Mid 09 13" pro desktop disappearing?

[7river]

HI
I was trying to make my backups more accessible so I tried to move my picture folders to desktop so when I access the back up, I wont have to open iphoto (havent figured how to do that anyway).
This was working fine but then the transfer of a big file of 150 pictures froze up and the desktop is empty except HD icon. I can still see pics in finder bit not directly on desktop..
Is there a limit to how much can go on desktop?
How do a get file icons back on desktop?
Looks like some files are just gone
Any suggestions?
Thank you

oh yea, I'm running 10.5.8
Doing all this so I can upgrade to mavericks (via snow leopard)

 

[7river]

Any Ideas? I really need to get the computer backed up and be assured pictures are secure. Basically 6 years of pictures 3 births the oldest is now 6. Just shattered screen on iphone, cannot back up phone because the macbook OS is too old, so everything is ground to a halt until I figure this out