to do that in Terminal.

If it command-r boots to recovery okay, just go back to that same recovery screen and click reinstall OS and the OS will download and reinstall over top of the existing install and replace the missing files. This will not delete the users personal data and should get them running again.

The download will be about 5GB, so can take a bit.
 
chrfr

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,520
7,043
steve4900 said:
Is there a command line that will auto put back these files into the right place as I don't know where they came from and it won't start with out them
Click to expand...

There's no automated way to do this through the command line. You'll need to reinstall the OS.
 
M

Manic Harmonic

macrumors 6502
Dec 4, 2011
299
1
I would do a fresh install on a separate drive or partition, the do migration assistant from the old disk or partition, then clone that back over to the original... Your other option would be to Google the names of the files/folders in the trash, and copy or move them to their original locations with the terminal. The first option is probably easier, provided you have another drive or room for a second partition on the main drive.
 
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