Data loss after Apple Account login on Tahoe 26.0.1

You have almost certainly activated "Documents and Desktop in iCloud".

Open a new Finder window, click on iCloud Drive in the Sidebar.

There should be folders called "Documents" and "Desktop" there, with all your stuff.

If you were using iCloud’s desktop and documents sync feature, have you looked for your files on iCloud.com?

you also mentioned Time Machine snapshots, but not the actual Time Machine backup(s). Have you checked there?

jaques146 wrote:

After upgrading to Tahoe 26.0.1, I was prompted to log out of my Apple account and log back in.

When I did, the document I was working on was gone, along with everything else in my documents folder

I tried to copy the data I needed out of a Time Machine snapshot, but the snapshot was purged before copying was complete.

I lost weeks or months of work.

Any idea how I can recover some of it? I tried using Disk Drill, but to no avail. The iCloud for some reason only seems to have 4 files.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Apple deleted data

Backing up regularly seems prudent. Saving anything of value before logging out and back in only seems to make the most sense.

On SSD consumer grade software is a futile exercise trying to recover lost data.

ref: restore items backed up with Time Machine

Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

iCloud Desktop & Documents—

Store files in iCloud Drive on Mac

Work with folders and files in iCloud Drive

The rule of thumb—

If you value your user data

3-2-1 Backup Strategy: three copies of your data, two different methods, and one offsite.

More than one device, more than one backup methodology— and backup regularly.