There are at least three common ways employed to rebuild the Macintosh™ Desktop under the modern Mac OS™, and one of them, the most commonly used method, is dead wrong. this article will explain why, and offer the correct methodology.
The Desktop file is an invisible file found in the main level of your hard drive. It is the file that keeps track of all the documents and applications that are on your drive.
The file name is desktop for versions of System 6 and earlier. System 7.0 and later versions use the invisible files named Desktop DB and Desktop DF.
If you'd like to see the Desktop files, use your 'Find File' command (Command + F keys) in Finder. Next, place the cursor over the 'name' popup menu, press and hold the 'Option' key, then press the mouse button down and you will get a selection option titled 'visibility'. Select this option, and now your Find File window will be set to 'Find Files whose visiblity is invisible'. Press 'Find', and you will get a list of all the invisible files on your volume(s).
After continued use of the Macintosh, particularly on machines whose files are frequently added, deleted, or changed, such as via web surfing (cache files), or graphics design, video capture, etc., the Desktop files can become large, fragmented, and potentially corrupt. Further, Macintoshes that use multiple volumes (disks) may experience compounded issues as volumes are required to track each other's documents and applications.
Symptoms of a corrupt or damaged Desktop may include missing or "generic" icons, applications failing to open documents, documents failing to open applications, sluggish System behavior, audible and excessive disk-read-write noise (chatter), and freezing or crashing when attempting to use 'Open', 'Save', and 'Save As' commands within applications.
Improper rebuilding of the invisible Desktop DB and DF files can not only result in continued appearance problems and decreased performance, but an increase in propensity to crashes leading towards catastrophic data loss may ensue.
Most people are taught to rebuild the Desktop by pressing both the 'Command' and 'Option' keys after the Startup chime sounds, and holding them down until the "Are you sure..." message appears. Unfortunately, this is only part of the equation. It is critical, as outlined in Apple Support Article 10182, that your Extensions Manager be properly configured with a single correct extension present prior to executing a rebuild command.
Further, it is critical that you first confirm directory integrity on each volume you intend to rebuild by running Apple Disk First Aid v.8.5.5 (or Alsoft's DiskWarrior™ 1.1) before you rebuild the Desktop files, or an already damaged Directory structure may be adversely affected.
There are some alternatives available to ease the Desktop rebuilding process, among them are third party utilities, such as TechTool™ and TechToolPro™, but, if you don't need to save comments in 'Get Info' windows, another freeware utility called Trash*Desktop 1.2.1 stands out as a fast, convenient, effective utility that simply does not fail to do the job properly.
Here is an outline of three methods of rebuilding the Desktop DB and DF files, in order from best to good.
Pros: Complete, effectively foolproof, fastest, and less likely to be fragmented.
Cons: Eliminates comments placed in 'Get Info' windows.
The Desktop DB and DF files can be easily made visible, and then moved to the Trash. Once there, all that is required to force the Finder to replace them is to either Restart the computer or to unmount and remount the target volume(s). Creating a special Extension set isn't generally required.
To make the files visible, you can use a number of utilities, such as ResEdit to locate the files and change their visibility to visible, and then you can manually drag them to the Trash. Better, just use Trash*Desktop 1.2.1, which does all that for you.
To unmount and remount the volume(s), you may either just Restart the computer, or use such utilities as FWB Mounter™. You may also use DiskWarrior, if used properly. Once the volume remounts, the Finder will automatically replace the missing Desktop files.
Beginners
Advanced
Pros: Reasonably complete, maintains comments in info windows, Apple likes it.
Cons: Slow, complicated, prone to rare failure, more likely to produce fragmented files.
Rather than starting with a fresh copy, this method will instead attempt to rebuild and repair the existing files. Naturally, this method has a greater chance of failing, or creating a file in more pieces than when you began. It will also leave you with a small amount of uncertainty as to its success, as opposed to the delete method. However, it is still the Apple-blessed method, and has strong merit, if you are unable or unwilling to use the delete method (because you want to maintain comments in info windows).
(excerpt from Apple Support Article 10182)
*note: be sure to run Disk First Aid v.8.5.5 (or DiskWarrior™ 1.1) prior to utilizing this method
System 6 through System 7.1.2
You can rebuild the Desktop manually by holding down the Option and Command (Apple) keys
while the system is starting up. When you see the message "Are you sure you want to rebuild the
desktop file on the disk "your disk"? Comments in info windows will be lost", click OK.
System 7.5 and newer
1. Before you rebuild your desktop, use the Extensions Manager to save a record of the
extensions that are currently turned on. To do this, first open the Extensions Manager control
panel. Then click on the Sets pop-up menu, and choose Save Set. When the Save Set dialog box
opens, type a name for your currently selected extensions (for example, 'My Extensions'). When
you close the dialog box, the name of your set is added to the Sets pop-up menu.
2. Turn off all extensions--Click on the Sets pop-up menu again and choose All Off.
3. Use the step appropriate for your system software version.
- System 7.5 through System 7.5.5
Turn on the Macintosh Easy Open control panel -- Find it in the list of control
panels, click it to put a checkmark beside it.
- Mac OS 7.6 through Mac OS 7.6.1
Turn on the Mac OS Easy Open control panel -- Find it in the list of control
panels, click it to put a checkmark beside it.
- Mac OS 8.0 through Mac OS 8.1
Turn on the PC Exchange control panel -- Find it in the list of control panels,
click it to put a checkmark beside it.
- Mac OS 8.5 through Mac OS 8.6
Turn on the File Exchange control panel -- Find it in the list of control panels,
click it to put a checkmark beside it.
4. Restart your computer while holding down the Command and Option keys.
5. When you see the dialog that says "Are you sure you want to rebuild the desktop file on the
disk "your disk"?," release the keys and click OK. (With system software earlier than 7.6, you
may see a message about comments in Get Info windows being lost.)
6. When the desktop is rebuilt, pull down the Apple menu and choose Control Panels.
7. Open the Extensions Manager control panel.
8. Turn your extensions back on--Click on the Sets pop-up menu and choose the name you gave
your set of extensions in step 1 (for example, 'My Extensions').
9. Restart your computer to activate the extensions.
Pros: May save comments in info windows.
Cons: Slower than the delete method, unreliable.
Utilities like TechTool™ and TechToolPro™ have a feature that will manage the entire rebuilding process, including saving comments in info windows. Certain versions also allow for a delete method handled internally. The occasional bad experience is reported, and an increased chance of you encountering one is had by frequent use of these methods with these utilities. You will also find them much more tedious to use than the delete method (where maintaining comments is not important) so it is not recommended to use them. That said, some very notable and experienced Mac gurus swear by them, so use your own judgment and experience as a guide, and carefully follow the directions contained with each utility. If not noted in these directions, be sure to run Disk First Aid v.8.5.5 , DiskWarrior™ 1.1, or another proven directory repair utility prior to utilizing this method.
If the Desktop files fail to rebuild for any volume, or if the computer crashes of freezes during the process, you should try again using the 'Delete Method' as outlined above, but, this time, reboot from your System CD (or other emergency disk) for the Rebuild process. If you continue to have problems, see our 'Troubleshooting and Repair' section.
Rebuilding the Desktop is a very basic and necessary function of a Mac user. The good news is, as you can now see, it's not hard to do, and you can't hurt anything by doing it too soon or too often. Apple recommends rebuilding the Desktop whenever you are having certain problems, or at least once per month. The question is, does that month impose the same kind of wear and tear for the casual home user as it is for the hard-working Mac? Should you wait until things get bad before you do it?
To make it easier to know how often to rebuild the Desktop, we suggest it be done once per 20-40 hours of actual use, problems or not, or anytime your Macintosh is feeling sluggish, crashing, or you are having problems with generic or missing icons, applications not launching documents properly, documents not launching applications properly, or whenever you see the error message, "The Finder has Unexpectedly Quit...".
Just be sure, as noted repeatedly above, you first run Disk First Aid v.8.5.5 (or DiskWarrior™ 1.1) prior to using the methods listed here.
Article last revised on: 10 December 1999
Author: Frederico
Editor: WebClub '99
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