“For the past month, some Mac OS X users have been reporting their personal data missing after logging into their guest accounts, and Apple now says it’s working on finding a fix,” Erica Ogg reports for CNET.
“‘We are aware of the issue, which occurs only in extremely rare cases, and we are working on a fix,’ an Apple representative said in a prepared statement Monday,” Ogg reports.
“The problem, when it occurs, goes like this, according to CNET’s MacFixit: when logging into the guest account on their Mac first and then logging into their regular account, some users are finding all their data to be missing and their accounts completely reset,” Ogg reports. “It doesn’t appear to be a widespread problem–there are fewer than 100 posts on several current discussion threads on the issue.”
Full article here.
OK, well what about the (perhaps rare, but it’s happening on 3 different machines I own) issue of continuous, intense HD access that kills responsiveness of my machines??
I’ve tracked the issue down to mobile me synching–in fact, it appears to have something to do with synching email and/or preferences. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I can’t believe it’s just me having the issue here. Furthermore, I really can’t believe Apple hasn’t fixed the problem by the latest point update to snow leopard!
Guess I’ll just keep my fingers crossed and hope I am in fact not, bizarrely, the only person having this issue!
Ouch! This is very bad from whatever angle you want to see this. Data loss is the worst bug that can be. Sure, easy to avoid, but still.
John, you quite possibly are. Sounds like somethings really messed up on your system. Hope you back up dilligently!
@TFB. Oh, I do, I do…. Ironically, it’s some of this backing up that, I believe, is causing the troubles. I would consider it a local problem if it was only affecting one of my computers, but all three….? That seems more general. Though of course it could just be related to some really corrupted data somewhere in what I’m synching. Sigh. Need better diagnostic tools!
Apple has lowered itself to the same level as M$ qualitywise…so sad…
that’s the way, blame the user! once it became more than one user it became a bad problem. and don’t try to count it by how many users left a post, there’s many more who don’t.
bad form there lads, bad form…
This little episode buy Apple really harshed my “smug buzz” about the Microsoft Danger thing.
This data loss seems to happen… after upgrading a system from pre-10.6 to 10.6 and then logging into the guest account first.
Sh*t happens, but is Apple responsible for users trusting that the upgrade will go smoothly? Does Apple not provide easy and effective ways of backing up users’ data?
For anyone that has been bitten by this bug, you have my sympathies. Clearly this is a use case that wasn’t ever tested or encountered during the months and months of beta testing? Amazing.
@ BobWillsIsStillTheKing
Nobody is blaming the user for the data loss bug. That’s Apple’s fault. But is Apple to blame for users performing a major software upgrade on their computers without having a backup?
my favourite astro-turfing so far:
http://www.geek.com/articles/apple/keep-time-machine-running-snow-leopard-eats-user-data-20091013/
Another disgruntled users who identified himself as Ratty Mouse wrote the following:
Add my parents to the list of people waxed by this bug. Brand new iMac, less than one month old, EVERYTHING lost. Just as I convinced them to go Mac after years of trying. My god… How can ANYONE advocate Apple now?
Generally you have to install third party malware on a windows box to do this kind of thing. Apple’s just making it easier for the end user by including it as a standard feature in OSX 10.6.
You should all be thankful!
So if your worried go to preferences and disable guest account until apple gets a fix.
@AppleTheNewMS:
Moron.
AppleTheNewMS,
Do you actually believe that?
I wonder why RattyMouse’s parents were logging into a guest account on their own Mac?
Sh*t happens, but is Apple responsible for users trusting that the upgrade will go smoothly?
Yes. They sell a product that they claim is reliable. Users absolutely should trust that clicking “Upgrade” won’t wipe out their data.
So you upgrade to OS 10.6, reboot and the first thing you do is login as Guest?
Why?
You login as yourself or the admin account you just used to install under. Then check that everything works, your desktop is there and what not.
In all the years of OS X, supporting hundreds of Macs doing upgrades have I ever done this.
Once again, why, right after installing would you login as a guest?
The next step usually is to check for updates…
Then again, no matter how much you beta test, you cannot possibly think of all the stupid odd ball ways that users will click on something.
Reminds me of the warnings they have to put on ladders now.
@Rob
Yes it sucks that users have lost data.
But you should always have a backup of your data.
Microsoft/Danger: Really big example.
I am not having any problems with lost of data. I normally only log into my own account first. I do not log into any guest account on my Macs. I can only guess that the problem only occurs when logging into a guest account 1st then logging into a normal account later. I could only suggest that user should attempt to log into a non-guest account first then log into a guest account second. Just my 2 cents worth of suggestion.
“The problem, when it occurs, goes like this, according to CNET’s MacFixit: when logging into the guest account on their Mac first and then logging into their regular account, some users are finding all their data to be missing and their accounts completely reset,”
Here’s a thought….until there is a fix……why temp fate. Just stay logged into your regular account.
Or am I missing something?
While they’re at it I hope they’ll improve whatever replaced filetypes and creator codes – I’m wasting a lot of time struggling against the beast: definitely a step down from Leopard. That and getting SL to recognize CD/DVD writers.
I was going to post something almost word-for-word what ‘Think’ posted @ 8:28pm. But, I got a phone call, and had to go tend to something.
Anyway, you can’t possibly claim that the loses of the under 100 reports are equal to the loses of the 100x100x100 former Sidekick owners. Yeah, their lose is bad. I wouldn’t want to lose my stuff. But, this isn’t EQUAL. Give your head a shake.
While I only maintain 3 iMacs at home, I’ve never logged into a guest account after installing any major upgrade. It just seems like a flaky thing to do.
It makes me suspicious of them, to be honest. Were these installs done with bittorrent versions of SL? Why log into a guest account as the first task, after an install?
Really. Why? What was the objective? What was the intended purpose?
@John
Are you running any Paragon products? I had the same thing happen and it turned out to be Paragon NTFS for Mac.
@cwa I wish I was, since apparently that would explain it. Unfortunately no, though. I do have some kernel-level things installed though, like Pro Tools. I wonder if that could be causing the problem: they are notorious for not getting their products updated to work with each OS rev for months and months (and then charging for the update)… No wonder I’m trying to switch all my sound work over to Logic Pro!
But, on the bright side…
U.S. teens admire Steve Jobs most among celebrity entrepreneurs
Gotta love MDN idiocy.