Help; Deleted folder/var and I am stuck

[ethan19210]

Earlier I was cleaning out my MacBook Air when I deleted the folder /var and emptied the trash. However some of it was still in the trash when it froze and would not let me remove the remaining bits of the folder because "my password was incorrect." Next I rebooted computer and I am stuck at am silver Apple screen with a spinning wheel. I believe I was running 10.5.8. Someone help please.

 

[Willo34]

Try all the resets?

 

[caskibum]

Backups? If you were running Time Masheen, start an OS recovery:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/how-reinstall-mac-os-x-using-internet-recovery-3593641/
and recover the system and your latest TM backup.

Deleting the contents of /var will result in the death of your OS and a full restore required. Your personal data is still safe on the drive so if you don't have backups, don't do anything to overwrite that data, get the help of a professional to make a backup of the drive before restoring the OS.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Backups? If you were running Time Masheen, start an OS recovery:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/how-reinstall-mac-os-x-using-internet-recovery-3593641/
and recover the system and your latest TM backup.

Deleting the contents of /var will result in the death of your OS and a full restore required. Your personal data is still safe on the drive so if you don't have backups, don't do anything to overwrite that data, get the help of a professional to make a backup of the drive before restoring the OS.

If the machine is truly running 10.5.8 it does not have a Recovery partition or Internet Recovery. That was introduced in 10.7.x. To fix a broken OS X installation in versions 10.6.x or older one needs the original installation DVD or a bootable thumb drive with the installer.

 

[iWombBanger]

/var is a system required folder. Only option is to reload the OS or recover from Time Machine, Carbon Clone, etc.

I think with Leopard, you can do an archive install which will keep all your data, etc.