Screwed up a folder move

[leisgean]

I had a folder on my desktop that was roughly 350 gb and went to move it into 'documents'. It told me the task would take 8 hours. this seemed odd because it's a new computer with a fusion drive, so I figured things like that would go quickly, quicker... maybe it had to move the folder from the ssd to the hdd or vice versa? i dunno.

Anyway, power went out before the transfer was done. when I turned the computer back on the folder was in 'documents' but greyed out. 'get info' told me it was 1 gb in size instead of 350 gb and I couldn't open it at all. I tied transferring it back to the desktop and still couldn't open it. I tried duplicating it and I can access the duplicate but there are only that 1 gb worth of files in there.

I know the rest of those 350 gb of files are still floating around in there somewhere. is there any way to find them and get them back?

 

[h9826790]

May be it's time to try some data recovery software. But 350G will take ages to scan and recover.

Also, better not to move the "possible corrupted folder" back to desktop. It may replace your "original good folder" and really destroy those 350G data. I know it's too late to tell you about this, but at least you'll never do that again.

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Where is your back-up?

 

[xgman]

And this is why "move" is a bad idea. Copy, then delete.

 

[leisgean]

Gah, figures I'd screw something yup this easy this badly. I have an old, old backup on a time capsule that's packed away. New computer and in the middle of a move and this happens. I didn't think moving something from the desktop to the documents would be that big a deal. I suppose that means the consensus is 'no way' outside of maybe data recovery then?

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Data Recovery Mac

There a several data recovery apps for the Mac. Google for them and please read the reviews carefully before you "try-before-I-buy" one! Before doing so keep in mind some useful IMPORTANT tips after data loss:

- Stop the use of the hard drive from where you lost or deleted your data, which avoid data overwriting and help in complete data recovery.
- Avoid formatting and reformatting of the drive.
- Do not install or reinstall the operating system after data loss.
- Use safe and legal recovery software, which is free from virus.
- Don’t install the recovery software on the drive, from where you need to recover deleted/ lost data.

FWIW Never ever forget to make a regular (daily) backup! Tip: use an app that can back-up & clone your OS X so ICE you can boot from it, best of both worlds.

Good luck recovering!!!

 

[leventozler]

Strange, Mavericks copies files first and deletes old ones once it finished moving all of them.

Open Terminal, go to root or Users folder and check folders with

sudo du -xhd 1

It might give a clue where the folder is (if it's still there)

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Strange, Mavericks copies files first and deletes old ones once it finished moving all of them.

Open Terminal, go to root or Users folder and check folders with

sudo du -xhd 1

It might give a clue where the folder is (if it's still there)

I'm also interested what terminal can resolve here. Keep us posted OP!

 

[leisgean]

Ok, well... thank you all for the help and participating in this demonstration of my forgetfulness and stupidity. Evidently OSX did exactly what it was supposed to do and left the original folder where it was, intact, after the failed move. I thought I had the folder directly on my desktop originally. Turns out I pulled it from a folder inside another folder on my desktop and forgot. The command leventozler recommended above showed I still had 300 some-odd gb still on my desktop somewhere.

Compooter:~ me$ sudo du -xhd 1
Password:
16K ./.adobe
8.0K ./.cups
11G ./.Trash
0B ./Applications
316G ./Desktop
38G ./Documents
22M ./Downloads
74G ./Library
0B ./Movies
313G ./Music
47G ./Pictures
8.0K ./Public
800G .

Did a more thorough search and found the missing (not really) folder in question. Thanks again everyone!

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Good for you!!! - Cheers