restore lost folders / desktop?

[utente]

I had a folder on my desktop and yesterday it disappeared. I also had some files in a folder "untitled folder" with some numbers after the "untitled folder" and, although I was able to save files to it, I can't find it on the hard drive.

I've had my Mac for a few months (and love it) but there are still so many things that I haven't figured out. On Windows you can "restore" the computer to a former date and have things just the way they were on that date.

Is that possible with OSX? It's not a disaster. Nothing critical lost (I hope) but I'm wondering what happened and what I might have done to "lose" those folders.

Any ideas?

[StrongerThanAll]

what kind of files were they? were they files created by an application?

[joshuaLX]

Are you using Time Machine at all?

[utente]

Oh, no! I thought that the folder on the desktop was just an "alias" and that the files were kept with the documents associated with the program: OpenOffice. I don't remember deleting the folder on the desktop or moving it.


Now that I've checked, the file is gone (for good?) It was patient accounts (billing) and, no, of course I hadn't set up Time Machine.

If the files were deleted, is there a way to restore them?

[Khris]

On Windows you can "restore" the computer to a former date and have things just the way they were on that date.

Is that possible with OSX?

Yes, it's called Time Machine. There are several posts already on the forums on how to use it/set it up, and a Google search will reveal even more.

[utente]

Thanks. I was under the impression that Time Machine was only a backup program, not something that could restore the system (the way Windows does).

Meanwhile, though, I found a program on the Apple site called "File Salvage" that's supposed to restore deleted files.

Does anybody know anything about that program?