The Mac OS X Folder Structure

2.1. The Mac OS X Folder Structure The icon for your hard drive (usually called Macintosh HD) may appear in the upperright corner of your screen.
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The Mac OS X Folder Structure2.1. The Mac OS X Folder StructureThe icon for your hard drive (usually called Macintosh HD) may appear in the upper-right corner of your screen. But if you begin each morning by double-clicking it, likemillions of other people whove grown used to older versions of the Mac OS, youre in fora shock: Your stuff isnt there.All youll find in the Macintosh HD window is a set of folders called Applications,Library, and Users—folders you didnt put there. (If you upgraded an existing Mac toMac OS X 10.5, youll also see all your original hard drive folders nestled among them.)Most of these folders arent very useful to you, the Macs human companion. Theyrethere for Mac OS Xs own use (which is why the Finder Preferences dialog box offersa checkbox that hides their icons entirely). Think of your main hard drive window asstorage for the operating system itself, which youll access only for occasionaladministrative purposes.2.1.1. Your Home FolderInstead of setting up your nest—your files, folders, aliases, and so on—in the hard drivewindow, Mac OS X keeps all of it in your Home folder. Thats a folder bearing yourname (or whatever name you typed when you installed Mac OS X).One way to find the Home folder is to double-click the Users folder, and then double-click the folder inside it that bears your name and looks like a house (see Figure 2-1).Here, at last, is the window that youll eventually fill with new folders, organize, back up,and so on.But Mac OS X is rife with shortcuts for opening this all-important folder: • Choose Go Home, or press Shift- -H. • In the Sidebar (Section 1.2), click the Home icon (the little house). • In the Dock, click the Home icon.(If you dont see one, consult Section 4.2 for instructions on how to put one there.) • Press -N, or choose File New Finder Window. (If your Home folder doesnt open when you do that, see Section 1.2.8.)All of these steps open your Home folder directly. Figure 2-1. This is it: the folder structure of Mac OS X. Its not so bad, really. For the most part, what you care about are the Applications folder in the main hard drive window and your own Home folder. Youre welcome to save your documentsand park your icons almost anywhere on your Mac (except inside the System folderor other peoples Home folders). But keeping your work in your Home folder makes backing up and file sharing easier.So why has Apple demoted your files to a folder three levels deep? The answer may sendyou through the five stages of grief—Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finallyAcceptance—but if youre willing to go through it, much of the mystery surrounding MacOS X will fade away.Mac OS X has been designed from the ground up for computer sharing. Its ideal for anysituation where different family members, students, or workers share the same Mac.Each person who uses the computer will turn on the machine to find his own separatedesktop picture, set of files, Web bookmarks, font collection, and preference settings.(Youll find much more about this feature in Chapter 12.)Like it or not, Mac OS X considers you one of these people. If youre the only one whouses this Mac, fine—simply ignore the sharing features. (You can also ignore all thatbusiness at the beginning of Chapter 1 about logging in.) But in its little software head,Mac OS X still considers you an account holder, and stands ready to accommodate anyothers who should come along.In any case, now you should see the importance of the Users folder in the main hard drivewindow. Inside are folders—the Home folders—named for the different people who usethis Mac. In general, nobody is allowed to touch whats inside anybody elses folder.If youre the sole proprietor of the machine, of course, theres only one Home folder in theUsers folder—named for you. (The Shared folder doesnt count; its described on Section12.6.2.)This is only the first of many examples in which Mac OS X imposes a fairly rigid folderstructure. Still, the approach has its advantages. By keeping such tight control over whichfiles go where, Mac OS X keeps itself pure—and very, very stable. Other operatingsystems known for their stability, including Windows XP and Windows Vista, work thesame way.Furthermore, keeping all of your stuff in a single folder makes it very easy for you toback up your work. It also makes life easier when you try to connect to your machinefrom elsewhere in the office (over the network) or elsewhere in the world (over theInternet), as described in Chapter 22.2.1.2. Whats On Your Hard DriveWhen you first run Mac OS X, youll find the following folders in the main hard drivewindow: • Applications. The Applications folder, of course, contains the complete collection of Mac OS X programs on you ...