Sonoma 14.5 on M3 MacBook Air - Files randomly disappearing

[uptownnyc]

I'm running an M3 MacBook Air with Sonoma 14.5 and encountered what appears to be a very worrisome bug. I'm doing some local development where I have a NodeJS Express back-end serving up an API for a React based front-end. I've been running both on my local machine. The backend relies on a file named '.env' which stores some environment variables such as database credentials and other sensitive information that is not checked-into nor synced to version control. Out of nowhere, I noticed that my code began to fail, and when I checked the disk I observed that the .env file was no longer present.

First to get some of the basic questions/details out of the way.

• I understand that the "." before the filename means that the file is a hidden file, but even with the Finder set to display hidden files, the file is no longer there.
• I'm 100% certain that I did not delete the file.
• None of my own code is possibly to blame for the deletion of the file.
• The path for the file is under my Users path (\<disk_volume_name>\users\<my_userid>\Development\sitename.com\backend\
• I don't use iCloud Drive to sync to user profile.
• I have ~700gb free of a 1tb on-device storage.

I've re-created this file and things work again, but I'm 100% certain that the file disappeared without being deleted by my own actions.

Is something others have encountered with Sonoma 14.5 on a MacBook Air?

 

[Bigwaff]

but I'm 100% certain that the file disappeared without being deleted by my own actions.

Is something others have encountered with Sonoma 14.5 on a MacBook Air?

Nope. If you use Terminal, review your command history. If your file is not in Git ignore and you restore staged, etc, depending on your Git client, you might lose untracked files. The answer most likely lies within your own activities, not macOS…

 

[Sciuriware]

I'm running an M3 MacBook Air with Sonoma 14.5 and encountered what appears to be a very worrisome bug. I'm doing some local development where I have a NodeJS Express back-end serving up an API for a React based front-end. I've been running both on my local machine. The backend relies on a file named '.env' which stores some environment variables such as database credentials and other sensitive information that is not checked-into nor synced to version control. Out of nowhere, I noticed that my code began to fail, and when I checked the disk I observed that the .env file was no longer present.

First to get some of the basic questions/details out of the way.

• I understand that the "." before the filename means that the file is a hidden file, but even with the Finder set to display hidden files, the file is no longer there.
• I'm 100% certain that I did not delete the file.
• None of my own code is possibly to blame for the deletion of the file.
• The path for the file is under my Users path (\<disk_volume_name>\users\<my_userid>\Development\sitename.com\backend\
• I don't use iCloud Drive to sync to user profile.
• I have ~700gb free of a 1tb on-device storage.

I've re-created this file and things work again, but I'm 100% certain that the file disappeared without being deleted by my own actions.

Is something others have encountered with Sonoma 14.5 on a MacBook Air?

I can state that, in the 14 years I use APPLE computers, I NEVER lost a file, but through my own activities.
The same for the 37 years before that on other OS's.
I always made full backups and compared the files on regular basis.
Whatever complaints you may have on MacOS, it does not 'eat' your stuff.
'Bigwaff' suggests Terminal. Well, if you want to see each and every file in a directory,
then practise the command: ls -al
It shows hidden files, links and special (non)files.
;JOOP!