10.4.7 Lost all preferences, emails, iTunes Library etc

Question

After a restart I appear to have lost all preferences in every programme (including system prefs) everything is behaving as if it's a first run.
Whilst not a major nightmare this is pretty far from convienient, all mail has vanished.
Anyone know why this has happened?
I am using an 2Ghz Intel Core Duo iMac, the only usual factor may be that I'm using FileVault - but should this really cause this?

Answer 1

1. You wrote: "I didn't think even Admin could access other peoples user folders?
Anyway 0 in my case there is definately a red "no-go" sign on my other accounts user folder - I can't open it and I get the "insufficient priviliges" message if I try."If you check the Ownership & Permissions of the Users folder, you should find that the Group admin has Access of "Read & Write." So, an Admin user (administrator account) can open the Users folder. All Admin accounts should be part of the admin Group.
With an Admin account, you should also be able to open the Home folder of another account with Read Only access. It is the folders therein — Documents, Pictures, etc. that are retstricted.
It may be that the permissions on the affected account's Home folder are set incorrectly. Perform a Get Info on the affected account's Home folder (the one bearing that account's short name) and assure that the permissions for Others are "Read Only" in the Ownership & Permissions > Details panel of the Get Info window. If not, change them to Read Only and you should then be able to pick up the the instructions in "Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4: FileVault - How to verify or repair a home directory image" at step 8.
2. You wrote: "This is seeming more and more random - I'd quite like to know why it happened and where all my stuff has gone."If the directory of your FileVault-encrypted home folder (the .sparseimage file) is corrupted, then it can't be mounted properly and hence none of your files can be found.
3. You wrote: "I had just installed 10.4.7 - is that a an issue? "I've not had any problems with 10.4.7, but I don't use FileVault. However, your post is the first I've seen involving FileVault and 10.4.7. I don't think it's a Mac OS X bug, but rather an issue with the directory of your encrypted account's .sparseimage.
Before installing software updates in the future, you may wish to consider the advice in my "Installing Software Updates" FAQ. Taking the steps therein before installing an update often helps avert problems and gives you a fallback position in case trouble arises.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
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