RSSYet another case for backing up your data: Snow Leopard
By Tim Conneally | Published October 12, 2009, 5:50 PM
Apparently not only are Sidekick users losing their personal data. Now, in a separate incident, Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) users are also finding their data fully wiped.
The bug was actually discovered within a week of Snow Leopard's launch back in August, when users found that logging out of their account, into a "guest" account, and then back into their personal account would completely erase the content from their home drive (Documents, Movies, Pictures, Music, Sites).
Though the bug is now more than a month old, it's still claiming victims, as Apple's support forums show. However, Apple has yet to acknowledge the issue and the aforesaid conditions do not faithfully reproduce the bug.
The issue is thought to only affect users who had active guest accounts in Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), and the only workaround currently is to disable guest login altogether.
Users who have succumbed to the bug are likely to permanently lose their data unless they have performed a backup, so users who have guest accounts and upgraded to Snow Leopard from Leopard are advised to back up their data immediately. Users with Time Machine running simply need to hold down the "C" key when booting their Mac, and then selecting Utilities > Restore from Backup in the event that this bug eliminates their data.
Apple newest slogan:
"Want to lose your data? There's an app for that!"
Score: 1
|This is not a bug, didn't Apple mention that Snow Leopard would free up disk space? Remember? Yes, that's what it is doing by deleting user files. This is a really innovative by Apple. Applauds Apple for such a great feature
Score: 2
|Lesson to be learnt:
don't use the folders controled by your OS.
Create a separate partition to put your data on or use another thing that is separated from the computer entirely e.g. External Hard Drive, thumb drives,....
Those default folders are cursed! When you delete them they keep coming back.
And sometimes if you dare to put things in, those things disappear!
Some evil corporation is using them as evil SuckFolders(TM).
Score: -1
|THIS IS MORE CONFUSING THAN WHEN THEY ADDED A SECOND MOUSE BUTTON
Score: -1
|aside from the caps, this was a funny comment
Score: 1
|HMM Lets call a MAC Guru. Better yet switch to PC
Score: 0
|MAC IS THE BEST COMPANY EVER THEIR PRODUCTS NEVER CRASH AND MESS UP OR GET VIRUSES. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE THEY TOLD ME IN COMMERCIALS DUH
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|sarcasim +1, caps -2
Score: 1
|This just happened to me on Sunday!!! I lost ALL my stuff!! It has nothing to do with leopard, because I only turned on guest acct after I upgraded to 10.6.
In my case I typed my password at the user login screen, but accidently clicked on the Guest user acct, so it was like a blended logon, wierd I know! I quickly logged out and when I logged in correctly settings/files were all gone! :(
My itunes library, address book, emails were all erased from my mac, but since my iPhone was still in my pocket I was able to "resync" the data from my phone back to my mac using "ipodrip".
well except for what I had saved in my macs "download" folder, that is gone forever :(
Funny part is the only reason I turned on the mac on sunday was to Jailbreak my iphoneOS 3.1.2! LOL so now I will complete my mission today :)
ok here comes the conspiracy theaory: Apple wants me to spend $300 on time capsule! Yup, in Windows defense "system restore" will let you go back to a certain time... why cant mac do this?? why do I need an external backup device?? why cant time machine work on a dedicated part of the same HDD?? geeze
Score: 2
|But system restore doesn't work on user data
Score: 1
|Time Machine works, though.
Score: 0
|That explains why I lost my data. Damm you Apple for not testing your software.
Score: 4
|ditto
Score: 4
|They released crap os x in a hurry because of the heat of Windows 7. Nonetheless, it's the new Vista of Mac
Score: 2
|Sorry cannot resist:
Tim, can you edit the graphic so that the cat is saying: "I can has backup"?
This just screams for a lolcat reference.
Score: 5
|Here you go. : )~
http://cheezburger.com/View.aspx?aid=2715780864
Score: 3
|Good work. now find out where the image in the article is pulling from and replace it with that one. ;)
Score: 0
|Guest is disabled by default in Windows...is that not the case in SL?
I would hazard to guess that it is and that this is something that will only affect the extremely rare few who for some reason feel the need to enable it.
Tim?
Score: 0
|Another reason to throw this trash away aka the new Vista of mac and embrace the O.S. will soon rule the world ie Windows 7
Score: 0
|Windows 9x would occasionally and inexplicably forget it's network settings... but it would never trash your data; thats really the only bug I know of that is similar (MS solved the problem by abandoning the entire 9x codebase).
It's really sad that Apple is so vain/stubborn that they can't even acknowledge the bug.
Score: 4
|Heh...
Got reminded of that little 9x bug the other week actually. We had an old system here running our RF units and it had 98 on it (Though I had decommissioned all of those).
It had that exact issue. Fun stuff. The RF is now running from an XP system. :)
Score: 1
|"Hi, I'm a Mac" "Aaand I'm a PC." "You know PC, I heard that Win-*suddenly disappears from existence entirely*" *PC stares at blank spot, shrugs and walks off* *fade in Apple logo*
Score: 3
|Great attention-grabber title. Wait a minute, this is a Windows fanboy site, right?!
Score: -12
|Wait a minute, the article has to do with snow leopard does it not? It has to do with data being lost and hence backing it up, right? Hmmm, seems appropriate to me.
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|Yep, I have insulted a fanboy ;-)
Score: -8
|Actually, I care very little about what software, operating system, cpu, deodorant or toilet cleaning product anyone else uses. Use whatever makes you happy and works. I run a plethora of systems ranging from *nix to windows to osx and even a sun blade, so calling me a fanboy just makes me chuckle (so thanks for that).
I just can't stand people like you who intentionally look to start a flame war when one is not necessary. The title of this article was accurate given the latest streaks of data loss occurring everywhere.
Score: 3
|Yup Morsel, you insulted a fanboy ;-)
Score: -7
|No no FixXxeR, you got it wrong here. It's the author of the article that is intentionally trying to start a flame war, not me. Isn't that obvious? The title of the article implies that if you use Snow Leopard you're going to loose all your data unless you back it up. That's not right because it is just a small bug that Apple acknowledged. It's extremely rare and may only happen if you have the guest account turned on, which no one has anyways.
Now look at all the minus score I'm getting :'(
Score: -10
|"It's extremely rare and may only happen if you have the guest account turned on, which no one has anyways."
Really? If that's the case, then why was the bug discovered in the first place... Oh, that's right. Some people DO use the Guest account.
As for the title and the supposed "flame war" that Tim is trying to inspire... Uh, since when does backing up your data have anything to do with your OS? If you aren't backing up your data, you are an idiot. Plain and simple...
Score: -1
|I wonder why Fatty isn't in here chirping "That this must be MS fault" he probably has one of his fat butt checks stuck in his mouth over this one.
Score: 7
|well dude he is Steve Jobs gay partner so he must be trying to fix kernel panic that crap os x is giving to him
Score: 4
|Hell of a OS you got there Mr. Jobs.
Will that be on one of your new commercials?
Score: 7
|just curious, how many users actually USE a guest account on their personal MACs or Windows PCs for that matter?
Score: 3
|I do, just to hide certain things from certain people... does mac of a "folder lock" program???
Score: 1
|I use the Guest account for my kids and friends that want to use my computer for whatever reason ("Hey, can I get on the internet for a few minutes? I need to check something")... Guest accounts have saved me hours of trying to restore my system when one of my less technical friends decides to surf some of the more unsavory sites.
Score: 0
|But wait, don't mac's "Just work"?
I am confused.
Score: 8
|Tried this on my system, could not reproduce. Guessing time will tell what's causing this behavior. I am sure something is going on, I can't imagine people are just all making this up. However, exact details are still a bit unknown I guess.
For anyone reading, you should always have a backup going. No matter what system your on, it's just a good idea. As far as this article is concerned (Mac side) I go with Time Machine for daily/hourly/weekly backups. Any software/music purchases are burned to DVD for storage. Actually anything I want to keep in the long run gets burned. I use the Time Machine backup for "oops wtf just happened here" kind of situations or getting things back that mysteriously got lost/deleted/destroyed. For source control I use a mix of local backup as well as remote svn & git repositories.
It's been working great, I could throw my laptop out the window into a pond and not worry about it. If I was more business focused I'd probably also keep off-site backups in some manner. Short of my house burning down and me being unable to grab the backup drive, I think I am good to go.
Drives are cheap, backup people.
Score: -1
|"oops wtf just happened here" kind of situations...
Don't say this in front of Steve. He won't believe you because Macs just work!
Score: 7
|Ooch. That would suck if the OS just decides to wipe your data.
Score: 7
|It's a new feature of OS X aka core innovation
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