Files Missing. Not in Folder. Not in Trash.

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Files Missing. Not in Folder. Not in Trash. Sun Apr 14, 2019 6:16 pm • by Mr. Aries
I set rules to scan subfolders and perform the next rule on their contents.

I made a rule If ANY, Kind is IMAGE, Kind is DOCUMENT
Move to Trash

I ran this on my music collection to try to remove the extra files that come with ripping CDs.

Now, almost all of my files are gone . . . including my audio files. They are not in their original folders and they are not in the trash. I don't have Hazel set to empty the trash at a certain size. The folder sizes are reflecting the files being gone but the drive itself has the same "Used" value as before running the rules, so looking at just the drive usage it is as if all the files are still there.

I haven't been able to find an "Undo" for the rules. The files not appearing in the trash would seem to preclude a "Put Back" from the trash back to the respective folders.

The MacOS Notification Center is also showing moving the files as failing . . .

Hazel Helper Move Failed Could Not Move File 12 Hazard.flac From Folder Disc 1 To Folder 12 Hazard-1.flac

Meanwhile, the Log File in Hazel's Info shows that Hazel has been moving mp3 and other audio files to the hidden trash folder on the external drive. For instance . . ............................................

[File Event] File moved: 05 - Man From Mars.mp3 moved from folder /Volumes/Music/Liberty Ellman/Liberty Ellman 1998 - Orthodoxy to folder /Volumes/Music/.Trashes/501.


The rules have not processed the entire folder because my music collection is kind of big. Are all of these files missing because Hazel is still processing? Will I be able to restore these files from the trash at the very end of processing?
Mr. Aries
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2019 5:17 pm

It's probably too late for this, but stop Hazel (you can do so from the "Info" pane).

Can you post the rule you are using? Hazel doesn't have an action to delete files outright so they should appear in the trash.

That trash folder you are seeing is the actual folder for the trash on that drive. Note that "Trash" as you see it in Finder is actually an aggregate of all the trash folders on each filesystem.

Are the files where it failed missing as well or just the ones where it succeeded? Are you comfortable using the commandline?
Mr_Noodle
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11195
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:30 am
Location: New York City

The files that failed to move are still in their folders. There are also some audio files that were not effected but almost my entire collection is in the trash.

Apparently, I can't use "Put Back" to get the files back to their original folders because they were not moved in Finder so the data regarding their original locations has not been saved. That is how I understand it, at least.

I am somewhat comfortable with terminal. I would paste commands into linux back before I went blind.

Here's the 2 rules I used . . .

Scan Folder Contents
If ALL conditions are met, KIND is Folder, do the following, RUN RULES ON FOLDER CONTENTS

Remove Documents and Images
If ANY conditions are met, KIND is IMAGE, KIND is DOCUMENT, do the following, MOVE to TRASH

It also has Trash specified as the Trash in my user account folder on MacintoshHD. I changed permissions on the Trash folder for my external drive to give myself read and write capability after showing hidden folders. Upon rebooting my Mac, the files were visible in the Trash when accessed through the dock icon.
Mr. Aries
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2019 5:17 pm

At least you can access your files again. Your rule has "Kind is Document" which matches almost anything that isn't a folder which would explain what happened. Unfortunately, the "Put Back" feature is Finder-specific. I'd like to be able to enable that for Hazel-moved files but it's not documented/open to third party devs.

That leaves you with having to move the files back manually, unless you organized them in a way that can be automated, like "Artist->Album" or something like that.
Mr_Noodle
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Posts: 11195
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:30 am
Location: New York City


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