
How Can I Scan All of the Files and Folders on my Hard Disk?
When you are logged in as a normal user, or a user with administrative privileges, Baseline will only be able to scan the files and folders to which you have read access. This excludes certain directories. For example:
- Other users' home directories.
- The
/.SpotLight-V100
directory, which stores SpotLight index information. - The
/.fseventsd
directory (on Leopard), which stores information about file system events.
To scan these directories as well, follow the steps below.
-
If you haven't already done so, enable the root user on your Computer.
To enable the root user, on Tiger, open the NetInfo Manager (which you can find in the Utilities folder), and in the Security menu, choose"Enable Root User", and then enter a password for the root user as instructed.
On Leopard, open the Directory Utility (again, in the Utilities folder). Click the lock, and authenticate to make changes. Then from the Edit menu, choose choose "Enable Root User", and then enter a password for the root user as instructed.
-
Log out of your current session, or switch to the Login Window via the Fast User Switching menu, if you have this enabled (the Fast User Switching menu appears on the right hand side of the menu bar, listing users by name, short name, or icon, and can be enabled from the Login Options in the Accounts System Preference pane).
-
In the Login Window, choose the "Other..." option, and login as root, using the password you set when enabling the root user.
-
Now open Baseline, and scan your disk.
Note that as the root user, you will be able to delete or remove any file, and very easily render your system unusable. Please exercise extreme caution when deleting, compressing, or archiving files or folders from the root user account.
You may want to disable the root user once you have finished using Baseline for extra security (again using NetInfo Manager on Tiger, or Directory Utility on Leopard).