iTunes 2.0 Installer Deletes Hard Drives

Cheviot writes: "It seems Apple's new iTunes 2 installer deletes the contents of users' hard drives if the drives have been partitioned. I personally lost more than 100gb of data. More information is available at Apples Discussions board. (registration required). Apple has pulled the installer, but for hundreds, if not thousands, the damage is already done." The iTunes download page has a nice warning about the problem. Ouch.

Comments

How the hell does this happen?

[dimator]

Well, here's the pseudo-code:


if(installDrive->hasEnoughSpace()){
return startInstall(instalDrive);
} else {
installDrive->formatRecklessly();
return startInstall(installDrive);
}


Hard-to-spot bug, actually.

Re:How the hell does this happen?

[Phil Wherry]

Hmmm. I'm just expecting Apple to issue a press release soon that says something to the effect of, "in retrospect, perhaps we shouldn't have subcontracted the installation script to RIAA after all."

New Apple Slogan

[Anonymous Coward]

Rip. Mix. Burn. Format. Reinstall.

Re:[PATCH] Re:How the hell does this happen?

[jesser]

There's a bug in you pseudo-code. Attached is a patch which fixes the problem.

It's pseudocode. You can't patch pseudocode. You have to pseudopatch it, like this:

- return startInstall(instalDrive);
+ return startInstall(installDrive);

or like this:

Replace instalDrive with installDrive.

Gotta be said

[Lord_Pall]

So i guess the Ipod/Itunes combo really IS a killer app.

So old, it's a classic joke

[McD]

From the classic old joke list "How To Shoot Yourself In The Foot" in various programming languages and computing environments, here's the entry for Unix:

% ls
foot.c foot.h foot.o toe.c toe.o
% rm * .o
rm: .o: No such file or directory
% ls
%

Same bug. Welcome to the world, Apple. :-)

Peace,
-McD