After downloading Catalina, my personal files disappeared. I restored them from Time Machine . I still cannot find them on my hard drive. Where are they? How can I access them?
iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15
Yes, your “Home” folder is your user folder.
Security doesn’t mean anything, really.
Since it is now impossible to store the files where you did, previously, they were moved there so that you can access them. Just move your files into your home and delete the Relocated Items folders when done.
Check System Preferences, Apple ID, see if iCloud Drive is turned on. If it is, you may have inadvertently shifted some files to the cloud when setting up your new system. If so, they are not gone but are just visible and accessible in a different way. You can shift them back to local storage if this is what has happened.
On the sidebar of your screen (where folders and devices are listed) under iCloud you should see iCloud Drive (you may need to click on "Show" to reveal the iCloud Drive item). Click on iCloud Drive and hopefully all your missing documents and files will show up.
You are a saint for continuing to answer me, and I want to make sure I'm doing this right: I opened my hard drive window. On the left is "iCloud Drive". When I open it, I'm given the following choices: Desktop, Downloads, Numbers, Shortcuts, Documents, Pages and Preview. None include my files.
When I select my Macintosh Hard drive from that menu, I'm only offered: Applications, Library, System and Users.
Is it possible that I did not restore properly from Time Machine? When I look at a screen shot in Time Machine from earlier today it does not show any of the (supposedly) restored files. I clicked on the ones I wanted to restore, selected "Restore" and waited while the menu said it was happening. It all happened very fast. Then repeated the process until all the files were (supposedly) restored. I wasn't asked where I wanted to locate them. Any thoughts about this?
Again, many thanks.
When I select my Macintosh Hard drive from that menu, I'm only offered: Applications, Library, System and Users.
Were you files stored outside of your home folder, like right inside Macintosh HD?
If so, go into /Users/Shared/Relocated Items.
You can't store files at the root level of the hard drive. You should store them in your home folder.
Drag them from Relocated Items into your Home folders.
Also, can you explain exactly how you "restored" the files after you "downloaded" Catalina? What do you mean by Catalina, did you install it over something else, did you erase your drive first? It's not clear to me what sequence you followed? We might be suggesting incorrect things because we don't know what you did, exactly.
Barney - thank you very much. I found the restored files under Users/Shared/ Previously relocated items/Security. When you say I should keep them in my "Home" folder, not on the root level hard drive, what does that mean? What do you mean by my "Home" folder? Is that the same as my User folder? And, what does "Security" mean in this case?
Thanks for helping solve this problem. (It is crazy that Apple is doing this to users without telling us ahead of time. Any why is it necessary? I know it's not your doing...)
Barney - Thank you for helping me solve this problem. It's all fixed now and I understand the architecture of the new system. I am really grateful for your help. I hope your answers also help others with this problem.
Thanks Steve. I checked iCloud Drive. It is on. But I still don't see my personal files there or elsewhere. Any other thoughts?
Where to find restored files on hard drive after downloading Catalina OS?
