Invisible files - VERY weird

[DanL]

This is one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen in decades of using Macs.

I'm on ComputerA (Mountain Lion) with a couple of small jpegs. I want to put them on ComputerB (Monterey). No sweat, right? Same network. I connect to B from A with Network->B->my account->Desktop , and plunk them in. On A, looking at B, I see them sitting there in the Desktop window for B!

I go over to B, and, um, no files. No icons for them on the Desktop, and when I go to terminal and "ls" the Desktop, they aren't there. Huuuuh?

On A, I GetInfo on those files on B. They look perfectly normal. Just like other files on B that are visible.

Yes, there are tricks to seeing hidden files. Like these.

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Tried them all. No luck.

I should say that I usually don't do file transfers from A to B, so this may not be a new problem.

Oh yes, if I do a network connection from C (High Sierra) to B I can also see them just fine. So the issue is with B.

What the @#$%^&*( is going on? I can see these files when networked in from other machines, but I can't see them on the machine they're sitting on.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

• Are you using iCloud Drive > Desktop & Documents on Computer B (Monterey)?
• So it works from Computer C (High Sierra) but not Computer A (Mountain Lion), correct?

Honestly Mountain Lion is pretty old in comparison to even High Sierra, so I would expect it may have issues with the much newer versions of macOS, even for simply things like file transfers.

C

 

[DanL]

I am using iCloud drive just on B (Monterey).

I can, via Network, move files to B from both A and C. Looking at B from both A and C I see them there. But looking at B from B I DON'T see them there. That is, if I sit down in front of B, those files aren't visible in the windows, and don't appear in the "ls" terminal listing. So this is a Monterey issue. I know iCloud drive can do weird things,but this is exceptionally weird. The files are there, but if you are there, you can't see them.