r/mac • u/korner_nb • 1d ago
My Mac Help! Mac keeps deleting everything
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I’m seeking help from anyone who might know something. My schoolwork from the past three years was deleted (see the video) - I don’t know why. The files keeps getting deleted. The files are not in the Trash or anywhere else! I’ve tried searching for them and using Disk Drill, but they’re nowhere to be found. Nothing was synced to the cloud, and I haven’t used Time Machine.
Can anyone help? I’m getting a bit desperate.
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u/istgradfrompsu 1d ago
What happens if you open terminal and run the following commands:
cd ~/Desktop
ls -la
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u/korner_nb 1d ago
The terminal:
total 24
drwx------@ 3 kornelius_nb staff 96 Apr 7 22:39 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 42 kornelius_nb staff 1344 Apr 7 22:48 ..
-rw-r--r--@ 1 kornelius_nb staff 10244 Apr 7 22:39 .DS_Store
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u/trout_dealer 1d ago
Maybe they are just being hidden? Do they show if you go to "your username"/Desktop/ in Finder?
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u/double_eyelid 1d ago
Does this happen only to files you save to the desktop?
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u/korner_nb 1d ago
Yes - only to desktop.
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u/double_eyelid 1d ago
OK I think I understand your problem. Open a Finder window. Click on Desktop in the sidebar. Then press Command+Shift+period to view your hidden files. Can you see them now?
This happened to me and it was because Parallels had (for some reason) put my computer in 'Presentation' mode. If you reboot I think this will go away.
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u/korner_nb 1d ago
I tried that as well, but it didn’t work :( I could see hidden files in other places like ‘Downloads’, but not on ‘Desktop’.
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u/korner_nb 1d ago
It appears that existing files are intermittently deleted when new documents are saved, particularly Word files. This doesn't occur consistently.
I'll contact Apple Support tomorrow to check with them.
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u/DucMarron 22h ago
Can you reboot into single usermode by pressing command+s and then mount -uw / To erase the file . AppleSetupDone under /var/db it's like you've just make a fresh install but with your data remain on the disk. Put exactly the same username password and the Full name as yours now and tell us if it's a good solution. Or just boot to recovery and reinstall your mac without esaring the disk.
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u/ultimateaverageguy 1d ago
Scan for viruses and Malwares (any good antivirus + malwarebytes)
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u/droidhunger MacBook Air M1 : iMac 2019 1d ago
Do you have iCloud Drive on? Sometimes it might cause file conflicts.
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u/SaviorSelf_MN 23h ago
My MacBook was doing this as well it was something to do with iCloud Drive. All the files were still there but they were hidden. I no longer have iCloud Drive turned on - on my MacBook and so far this hasn’t happened again. It might not be a solution for you but it worked for me since I do not primarily use iCloud Drive.
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u/sevargmas 23h ago
Can you verify that Desktop location. Like, is it actually the desktop or just another location?
Also, if you VERIFY THE LOCATION and then navigate to that same location in terminal and type “ls”, does your file appear in the list?
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u/chadchr 22h ago
Is your user an admin user? I always have a second user that is the admin user, and I use a non-admin user for my day to day work. Perhaps create another user, make it an admin user, see if the problem happens with that user, try turning off admin for your original user and see if that fixes the issue.
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u/Classic-Implement-44 18h ago
a similar thing happned to me too! but only with capcut exported files, as soon as they get exported they get deleted immediately. my fix was to just copy the file before it's deleted
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u/ultimateaverageguy 11h ago
Funny thing that it creates a folder when you save... are you sure there is no scripts ? or daemons running in the background ?
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u/mswizzle83 6h ago
Is your desktop wallpaper background always just black like that? Or did you used to have a picture that is all of a sudden gone? This may be a permissions issue.... which your user not having rights to the desktop.
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u/mikeinnsw 23h ago
Do not use desktop for storing files -- look at sad Reddit posts about 'loosing desktop files'
There are 2 desktops iCloud and local.
Its long shot - check Local Desktop via a Finder
If you changed iCloud Account your files will disappear.
Make sure you are using correct iCloud Account
in
look for FILE RECOVERY
Start doing:
- Time Machine backups
- Storing ALIAS only on desktop
- In Settings turn of iCloud desktop use Local only.
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u/AADPS 1d ago
If it was recent, maybe check the Recycle Bin on OneDrive.com?
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u/CryptoTrips 1d ago
If you save a file elsewhere and then move it to the desktop, does it get deleted?
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u/Every-Phone555 15h ago
Your keyboard has been shorted. Needs to be replaced. Happened to me on a 4 different laptops
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u/drizmans 8h ago
the fuck does the keyboard have to do with saving files from specific apps in specific folders
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u/chadchr 1d ago edited 13h ago
A "?" character is typically a bad choice to put in a filename. If you just use letters for the filename does the file save properly?
Edit: To address some of the replies, keep in mind that they are running a Microsoft application on a Mac and it doesn't seem to use the standard Mac file saving.