Mid 09 Mac pro 13" lost desktop?

[7river]

HI
I was trying to make my backups more accessible so I tried to move my picture folders to desktop so when I access the back up, I wont have to open iphoto (havent figured how to do that anyway).
This was working fine but then the transfer of a big file of 150 pictures froze up and the desktop is empty except HD. I can still see pics in finder bit not directly on desktop..
Is there a limit to how much can go on desktop?
Any suggestions?
Thank you

 

[7river]

running 10.5.8

 

[7river]

Any Ideas? I really need to get the computer backed up and know pictures are secure. Basically 6 years of pictures 3 births the oldest is now 6. Shattered screen on iphone, cannot back up phone because the macbook os is too old, so everything is ground to a halt until I figure this out

 

[honestone]

I have never "moved" something that "large" from a backup to my desktop, so I cannot help you regarding a size limit. Here are some ideas that may help you.

First of all, I assume you still have the original pictures folder on your backup, and hopefully on an external device.

Secondly, when you say backup, is that an actual backup of your entire system on your Mac Pro to an external disk, either via Time Machine or a cloning program like SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner?

Third, if you have a "full" backup on an external disk, you can boot from that backup. If not, then you'll need to boot the machine via the Leopard DVD (hold down the C key when you start up your Mac (with the DVD in the drive, of course!)). No matter which method you use, you would then start with the program called Disk Utility. If you booted from the backup, it is contained within the Utilities Folder, which is within your Applications Folder. If you booted from the DVD, there is a menu item that you can choose Disk Utility from. Use that program to Verify and Repair Permissions, and Verify and Repair the internal disk.

Fourth, if that does not solve your problem, then if you have a more robust Disk Repair program like Disk Warrior or Tech Tool Pro on your external backup, you could run whichever one you have and see if that does the trick.

Fifth, if any of that software tells you the internal disk is bad, then you'll need to replace it.

Finally, if none of that works, and the disk is OK, then you could try and use Disk Utility to completely wipe your internal drive clean (use the 7 pass via the Security Options in Disk Utility. This will take a long time (start the process right before you go to sleep), and then do a restore from your backup.

 

[7river]

Thank you honestone
I have a back up with time machine and a free copy of superduper
Did not boot from copy though. I will try that. do I just plug in external drive and hold down c key when I start?

 

[honestone]

Thank you honestone
I have a back up with time machine and a free copy of superduper
Did not boot from copy though. I will try that. do I just plug in external drive and hold down c key when I start?

Not the "C" key. You need to get your Mac to boot from whatever backup you have. First, while your Mac is off, connect the external drive (and plug it in). Then, hold down the Option key when you start up. You should then get a screen that allows you to choose which "Volume" to use for starting up. The issue is how to boot up the machine from a Time Machine backup. Here are the results of a google search I just did for "Can a Mac be booted up from a Time Machine backup using Lion?":

https://www.google.com/search?q=Can...la:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Sorry I cannot point you to a specific "link", as I don't use Lion, nor use Time Machine for my backups. I use SuperDuper! (much easier to boot from it).

One other thing (or things) that you possibly could do first is to restart your Mac in various "modes". Here is a link to the Startup key combinations, and the various "descriptions":

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533

 

[7river]

Thanks again
I should have a bootable copy via superduper.

How do you boot that?

 

[honestone]

Thanks again
I should have a bootable copy via superduper.

How do you boot that?

First of all, did you recently make a bootable backup with SuperDuper!? When you do a back up via SuperDuper!, it first asks you where you want to place the backup. Then, as it's going through its' processing, the last thing it does is to make the backup it just created bootable.

Next, assuming you did all all that, just follow the instructions I previously gave about using the C key (after attaching the external device that has your SuperDuper! backup (and plugging it in)). After your Mac boots up via the C key, you should see a choice of startup "volumes". Whatever name you gave for the SuperDuper! backup should be on that screen. Just click it once, click on restart, and your Mac should then start up from the SuperDuper! backup. From there, you have a choice on how to proceed:

1. You can try to repair your hard disk inside your Mac Book Pro using Disk Utilities as I described above.

2. If #1 does not do anything, or you just want to "start over", you would use Disk Utility (via the SuperDuper! backup) to completely wipe your hard drive clean. If I were you, when in Disk Utility, after selecting Erase, click on "Security Options ..." (think that is what it is called; that is what it is called for the Mavericks version). You will then get (I believe) 4 choices as to how you wand the hard disk erased. Depending on what Disk Utility told you about the hard disk, you might want to choose the "7 pass" option. That will take a long time (start it before you go to sleep), but it will definitely clean off the drive as clean as possible. No matter which Erase option you choose, you will need to use Disk Utility to format the drive, and if necessary, partition it. Then, you would start up SuperDuper! (inside your Applications folder), and do a restore from the backup to your internal hard drive. Once that is done, you would then use the appropriate option in System Preferences (forgot what it is called under Lion) to select the internal hard drive as where you want you Mac to reboot from. Then, click once on it, click on Restart, and (hopefully!) your Mac should boot from that choice.

 

[7river]

Thanks again!

Just hope I remember what I named the back up.