How to view missing master files?

Question

How can i view just the missing files so i can delete them? i have some missing files and i can't delete them for some reason.

Answer 1

Trying to diagnose something like this third hand probably isn't very effective. But when you open Terminal you are "in" your home directory. If you then issue this command:
cd Desktop
and hit return you will then be "in" your Desktop folder. If you then issue the list command:
ls -al
you will get a list of all the files and folders that are in the Desktop folder. If he sees everything, then the stuff is there. He could try creating a new folder in his home folder, call it something like fromDesktop, and then issue this command (this assumes he is still "in" the Desktop folder):
mv * ~/fromDesktop
This will move everything from the Desktop folder into the fromDesktop folder. A list command will verify things:
ls -al ~/fromDesktop
If all his stuff is listed, but he still can't see it in its new location using the Finder, then it could be that somehow the invisible bit got set.
And for Finder's sake, tell him to stop saving all that stuff to the Desktop! Put stuff in folders in his home folder. I've seen cases where excessive numbers of files dropped on the Desktop brought the Finder to its knees for many hours. Every single thing on the Desktop is treated as a window by the Finder, and having a ton of stuff there is needlessly slowing things down. And he should be backing up every night, not every couple of weeks. There are many programs available that will do this automatically. If he is in business he should be using one. Not to mention burning separate CDs of things for every client.
Francine
Francine
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