Disk/Permissions Repaired, User Info/Data Lost

This is my first mac, switched from windows a few months back. Today my machine crashed severely (while working in ical), so I did a hard reboot. When the machine came back on, there was an icon in the middle of the screen alternating btw a ? and a folder. I used the install disk to verify/repair the drive (no partitions), and the utility showed lots of disk errors. Eventually, however, it said everything was all good, I logged back on and...
All my personal user settings are gone, all my personal library data (iphoto, itunes etc) is gone. The other user on the system's files seem fine. There is a lost+found folder with some stuff in it, but I haven't the foggiest about how to go about using it...it seems to just have font related files in it.
Based on the disk usage statistics I'm guessing my stuff is there somewhere, just am not sure where. "locate" isn't working, I can't seem to run the db build script.
Can anyone help me narrow down the options?
Thanks,
Bree

breezy
Welcome to Apple Discussions!!
The other user on the system's files seem fineIf this really is the case, log on as this user and then:
Open the Terminal (from /Applicabreezy
Welcome to Apple Discussions!!
The other user on the system's files seem fineIf this really is the case, log on as this user and then:
Open the Terminal (from /Applications/Utilities) and copy and paste the following into the Terminal window, one line at a time, with a return after each line:
id
nireport . /users uid gid name realname | awk '$1>500 {print $0}'
nireport . /groups name gid users | grep admin
ls -ln /UsersPost all the output back here.
It is possible your files are all there (the last command will give us a clue) but that your NetInfo database has become corrupted. If necessary this can be restored, but let's find out the damage first.
If this second user doesn't have 'admin' privileges (he doesn't show up in the output of the second command) you might then want to give him these privileges. See this FAQ: kmosx: I lost my admin user. You can do this while waiting for the next reply
tions/Utilities) and copy and paste the following into the Terminal window, one line at a time, with a return after each line:
id
nireport . /users uid gid name realname | awk '$1>500 {print $0}'
nireport . /groups name gid users | grep admin
ls -ln /UsersPost all the output back here.
It is possible your files are all there (the last command will give us a clue) but that your NetInfo database has become corrupted. If necessary this can be restored, but let's find out the damage first.
If this second user doesn't have 'admin' privileges (he doesn't show up in the output of the second command) you might then want to give him these privileges. See this FAQ: kmosx: I lost my admin user. You can do this while waiting for the next reply

Similar Messages

  • Time machine full backup after disk and disk permissions repair

    my macbook would not boot so i inserted the snow leopard DVD and did a disk repair and disk permissions repair, after that it booted perfectly but when it went to do a backup it did a full backup of 149GB , i am unsure why it has done this and would like to know how to stop it as i am trying to save space on my time capsule.
    thank you in advance

    Brycycle wrote:
    i do not wish to let it do a full backup so as to save space on my time capsule but this is the log up till when it started transferring data.
    I'm afraid you don't have much choice. You do have lot of space available, though.
    Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
    No pre-backup thinning needed: 165.92 GB requested (including padding), 507.60 GB available
    The "deep traversal" means TM compared everything on your system to the backups, and estimates that about 138 GB is new/changed (it adds 20% for workspace on the TM disk - the "padding" in the message).
    If there's about 138 GB on your system, see #D3 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for some common reasons for TM to do a new full backup.
    If there's more, #D4 there has some common reasons for large backups.
    If all you did was repair disk and permissions, neither should have resulted.
    the reason i did a permission repair and disk repair while running from the install disk was because my laptop would not boot from the internal disk so i did both just to be safe.
    That's fine; just do the Permissions Repair again, while running normally.

  • Disk Utility & Repair Disk Permissions & Unknown User on External Seagate

    I have a new iMac running Leopard and don't do stupid things to my mac. I have a couple external Seagate Freeagent drives but 1 of them is giving me a little trouble. So I figure, I'll try to repair disk permissions on it but the problem is when I go into Disk Utility, the Repair Disk Permissions option is NOT available. It's there, I just can't select it; it's grayed out. Why? I'm an admin! The other externals have this option available but not this one, so I'm not really sure what to do. I've about 300gb of family movies on it that I'd rather not wipe out just to be able to do a disk permission repair.
    Whenever I do a command+i on the drive I do see an UNKNOWN user but this article, http://www.pcworld.com/article/145425-1/quickand_easy_folder_sharing_in105.html, leads me to believe that Apple hasn't done jack squat to allow us to fix the problem.
    Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks in advance!

    mrpeepers wrote:
    I don't think that statement is true.
    I have 3 externals and can repair disk permission on all but 2. All my externals are for storage purposes and non have OSX installed, so that fact that I can repair disk permissions on them sort of contradicts what you say, however, the effectiveness of running a repair disk permission on a drive that doesn't have OSX may be nothing.
    I don't know how you manage to repair permissions on externals without system files on them but what I said is quite true. Repair permissions ONLY checks permissions of system files against the database of correct permissions. It wouldn't know what to do with any other files and never touches them. It should also not be possible on non OS X drives. I've never seen it enabled on any of my external or secondary drives. I really wonder why and how it was enabled on your external drives.
    I did have Tiger installed for 3 months before I got Leopard, but my externals have known nothing but Leopard.
    That doesn't matter. the ownership of files on your external were set in Tiger and it remains in leopard. that's what causes the "unknown" user to show up.
    The problem I'm having with one of the drives is that starting yesterday it's having difficulties mounting. Sometimes I restart the computer and the drive doesn't show. So in order to get it to show, I have to power down the external (which is and appears to be running) and then power it back up, and if that doesn't work, usually reseating the USB works.
    Then again... My problems started happening after I installed CandyBar and applied some folder changes. I have since dumped it.
    whatever problems you have with that external they have absolutely nothing to do with Candy bar. all candy bar does is change a few icon files on your main hard drive. that can have no effect on mountability of anything.
    This sounds to me like a hardware problem with your external. the drive could be failing. the USB bus could be failing either on the drive or on the computer. One thing you could do is check to see if there are any firmware upgrades for that drive. Look at the manufacturer's website. also try testing the drive with another computer if you can.
    On another note... Anyone use CandyBar and NOT have any problems or really like it? Maybe it was just a coincidence.
    yes, I use it and REALLY like it. no problems whatsoever.

  • Disk Permissions, Repair Disk Permissions

    Can someone give me some information regarding Disk Permissions. I've been having some problems of late, and have seen several posts where the user was told to "repair their disk permissions." I went into Disk Utility and ran "Verify Disk Permissions" and a TON of stuff came up. Of course, I don't know what any of it means. Should I go ahead and "Repair Disk Permissions"? What does this do, exactly?

    Mac Medic ([email protected]) wrote:
    I would start by searching driver software for the cardbus adapter. Also, Make sure you have all the Mac OS X and iTunes updates.
    That card doesn't require a driver according to their Web site.
    Also, did you read her original post? She said she has a MacBook with USB 1.1. All MacBooks came with USB 2.0. How would you even put that card in a MacBook with no PCMCIA card slot?
    Dave M.
    MacOSG Founder/Ambassador  An Apple User Group 
    Creator of Mac611 - Mobile Mac Support (designed exclusively for an iPhone/iPod touch)
    Sorry about the mistake...I'm on a PowerBook G4 PowerPC, NOT a MacBook (I've been looking into getting a used MacBook--guess I had it on the brain when I posted.) Agreed, per the site, I shouldn't need any drivers, however, a driver disk did come with the card. Interesting. Guess I'll look into that next.
    If that doesn't help, guess it's back to the drawing board. Perhaps a faulty card?

  • Problems with disk permissions repair

    What software will work when disk permissions fails to solve the problem? My Mac is restartiing on it's own when I'm working......
    Thanks,
    CP

    Two things:
    1. How to Reset the SMC.
    2. Backup your files, erase the hard drive, reinstall OS X or try:
    How to Perform an Archive and Install
    An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
    1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
    2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
    3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
    4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
    5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
    6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

  • Disk permissions repair not working

    I upgraded to leopard the day it came out and was very pleased with it. However, I am noticing that when I attempt to repair disk permissions in Disk Utility I get the following warnings:
    Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
    Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/load_hdi" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner " has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Permissions differ on "private/var/log/secure.log", should be -rw------- , they are -rw-r----- .
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/readconf ig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/writecon fig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/authopen" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    sorry its so messy I just copied and pasted it.
    Thanks,
    Macguy3000

    baltwo wrote:
    Join the baffled club of users.
    I think I'm almost a charter member -- I resisted installing Leopard until the end of October but from then on it has been a long, strange trip, with an almost daily occurrence of some new bafflement. Even Apple seems baffled by some of Leopard's quirks, as evidenced by the increasing number of technical articles about Leopard that end in "This document will be updated as more information becomes available" & the ever increasing list of apps that don't play well with the OS, including many of Apple's.

  • Disk Utility - Verify Disk Permissions / Repair

    I run Disk Utility > Verify Disk Permissions with this rsult:
    Verify permissions for “Macintosh HD”
    Permissions differ on "usr/share/derby", should be drwxr-xr-x , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
    The following repair was successful.
    A few minutes later I run Verify Disk Permissions again with the SAME result:
    Verify permissions for “Macintosh HD”
    Permissions differ on "usr/share/derby", should be drwxr-xr-x , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
    What does it mean and how can I stop this error?
    Thanks!

    There is nothing in that message that requires repairing. That is why it keeps showing up.
    The permission database has to be updated every time the system is updated. If they miss a change that they have made in the system, it will get flagged as you see, but doesn't mean anything is wrong.
    That KnowledgeBase article also must be updated to reflect the things they missed.
    All that message is saying is that the directory derby is now replaced with a link to another directory (the l vs the d). However, mine doesn't have a link. Did you install anything that might have updated derby?
    If you open Terminal and enter this code, can you post the line that has derby on it?ls -al /usr/share/
    I'm repairing permissions now to see what pops up for me, but that will take a little while.
    Edit: I looked into the Derby directory and Derby is a Relational Database Management System used by Apache. So, did you install something that modified Apache, PHP, mySQL or something like that? It might have altered the link.
    Message was edited by: Barney-15E

  • Disk Permissions Repair

    hi. i have done the Permissions Repair but there are 2 files that cannot be repaired:
    Attenzione: il documento SUID "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent"
    the documet ....... is been modified so it cannot been repaired!
    Attenzione: il documento SUID "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" è stato modificato e non verrà riparato.
    what can i done?

    No issues - just ignore...many users see the same.
    Apple has this to say about that:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448

  • Clean Install needs Disk Permissions Repaired?

    I have just performed a clean install of ML 10.8.2 and performed a Disk Verify which reported back OK.  Then I did a Verify Disk Permissions and it found several items that needed repair.  I rebooted and ran it again but the same items came back.  So I repaired the permissions.
    I also had this same problem when I did a clean install of 10.8.1 and both times that was all that was on the disk.
    Is this normal?  Should I have to do a permissions repair after installing a new OS?

    Should I have to do a permissions repair after installing a new OS?
    No, and you don't have to. You never need to repair permissions unless you have an indication of a permission error involving system files, which you probably never will unless you do something very unusual. The warning messages are spurious.
    Permission repair is an immensely popular, time-wasting ritual that is rarely, if ever, necessary. The one time you can be absolutely sure you don't need to do it is right after installing or reinstalling OS X.

  • Why doesn't repair disk permissions repair all disk permissions?

    Disk Utility says there are a bunch of disk permissions that need repairing. I hit repair and disk utility says that it repaired those disk permissions. But when I verify, it says they still need to be repaired.

    See "more like this" on the side, or do a search for those terms + "site:discussions.apple.com." This question has been raised and answered innumerable times. Bottom line: don't worry about it.

  • Shell Script or Applescript to run disk permissions repair

    Tried doing this Applescript in Automator:
    do shell script "sudo diskutil repairPermissions /" ¬
      password "yourAdminPassword" with administrator privileges
    This works, but the process appears to run without shutting down when it's done.
    Can anybody suggest an addition or modification to terminate when the permissions repair is completed?

    do shell script ¬
              "sudo diskutil repairPermissions / ; exit" password "yourpassword" with administrator privileges

  • My files disapeared off of my desktop upon Disk Permissions repair

    I've had a problem with adobe bridge 3 where it crashes upon choosing a certain directory.
    i've checked the console logs and it showed something related to dictionary missing a " ; "
    i've googled online, and there were an advice to very permissions.
    after using disk utility to veryfiy permissions, lots of permission occurences were shown where i picked "repair permissions"
    after doing so i've restarted my MAC.
    once i'm logged back in, none but one of my old files were shown.
    all my files are disapaered...
    i've tried enabling my username from Standard username to Administrator just in case i need rights..
    it didnt work.
    Can anyone please help?
    my entire year's projects are/were on my desktop!
    any advice is greatly appreciated..
    NB: i've got into /Users thinking tht my home user has been renamed. but theres nothing there but my Admin username.

    http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
    27" i7 iMac (Mid 2011) refurb, OS X Yo (10.10), Mavs, ML & SL, G4 450 MP w/10.5 & 9.2.2

  • G4 10.4.11 disk permissions repair?

    I need to repair the disc permissions on my G4 running 10.4.11, but there is no disc utilities on my mac. Where can I get software to repair the permissions?
    Cheers
    Vettie

    Ouch -36 is a tough one...
    For error -36, might try this...
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301580
    Well, in pure Apple File System talk... -36            ioErr            I/O error (bummers)
    Not very helpful, but generally means a Drive quit being Readable or Writable since starting the operation...
    http://fuzzy.wordpress.com/2006/12/10/ioerror-36/
    What happens if you drag & drop one of those PDFs on Previews icon?

  • Disk Permissions - Repair Issue

    I did a what I thought was a routine disk repair and when done I received these five messages at the end. Can anyone tell me what they mean, especially the "will not be repaired" part. Does it matter? Is something up I should know about and get attention to? Thank you. The messages are posted below....
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "System/Library/Extensions/webdavfs.kext/Contents/Resources/loadwebdav" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "usr/sbin/pppd" has been modified and will not be repaired.
    Warning: SUID file "usr/sbin/vpnd" has been modified and will not be repaired.

    Apple has told us that those SUID notices can be safely ignored.
    Dah•veed

  • Warning from Disk permissions Repair

    Can you tell me if this below link contains anything I should be worried about?
    When I repair diskpermissions this line appears at the bottom finish-line:
    Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent” has been modified and will not be repaired.

    Nothing to worry about. See http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448

Maybe you are looking for