Desktop Contents Gone - Desktop Folder replaced by Alias

[Valdaquendë]

An iMac (24", M1, 8GB, running MacOS 13.4, Ventura) was brought to me for data recovery. Its problem is unique in my experience.

The contents of the desktop (folders and files) have disappeared and the desktop folder itself has been replaced by an alias. The alias points to: /Users/username/Desktop ... only there is no original.

This occurred to the user last Wednesday or Thursday. He also brought his Time Machine drive (a 1TB Seagate external) in the hopes that the data could be recovered from Time Machine. He has backups of his user folder going back 5 months but I found that, in every one of his saved backups, which go back to February, 2023, the Desktop folder has also been replaced by an alias, the alias in these cases pointing (varying, of course, according to backup date/time) to:

/Volumes/.timemachine/185E0C5B-44EA-49E7-80A6-EB9E574C57F3/2023-02-18-112245.backup/2023-02-18-112245.backup/Data/Users/username/Desktop

I have employed Disk Drill to try to locate files and folders whose names he has given me but with a singular lack of success. I am performing more thorough (and time-consuming) scans to see if I cannot locate them. I very much want to recover of the data, of course but I am also extremely puzzled at the phenomenon itself; I have never seen anything like this.

As an experiment, I tried creating a folder on the desktop; doing so generated the following error:
An unexpected error occurred (error code -8072).

I also tried copying a file from the Documents folder to the Desktop (by 'option-drag'ging); attempts to do so display the slashed-circle 'forbidden' icon and are not completed.

If anyone can suggest an explanation of this weird phenomenon or can point to a way forward in discovering how and why this has happened, I would be most grateful.

 

[Canderl]

Something similar happened to my backups on TimeMachine: The Desktop and Documents folder are replaced by alias which lead to nowhere. However, the data must be somewhere (based on the size of the backup), but I am unable to locate them. Any help appreciated.

 

[Valdaquendë]

In my case, it was the Desktop folder only. As you can see from the 300+ views, without response, it is a very obscure issue. Even Apple Support could find no reason or cure for it. Reinstalling Ventura did not alter the behaviour at all.

I DID find, though, that the effects seem to be confined to the user profile. I created a new user profile and found that creation of folders and placement of files on the Desktop proceeded normally. I've ordered another external SSD, which should arrive this morning and will perform a Time Machine backup to see if backup proceeds normally and if Desktop contents are present in the backup. I'll report back.

Of course, this is no explanation or solution and it is troubling that no one, not even Apple, can explain or suggest a solution or even a workaround. The possibility of having your Desktop contents suddenly disappear, along with their Time Machine counterparts is a sword of Damocles until an solution is found.

My current "insurance policy" is to have Carbon Copy Cloner do scheduled backups of the Desktop folder to another volume without replacing the previous backups (using CCC's "Folder-to-Folder Backup" function and setting "Safety Net" to "Don't delete anything").

 

[dlewis272]

This happened to me after deleting my iCloud backups not knowing I had my Desktop and Documents folder linked to it. Unfortunately, I have no way to recover anything lost in the backup, including the original path to either folder. I'm really just looking for a way to replace the path to my desktop because I literally cannot put anything onto my desktop anymore.