[crushed87]

Hello people.
Sorry to be a burden or a n00b or whatever but last night I changed my "short name" (or something.. I'm not quite sure what)... then this morning I turned the Mac on and most things have been wiped, all my music, the folders on my desktop all my photos in iPhoto... all the bookmarks in Firefox etc..

I was wondering if there is any way to reverse what I've done.. ?



Thanks for reading, it's much appreciated

[seanc]

All of your files are still there, in the previous name of your home folder. Because you changed the name and the OS couldn't find the folder, it made a new one.
If you change the short name of your home folder back and reboot, your files should come back.

[crushed87]

Oh yes!
Okay it's back to normal...
Oh thanks so much!

[seanc]

No problem

[DogGone]

Originally Posted by seanc 

No problem

How come this thread is a sticky? Looks like the problem has been solved.

Mods? Anyone seen a mod? Damnit you can never find them when you need 'em

[seanc]

I requested it become a sticky so that people with the same problems will look at it and be able to fix their problems this way. We get a lot of the same threads otherwise.

[Horsepoo!!!]

This is crazy...you guys can't sticky any old thread. Imagine if everyone's obscure problem got sticky status! This problem isn't common enough to warrant sticky status...not to mention making a sticky for a thread about a single problem is a waste.

I very much doubt anyone on the forum will find this thread useful because hardly anyone changes the Home folder name.

[JonoMarshall]

Did anyone ever make a nice utility for changing the Short Name? (Short of using NetInfo Manager and editing the entries yourself?)

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!! 

This is crazy...you guys can't sticky any old thread. Imagine if everyone's obscure problem got sticky status! This problem isn't common enough to warrant sticky status...not to mention making a sticky for a thread about a single problem is a waste.

This is not some "obscure" problem.

This, along with the .dmg software-install process, is one of Mac OS X's biggest failings!

I see this happen ALL THE TIME.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by JonoMarshall 

Did anyone ever make a nice utility for changing the Short Name? (Short of using NetInfo Manager and editing the entries yourself?)

ChangeShortName 1.3 - MacUpdate

Use at your own risk.

[JonoMarshall]

Tah... that's handy that is.

[Horsepoo!!!]

Originally Posted by analogika 

This is not some "obscure" problem.

This, along with the .dmg software-install process, is one of Mac OS X's biggest failings!

I see this happen ALL THE TIME.

By ALL THE TIME, do you mean ONCE A YEAR? Nobody ever thinks of changing the home folder name because most people can't even manage to find that folder in the first place.

[USNA91]

Well, it happened to me once, and it wasn't fun. Reckon I missed the (then) very small type explaining what the "short name" meant.

I've learned much since then. Some ended in others in and a few in

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!! 

By ALL THE TIME, do you mean ONCE A YEAR? Nobody ever thinks of changing the home folder name because most people can't even manage to find that folder in the first place.

a) I work in Mac support.

b) You're talking out of your ass.

c) most people it happens to, it only ever happens to ONCE. That's quite enough for what appears to be catastrophic loss of data, but is fixable within about thirty seconds.

d) What the hell is it to you to have one of the approximately four *serious* user interaction issues present in Os X 10.4 featured as a sticky in this forum.
Does it somehow encroach upon your personal freedom?

[Horsepoo!!!]

Originally Posted by analogika 

a) I work in Mac support.

b) You're talking out of your ass.

c) most people it happens to, it only ever happens to ONCE. That's quite enough for what appears to be catastrophic loss of data, but is fixable within about thirty seconds.

d) What the hell is it to you to have one of the approximately four *serious* user interaction issues present in Os X 10.4 featured as a sticky in this forum.
Does it somehow encroach upon your personal freedom?

If it happened even 1/10th the time you suggest, wouldn't you think it would be fixed by 10.5? It's not a high priority fix it seems. Have you reported that this happens ALL THE TIME to Apple?

OMG, OMG, ALL THE TIME. If the Genius Bar was swamped with "I've changed the name of my user folder and now all files are gone!!!!1one" panic attacks, Apple would have this issue fixed in no time.

Here are my guesses:

a) You're a terrific liar
b) You're a professional liar
c) This thread should not be a sticky...or should at least combine the 3 other "*serious* user interaction issues"...ooooo, scary. I'm gonna get nightmares knowing there are 4 "*serious* user interaction issues".

Here's a similar problem that happened to me once. I had a folder named "Summer Vacation 2005" and I renamed it to "Gigglesticks"...then I couldn't find my Summer Vacation 2005 photos...I cried a bit. Then I remembered I had renamed the folder and my photos were actually in Gigglesticks. Do I see this problem sticky'ed anywhere? Sure the magnitude of the problem is different but it's essentially the same problem.

[Cybersparrow]

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!! 

snip...

Here's a similar problem that happened to me once. I had a folder named "Summer Vacation 2005" and I renamed it to "Gigglesticks"...then I couldn't find my Summer Vacation 2005 photos...I cried a bit. Then I remembered I had renamed the folder and my photos were actually in Gigglesticks. Do I see this problem sticky'ed anywhere? Sure the magnitude of the problem is different but it's essentially the same problem.

Actually, while the results of the problem are similar, they aren't essentially the same problem. In your Gigglesticks case, the change was immediately obvious, and the results of the change were immediately obvious (i.e. you can see the name change in the Finder, you can immediately click on the folder to see that the photos are still present). However, when you change the short name, the results of the change are not immediately obvious. Rather, you might not see a change until days in the future, the next time a software update requires a reboot, or you temporarily shut down the computer to move it, or you temporarily shut down the computer because there's lightning nearby, etc. It's not obvious that what you did will cause what appears to be data loss.

[Horsepoo!!!]

Originally Posted by Cybersparrow 

Actually, while the results of the problem are similar, they aren't essentially the same problem. In your Gigglesticks case, the change was immediately obvious, and the results of the change were immediately obvious (i.e. you can see the name change in the Finder, you can immediately click on the folder to see that the photos are still present). However, when you change the short name, the results of the change are not immediately obvious. Rather, you might not see a change until days in the future, the next time a software update requires a reboot, or you temporarily shut down the computer to move it, or you temporarily shut down the computer because there's lightning nearby, etc. It's not obvious that what you did will cause what appears to be data loss.

Untrue...when I changed the folder name, the result was not immediately obvious because I went to do something else. Then, weeks later, I couldn't find my photos. I thought I had lost all my photos.

As you can see, in both cases, the user changed a folder name and forgot they did so and become surprised when they and/or the OS can't find the files. Changing the user folder name might be scarier because the OS can't find your home folder...so, yes, it's a terrible design choice and I hate Apple for it. But the two scenarios are quite the same: folder renamed, user can't find files.

It's the unfortunate design flaw of all hierarchical file systems. If an app looks for things in a specific place and that place can't be found, the app gets confused...just like any human. Of course, there are ways to make apps (and OSes) smarter but...really...does this stuff happen often?

I'm guessing one of the 3 other *serious* design flaw is probably how the Software Updater only checks for apps in /Applications and possibly in respective folders inside /Applications (iWork I suppose). This one probably happens 10 times more often than renaming the user folder considering people have a direct link to the Applications folder and some people are neat freaks and absolutely have to organize everything into cute little folders.

I don't understand how OS X can't use Spotlight to find these apps...regardless of where they're located.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!! 

a) You're a terrific liar
b) You're a professional liar
c) This thread should not be a sticky...or should at least combine the 3 other "*serious* user interaction issues"...ooooo, scary. I'm gonna get nightmares knowing there are 4 "*serious* user interaction issues".

Did your mom buy you Captain Asshole cereal this week, or is it hormonal imbalance?

As far as I can judge, the only sensible reply to that post is "**** you, and the horse that rode you in."

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!! 

As you can see, in both cases, the user changed a folder name and forgot they did so and become surprised when they and/or the OS can't find the files. Changing the user folder name might be scarier because the OS can't find your home folder...so, yes, it's a terrible design choice and I hate Apple for it. But the two scenarios are quite the same: folder renamed, user can't find files.

You should try renaming your home folder sometime. Because the result after restarting or logging out are not at all what you describe.

What happens is that, to all appearances, your ENTIRE SYSTEM is WIPED CLEAN.

EVERYTHING is reset to original status. All your e-mail is gone. All your pictures are gone. Everything you've done since first setting up the computer is completely gone, and none of the shortcuts on the left of a standard Finder window will find it for you. Even the Dock is reset to original settings, default icons. EVERYTHING.

All because the OS doesn't warn you that renaming your home folder is probably a bad idea. And yes, this happens ALL THE ****ING TIME, because a lot of users don't appreciate that the home shortcut on the left of their Finder windows lists a concatenation of their complete first and last names. For whatever reason: some of them just happen to KNOW what their name is, and don't see why the computer should constantly remind them, so they simply click next to the icon, and - hey! - it lets them rename that annoying thing to just their first name, or to "My Stuff" or whatever. Wonderful! Problem solved.

Until about ten days later, when there's a system update, they restart their machine, and then make their way to my store, desperate for some sort of data recovery service.

Or they call me up.

There's also the OS 9 switchers - who are becoming increasingly rare, though - who are simply used to being able to re-arrange and re-name virtually any folder on their hard drive to their aesthetic liking.

And the odd customer who "cleaned up" their hard drive, sorting stuff into different folders, and is now surprised that the machine won't boot.

But those last two are not that common.

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!! 

I'm guessing one of the 3 other *serious* design flaw is probably how the Software Updater only checks for apps in /Applications and possibly in respective folders inside /Applications (iWork I suppose).

Nope. Nobody cares about that, since it doesn't break anything, doesn't clutter stuff, and in fact, isn't even noticeable to the user - how is the clueless user supposed to notice, let alone be bothered by, a conspicuous *absence* of software updates?

One big issue: The DMG model of software installation is broken in its currently most common implementation. This has been discussed at length and breadth, and there are reasons why it is as it is, but until a user has it explained to them, there's no intuitive way of "getting" it.

Another (smaller) issue: The disclosure triangle in the Open/Save dialogs. It used to be next to the locations pop-up. It's now next to the name text entry field.

Neither of these is destructive, so neither warrants a sticky.

Again: what's it to you? Does this thread cause a burning under your foreskin or something?

[Big Mac]

None of these issues are any big deal at all, analogika, although I agree it shouldn't be so easy to remain one's home folder.

[analogika]

This one is.