MacBook Pro, I accidentally deleting pics? Freezes?

Question

I have a MacBook Pro 10.5.4, 2.2GHz, 2GB

Ok, so I was trying to back-up all my old pictures and I accidentally deleted them. 1,000+ of them are in my trash can. I want them back (I have tried just dragging them out)

I am wondering if someone can tell me how to revert my mac back to earlier today. I think I have done it before, but I don't remember how to do it. I remember I figured it out on accident and I could return my Mac to an earlier state....like I would like to have it returned to yesterday. Am I thinking of my desktop or can MacBook Pro do this?

Also, if anyone can tell me why it has been freezing lately? I got it in January. With in the last week, it has been freezing numerous times a day. I have to force quit it. If anyone knows what I should do about that as well....thanks

Answer 1

If you've been using Time Machine (have you ever plugged in a harddrive and used it for a time machine backup?), you can simply click the Time Machine icon from your Finder to launch Time Machine.

Scroll back through the backups to find a day you had all of your photos, click the folder(s), and click 'Restore'.

That's it.

As far as why it's freezing, 1000 photos x 300kb (tiny) per photo = 3000000k, roughly 300mb; could cause your Mac to lock for a second whilst it parses all of that data. Else, you may want to open Disk Utility, and verify your drive.

Answer 2

I'm not sure why it would be freezing.  You could only revert your entire OS X install to yesterday if you have been routinely creating Time Machine backups to an external harddrive or networked computer.  If so, search Google for how to revert your installation with Time Machine.

Answer 3

I can't help you with the images, if you emptied your trash, there gone. Have you been using your backup program. If so maybe most of them are on your external drive. ehh?

What might help your system try this....

go to your applications folder

go to Utilities/Disk Utility

Run the first aid program / verify disk permissions.

you should try doing this atleast once a month.

Also go back to the same folder and open up Activity Monitor. Set the ICON to Show Memory Usage. if you get to far into the YELLOW shut down your programs your running, maybe even restart your system. This will give you an idea if your system is about to bomb.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

Something is terribly wrong with your Mac especially if you just can't simply drag anything out from the Trash.

Before doing anything else I would suggest you backup your Home directory at the very least.

Time Machine is the one you are referring to revert back to a certain state in time on the Mac.

Run basic troubleshooting to try a fix the freezes and Trash. If you don't you will have nothing but trouble with your Mac forever.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?s...

http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewtopic.php?t...

http://thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html

Mac OS X data backup FAQ

http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html

Answer 5

Well are you saying you back it up as in Time Machine back-ups?  If so then go to iPhoto then hit Time Machine and you know the rest.

Now if they are in the Trash can currently then try taking them in smaller chunks so it doesn't freeze up and do it with no extra applications running (like iMovie, Photo Booth, Mail etc).

But before you do any of that do a Disk Check...

Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility then select Macintosh HD and run a Verify permissions and repair permissions, NOTICE if you get a beachball or spinning mouse (or whatever) be patient it will work it takes some time.  After that do a Verify Disk and check so that turns out ok.  If not e-mail me and I will give you the rest of what to do (I am really tired and going to bed).

Glad to help Mac people in need, so hope this helps.

If you have any other questions e-mail me those as well.

Answer 6

Hi S C,

Your pictures are still listed in the Trashcan, but you can't simply drag them back out?  This is unusual.  Perhaps you have also accidentally deleted some other files of more importance to your MBP's operation.  You should take your MacBook Pro with you to the Apple Store or where ever you bought your Mac that offers technical support on them.  Have them look at it.

The crashing and freezing might be something pretty simple, like not having enough RAM to power the Mac's programs.

One thing that you need to invest in is an external hard drive and start backing up your hard drive using programs like SuperDuper, Carbon Copy Cloaner or other back-up programs.  This way, if your computer's hard drive fails, you have the files to put back in your new internal hard drive.

If you have the newest Leopard OS, you have a built-in back-up software called Time Machine, but you have to have this set up with an external hard drive.  It doesn't sound like you do.

Another good thing for you to do, is to join your local Macintosh Users Group.  Go to this web site and type in your postal zip code to find a Mac Users Group in your local area:

http://www.apple.com/usergroups/find/

A computer users group will show you how to get the most from your Macintosh and you can get a lot of good help.  Best of luck.

--Rick