HELP Documents folder missing on mac!

Question

I was following a post on a fourm to remove mysql and now most of the folders in my home folder are missing!

In terminal I typed:

rm -rf /usr/local/mysql *

After a few minutes terminal returned:

rm: Library/Caches: Directory not empty
rm: Library/Preferences: Directory not empty
rm: Library: Directory not empty
rm: Music/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache/B7EB6DD3AACBAAF9: Directory not empty
rm: Music/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache: Directory not empty
rm: Music/iTunes/Album Artwork: Directory not empty
rm: Music/iTunes: Directory not empty
rm: Music: Directory not empty

Please help me!

Answer 1

Sadly, you included a space before the * - what you said was "delete /usr/local/mysql, and everything in the current working directory. Including subfolders. No don't ask me to confirm, just do it"

This sort of question would be ideal for superuser.com, the new sister site to StackOverflow.

Answer 2

I sure hope you have a backup...

The command you ran breaks down into:

rm -rf /usr/local/mysql
AND
rm -rf *

I'm assuming you're in your home folder so the latter command just erased nearly everything in your home folder. You'll want to restore your files from a backup.

If you simply need your Documents folder back you can simply create a new folder in your home folder called Documents and Mac OS X will see that as your Documents folder.

Answer 3

Tried with something like these results from google? http://www.google.com/search?q=mac+os+x+undelete Don't hold much hope, though.

Answer 4

This is, unfortunately, an all too common mistake.

Fortunately, you've got options. Data recovery is definitely possible. When you delete files from a computer, they're not completely gone. They're still on the hard disk, the computer just deletes all references to where they are on the disk. It's like sealing off all light from a room. Everything's still there, but good luck finding the remote control!

Luckily, there are people who specialize in data recovery. They may be able to determine where many of these files are, and get them back to you. Even if some files have been overwritten, they can use advanced techniques (such as finding residual magnetic traces on individual bits), to find the data that once was there.

None of the details necessarily concern you. All you need to do is get that drive to a professional. The more you use it, the harder it will be to recover data.

Try asking Geek Squad. They offer data recovery. Otherwise, Google is your friend. http://www.google.com/search?q=data+recovery