I had parked a rather large file on desktop and after using the view option, arrange and a power outage the following day, the file is no longer on the desktop and the Hard drive memory shows an added huge chunk of memory reflecting the files absence. I ran a file salvage and it reflects that it was not deleted.

P.S. There is an identical file name in the documents folder but they had coexisted for a long time.

You may have sustained directory damage. You can use Disk Utility to run Repair Disk (instructions here) but DU in 10.3 and earlier was rather weak. If you have Disk Warrior, TechTool Pro or Drive Genius, try one of them. They are all more powerful than DU.

More details about your system would be helpful. Which model Mac? Which OS? How much RAM? Hard drive capacity and amount of free space? Also, please explain what you mean by the Hard drive memory shows an added huge chunk of memory reflecting the files absence. I don't understand.

I ran permissions repair and it did not help. The memory was increased by the size of the missing file. The system is as follows:
iMac
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.3) 1 ghz cpu ram 256k
Hd Drive:80 GB

Using Mac OSX 10.3.9

Repairing permissions won't help. You must run Repair Disk after booting from the 10.3 CD #1 and accessing Disk Utility from the Installer menu at the first screen. NOTE: You cannot run Repair Disk while booted from the hard drive.

Alternatively, do the following:

1. Start up while pressing Command and S simultaneously. Release the keys when you see writing on the screen.
2. Type /sbin/fsck -fy (leave a space between fsck and -fy) and press Return. If any repairs are made, repeat this until you either get a message that everything is OK or that the disk cannot be repaired. In that case, try one of the other utilities that I mentioned (if you can).
3. To get back to normal, type reboot and press Return.

If you opt for Disk Utility, repeat Repair Disk as in #2 (above) if necessary.

Jon,

I will try that.

Jon,

Choose to run Repair Disk from #1 install OSX and did Verify and Repair Disk and it came back as being OK.
The file however did not reappear.
Any other ideas ?

As I said previously, Disk Utility in 10.3 and earlier is weak. Do you have access to one of the other utilities? It's possible that they can find things that DU doesn't see. That has been my experience even with the much-improved version of DU in 10.5.

Another thought is that, somehow, the file has become hidden. You can show hidden files with OnyX. FYI, if you name a file starting with a dot (for example, you have a photo of your son and you name it .son), it will be hidden. To unhide it, you'll have to find it (via OnyX) and then rename it to remove the dot. I'm not saying that this is what happened (and frankly I doubt it) but I suppose that it's possible.

Have you tried to recover it with File Salvage?

I think I do not have any other utility (never needed one)but will try the hidden file finder program. I ran File Salvage and it was uncovered mostly deleted files including the file type I am trying to recover which is why I conject it was not deleted.

Well the onyx program shows the network icon, server icon, an F something file and an invisible file I cannot
delete. (.filename)

How do I get rid of that file and hide the network and
server icons?

Well I ran onyx and it modified the date on all my document files?

Also the .local icon and network icon are on my desktop and in my finder, how do I remove them.



Removal:Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

No files were found.

In the past if I click on Network icon, the Hard Drive icon would appear and if you clicked on that there would be a list of files that excluded Users, Users name, and documents folder . After running onyx for other purposes now Users appears in the Hard Drive, along with users name and documents folder.

What could I do to have those files remain out of the Hard Drive under network?