What should I do with the new folder called RELOCATED ITEMS, that appeared after upgrading my Mac to Catalina? After the update the Mac to Catalina, I have a new RELOCATED ITEMS folder on my desktop. Didn’t understand whether to delete it or move it somewhere else? It has two folders: Configuration and Security. Both of these folders have subfolders in this order: Configuration-Private-Var-db-dslocal-nodes-Default ; Security-System-Library
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Lari
If you look closely, you'll see that the folder on the Desktop is actually a shortcut (alias) to the actual folder which is usually located in Shared. So if you get rid of the folder on the Desktop, you are just getting rid of that alias and not deleting anything. That makes it easier to just remove that alias and move on.
Typically, this folder contains parts of apps you may have installed in the past that put things in the system folder that aren't allowed there anymore. So they are pretty useless. Those apps probably updated long ago to not need them anymore, or maybe you uninstalled the apps and it lets those behind.
They are usually very small. Not counting the PDF called "What Are Relocated Items?" that Apple puts in there, the whole thing is just a few K, like a speck of dust in a box.
I honestly don't think a typical Mac user needs to do anything with these. Leave them or delete them, it doesn't matter.
Also notice that the Security folder will also contain all files that you might have stored outside your user's folder. In my case, I had many folders such as /myFolder that have now been automatically moved to this new undocumented folder "for security reasons". Doing some research, I found that Catalina blocks write access to the system disk by means of a sort of "hidden" administrative user that can write there, but not you... so, please note that "Relocated Items" might also contain data!
"might also contain data" yea like every fccking file I've had on a mac hard drive for 15 years.
catalina was a * update.
When I upgraded to Catalina it put every folder and file I had on my HD into the Security folder. Now it will not allow me to move them back! Is there any solution to this so I can move things back to where I have always had them for years?
steve: Security folder? What exactly is the full path of that folder? Where were these files before? Were they outside of your user Home folder? You shouldn't try to things outside of your Home folder in Catalina. There is no reason to anyway. Move them into your Documents folder.
Gary: The path is: HD>Users>desktop. I kept these files on the HD along with the Applications, Library, Users folders - things like that. I'm sure it wasn't the best system but it was how I started out years ago and stayed with it. I can put them in my Documents folder, but how do I find them after that? Do I have to navigate all the way to it every time?
Steve: Yes, you can't simply put folders outside of your Home folder like that. Bad in many ways. Just put them in your Documents folder or any folder in your Home folder, or make one there with any name you want. But I recommend keeping "all your stuff" in the Documents folder. That is what it is there for. And by default there are shortcuts to your Documents folder everywhere: in the Finder sidebar, Go->Documents in the menu bar, Shift+Command+O in many places, etc. Use those or add Document to your Dock, and alias to your Desktop, anything you like. You can even set your Finder windows to automatically open to the Documents folder every time. If getting to your files easily and quickly is your goal, then I can think of no place better than your Documents folder, and few worse than putting them in a custom folder outside of your Home folder.
Thanks for taking the time to offer all this advice! I will put everything in the Documents folder and find a way to get there easily. Like this site!
All of my data is now in a folder under "Security" with the label that used to be the name of my hard drive. Obviously there are many subfolders under this. Is it okay to simply move the entire folder structure outside of the Previously Relocated Items folder? If so, where should I move it? I use programs like matlab which list out the entire directory structure and it would be nice to have all of my files/data/presentations/etc not in this folder.
Carol: It sounds like you were storing your files outside of your user Home folder before. That's why they were moved to that special Security folder. You should put your files in your Documents folder inside your Home folder.