FileVault gone wrong?

[Reclaimer]

update:
Was unable to restore using demo version of this software.
I'm not too worried about anything that was on there, except for all my iTunes music. It is on my iPod, but when I try to resync, it says the iPod is linked with another machine. If I can get my iTunes music, I'll be satisfied. (much of which I've paid for...others being CDs I've ripped and probably won't find in my closet)


Just got back from a trip in which I felt it best to use FileVault. Upon returning home, I wanted to disable it. Got the usual warnings that it could take awhile, clicked okay, entered password, etc...

...Got logged out, started doing its thing, and was finished within a minute. I found that odd, as it took around an hour to encrypt the files originally. Upon logging back in, my computer was in almost factory state. Dock was totally defaulted, home directory cleared out!, wallpaper at the Tiger default, etc. All installed programs are still there, but my home directory was wiped!

Any ideas? Help?
That would be appreciated.

 

[rendezvouscp]

First of all, are there any folders in the Users folder? It might be in there, but FileVault decided to make a new user and default to that.

If it's still taking up space on your HD, then you should be within luck.
-Chase

 

[Reclaimer]

My account is the only thing listed in the users folder (besides Shared, which has GarageBand demo tracks). All the folders within my user folder are empty.
My HD space also jumped from 42GB to a little over 65GB, which is what has me worried.

 

[rendezvouscp]

If the data is important, I'd stop using that computer immediately. There's a good chance that most of it is still on the HD, and it's in a form that can be recovered by an app or a professional.
-Chase

 

[Reclaimer]

I'm running a program called FileSalvage right now...it's only a gig in, and has already found 3,000 files it can recover, so I'm hoping that's a good sign.

If not...I may be heading to see a genius this week.

 

[rendezvouscp]

That's a great sign! FileVault probably got through all of your files, and then decided to trash the user folder. Keep us up to date with how FileSalvage works; I've never heard of it.
-Chase

 

[Reclaimer]

Haha...will do.

I've never heard of it either...I just searched for a few different file recovery-type terms on versiontracker, and that's what came up first. It's a demo version or something, though, so my luck is, it'll scan the files, tell me what I can recover, and then want my money. We'll see...

 

[generik]

That's a great sign! FileVault probably got through all of your files, and then decided to trash the user folder. Keep us up to date with how FileSalvage works; I've never heard of it.
-Chase

I doubt it will be any good, afterall vault did encrypt it...

You may get back some collection of curious bits and bytes, but that's probably about it...

 

[Reclaimer]

From what I've read, though, FileVault doesn't really erase the data completely unless you select "Secure Erase", which I did not.

update:
Was unable to restore using demo version of this software.
I'm not too worried about anything that was on there, except for all my iTunes music. It is on my iPod, but when I try to resync, it says the iPod is linked with another machine. If I can get my iTunes music, I'll be satisfied. (much of which I've paid for...others being CDs I've ripped and probably won't find in my closet)

 

[livingfortoday]

Ok, this exact thing happened to me a few months ago. The .sparseimage that Filevault uses is just corrupted, and can be repaired.

Find the file, it should be in your Home folder. Open Disk Utility, and drag the file onto it on the left there where the drives are listed. Then choose repair disk. When it's repaired, reboot, and you should be ok.

 

[Reclaimer]

Thing is, I can't find any .sparseimage file...not in home directory, not anywhere. Even tried searching for it in Spotlight, came up with nothing.

 

[rendezvouscp]

From what I've read, though, FileVault doesn't really erase the data completely unless you select "Secure Erase", which I did not.

update:
Was unable to restore using demo version of this software.
I'm not too worried about anything that was on there, except for all my iTunes music. It is on my iPod, but when I try to resync, it says the iPod is linked with another machine. If I can get my iTunes music, I'll be satisfied. (much of which I've paid for...others being CDs I've ripped and probably won't find in my closet)

You'll have to use an app to get that music off of your iPod, but that shouldn't be too much of a hassle with all of the free apps out there (you're already plenty familiar with VersionTracker).
-Chase