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Everything on Mac OSX got wiped

C

ColtonA7X

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 18, 2010
16
0
about an hour ago i downloaded stuffit the zip program. I got the link from a post here at this forum. As soon as i installed it my screen flashed real quick and my background changed back to the stock "space" one. I then noticed all my music, pics, files, games, and movies have been erased. When i open iphoto, safari, itunes, etc. it is like I'm opening for the first time.

I have searched and searched and never found a fix or a reason why this happened. I don't see any change to the user fold or in the accounts settings. I have restarted several times. I don't have any backups to restore from because I haven't purchased time capsule yet.

Some help or info would be very much appreciated.
 
How much hard drive space do you have, and how much is listed as free? Also, can you open Terminal (in Applications/Utilities) and type in "ls .." - maybe your stuff is still there somewhere?
 
This might seem like a silly questions, but are you sure you're logged into YOUR user account?
 
I have about 440 gigs available for HD space. And yes I confirmed I was logged into my user account (only one I have besides guest). I worked on it for quite few hours trying to figure out what was wrong last night with no luck.

I tried searching for files and music I know I had prior to this situation but couldnt find anything. Wierd is that certain apps like cleanmymac, cloud, iantivirus, and my warcraft3 game were perfectly fine.
 
Are you sure it was the official non-pirated version. Sounds like maybe a trojan/malware deleted your stuff.

I hope you have a backup of your data because it may be gone. :(
 
The link that I followed to download it was recommended here on these forums.
 
ColtonA7X said:
The link that I followed to download it was recommended here on these forums.
Click to expand...

But if you downloaded a commercial product that you didn't pay for, then there are risks. It doesn't matter that an MR member recommended it. Many people here at MR steal software (and many don't).

ColtonA7X said:
Actually its about the same as before. So the files have got to be somewhere but I cant find where.
Click to expand...
If the space utilization hasn't changed then pick up a copy of a disk repair program like disk warrior and see if it can correct the problem.

Also did you use spotlight to see if you can find the music?

Try using omnidisk to see how the space is being used up.
 
maflynn said:
But if you downloaded a commercial product that you didn't pay for, then there are risks. It doesn't matter that an MR member recommended it. Many people here at MR steal software (and many don't).


If the space utilization hasn't changed then pick up a copy of a disk repair program like disk warrior and see if it can correct the problem.

Also did you use spotlight to see if you can find the music?

Try using omnidisk to see how the space is being used up.
Click to expand...

It was a trial from their website, I dont download illegally. I don't think that was the problem but I believe maybe it triggered something I dunno. One thing I did do earlier that day was I erased the empty space on my HD.
 
You probably haven't erased anything. The problem you described could actually be permissions related (you may not have read access on your own home folder somehow).

Try booting from your OS disk, and choosing Reset Password from the Utilities menu. Select the hard drive, then your user account, then click "Reset Permissions and ACL's on the user folder" or something along those lines, at the bottom of the window. Then restart and see if everything's back. Might not work, but it's worth a try.

jW
 
you could use the sudo command in terminal (or SU mode) to see if your home folder exists, and if so, try viewing its contents with something like this
Code: 
sudo ls -a /Users/<yourname>
 
I found all my stuff but I still haven't figured out to log into it.
In find under "shared" if I click on "Macmini2010's Mac mini" (I must have named it that) it says I'm connected as guest. If i click on "connect as" and then choose registered user and enter in my password it lets me access my fold called "Colton" which has my music pics games movies etc... So I am able to access them but I still cant actually log onto it.

Any ideas?
 
ColtonA7X said:
I found all my stuff but I still haven't figured out to log into it.
In find under "shared" if I click on "Macmini2010's Mac mini" (I must have named it that) it says I'm connected as guest. If i click on "connect as" and then choose registered user and enter in my password it lets me access my fold called "Colton" which has my music pics games movies etc... So I am able to access them but I still cant actually log onto it.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Never mind I just realized I was just accessing my MBP which has my old MacMini hard drive in it (hence why it was called Macmini2010).
 
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