Hard Drive icon missing - Desktop folders won't open - Need Help!

I need help! I have a 400 MHz PowerPC G4 with 768 MB SDRAM, no DVD drive - was running OS X 10.3.9 quite happily. We became owners of a new iPod Nano - so we had to upgrade to 10.4.
(I'm writing this on my 800 MHz PowerPC G4 with 768 MB SDRAM, (also no DVD drive) that I upgraded from OS X 10.3.9 to 10.4.11 without incident.)
Installed 10.4 using a FireWire Hard Drive - installed software updates to 10.4.11 - ran Disk Utility - ran MacJanitor - ran DoktorKleaner - everything was working well.
Rebooted and the Hard Drive Icon had disappeared from desktop. Folders on desktop have all lumped together in the top right hand corner of the screen, and refuse to open.
Only programs in the dock still work - clicking on the Finder icon only gives the option to hide. New Finder Window does not work. Programs can be found in Spotlight, but if they're not in the dock they won't open. Trash won't open or empty.
I attempted to reinstall Mac OS X using FireWire, but now the Hard Drive is full and is telling me it will erase and reinstall. I need to save files off this computer now (Sadly no backup exists) before my wife readies divorce papers.
I tried using FireWire Target Disk Mode to copy files - with the 400MHz as Target I just get a spinning Beach Ball any time I click on the Icon. After far too long it opened up an empty window.
With the 800MHz as the target, the 400MHz does not show it on the desktop, so I have no way of copying files to it.
Anyone have some advice that doesn't involve a time machine?

Whenever something starts going wrong with the computer I suggest you first boot from the installer disk, select language if applicable, choose utilities, run Disk Utility and verify (and repair if necessary) the drive. Then repair the permissions on your computer. You can also repair permissions from DU on your main drive while booted, but to properly verify and repair your drive you have to run it from a drive other than the boot drive.
[Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214]
[Using Disk Utility in Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672]
[Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751]
From BDaqua (couldn't have said it better):
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
Then Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes."
A few questions:
Was this a retail installer disc that you used to do the upgrade?
How much free space do you have on the computer?
Did you use the [PPC Combo updater|http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateppc.html] to get to 10.4.11?
Did you do all these updates in one single session or restart and check your computer had accepted them okay between each update? It is critical to repair permissions before and after each update otherwise the installers won't install fully and you end up with a mix of versions.
You can set the Finder Preferences, general, to display a hard drive icon, but it sounds like your problems are going beyond that?
You can also try trashing your Users -> home folder -> Library -> Preferences -> com.apple.finder.plist file and see if that clears up the issue. That sets the Finder preferences and if it gets corrupted it will cause Finder problems.

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When I attempt to move files into my folders from the desktop, I used to simply drag the files over the icon of the hard drive I wished to place it, and the icon would highlight, and then open, and I could navigate to the folder I wanted and drop them, and all the windows would close.
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I have been unable to locate a solution to my current problem. Recently I was attempting to use the disc utility application to erase an external 160GB Maxtor drive and accidentally erased on of my existing internal HD icons from my desktop. I am now unable to find or access the "missing" HD anywhere. However, I do have use of the other HD which uses the Jaguary 10.3.9 OS.
Basically the "missing" drive was initially a clone of main drive as was programmed by Apple when I purchased back in 2004. However, I had upgraded to Mac OS X Tiger along with Final Cut Studio and the included applications of Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Compressor, and DVD Studio Pro. Thankfully, I did not have any saved projects, music or documents that I would need to worry about recovering. Also, I should have all of the install application discs at home as I would assume that I will need to use them at some point. If possible, in attempting to correct this problem I would rather not jeopardize the info that is on the remaining "good" drive. Do you have any suggestions regarding starting from scratch on the "bad" hard drive? Obviously, I am a "rookie" at this but I would appreciate any assistance that you may have to offer in order to get this hard drive back to the point that it was at prior to my big "mistake"!!!
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ATA Bus:
Name: k2-sata
Maxtor 6Y250M0:
Capacity: 233.76 GB
Model: Maxtor 6Y250M0
Revision: YAR51FW0
Serial Number: Y634JGZE
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Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
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Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Serial ATA
bay_name: A (upper)
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File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s3
Mount Point: /
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Name: k2-sata
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Capacity: 233.76 GB
Model: Maxtor 6Y250M0
Revision: YAR51FW0
Serial Number: Y634JJ6E
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
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Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Serial ATA
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bay_name: B (lower)
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Thank you in advance for any help or guidance you may have to offer! I also appreciate your taking time out of your day to try and solve this issue.
Johnny
Thanks again!

Here's the answer to this question as provided by EWW in another Discussion Forum from mid-September 2007.
Re: HD ICON DISAPPEARED FROM BOTH DESKTOP & DISK UTILITY
Okay, so you have two identical 250GB Maxtor internal drives, and both drive mechanisms are recognized by System Profiler — but the second one now has no volume(s) on it. The first one contains a single volume called Macintosh HD, about which some information is reported under its name. It appears that both drives are connected satisfactorily to the logic board, so cabling and connections aren't at fault. The external drive isn't involved either, and if it's still connected I suggest disconnecting it before doing anything further, just so it won't get mixed up in the fray.
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In the left panel of Tiger's Disk Utility, what I hope you see is two different Maxtor drive mechanisms listed on separate lines (manufacturer's name and product number appears in these lines) and indented under one of them, the volume called Macintosh HD. There is probably nothing under the other drive mechanism. Select that mechanism. Check its S.M.A.R.T. status near the bottom of the DU window. Is it "Verified"?
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