If I open up my hard drive and navigate to Users, my main account is not there. How can I get it back?
In retrospect I realize it has been gone for a while, but since it still appears in the Sidebar I haven't worried too much about it. Until I recently realized that all my Time Machine backups are worthless because I can't navigate to any files backed up within my account (if I check the file size of the backup it's the same size as what's on my hard drive, so I know it's actually there, I just can't get to it).
I've tried creating an alias to the account but it won't let me do that through the Sidebar. I've searched all over the place and haven't seen another post like this. Anyone have any thoughts on how to troubleshoot this?
Here you can see my user account on the left with the 'M', but going through HD > Users my account isn't there.
The 'M' account is where all my stuff is, other added accounts appear under Users like the 'L' account.
Daniel,
Your suggestion returned this:
ls -la@ /Users, andchflags nohidden /Users/M(of course entering the whole user name). If the latter fails, trysudo chflags nohidden /Users/Mand enter your user account password if you're on an administrator account. What happens when you log in to the M account? Is it even possible? Open System Preferences, Accounts, select M, right-click, Advanced, and check where its home directory is configured. – Daniel Beck May 22 '11 at 18:24@username, e.g. @Farley or @Daniel -- then that user gets notified by the system, just like you were notified of my comment. Remember to click the green checkmark next to a satisfactory answer below, once you get one: This will reward the user who posted that answer. – Daniel Beck May 22 '11 at 18:27cd /Users/M;ls -la;open .(of course, again with your full username). You should get a list of your home folder in the Terminal, and a Finder window with its contents should show up. – slhck May 22 '11 at 18:41sudo chflags nohidden /Users/Mdid the trick. Thank you! Is the home folder with the@and the group aswheelsomething I should be concerned with? Sorry, yes I'm new, I'm brushing up on Markdown Editing now. – Farley May 22 '11 at 18:51@is nothing to be concerned about. Thewheeluser's group too, I just didn't recall seeing it before, ratherstaff. But I wouldn't touch that unless you experience any problems. – slhck May 22 '11 at 18:55