The contents of a folder disappeared The strangest thing just happened. I accidentally moved some files around within a folder on my desktop. I pressed command Z to try and un-do the action (I may have accidentally hit some other keys in the process, I don't know,) but instantly the folder was wiped of it's contents and even the name of the folder changed to "Untiled Folder." It seems my files have just vanished into thin air and I can't get them back. They did not move to the Trash Bin.

If that isn't odd enough, the size of that folder now is 16kb and typically, the size of an empty/new folder is 0kb..? Before my content vanished, it was more than 16kb so I have no idea where that figure came from or what data it's referring to.

HELP Please, I just need my files back...

I'm on a 13" macbook pro running OSX 10.8.2
Do you remember some of the filenames?

Try to enable Spotlight to search documents, and use it to find the file you misplaced. You should be able to find it if it’s still inside your Documents folder.

Using Terminal

My last attempt would be using Terminal to list all the files containing your files content keywords. Run Terminal and enter command below (replace your file content with some of the unique keywords in your lost documents:

grep -R 'your file content' *

It should display all the file it can find on your User folder. If it still can’t find the files, they’re most likely gone forever.