Another typical Switcher question is “Where do I put my files? On Windows, I used to put everything in ‘My Documents’.”
Mac OS X is a bona fide unix operating system. This means that it adheres to many of the typical unix conventions, including the concept of the “Home Directory“.
It’s these unix underpinnings that also enable your Mac to be a true multi-user machine. Unless you’re the administrator, you don’t have access to anyone else’s Home Directory and they don’t have access to yours. But that’s another tip. 
Finding Your Way Home
Double-click to open the “Macintosh HD” icon on your Desktop. Next, open the “Users” folder.
Within that should be a directory with your username on it. (Here’s mine.) This is your Home Directory.
In your Home Directory, you have a place for all your files. By default, it contains the following directories:
- Desktop
- Documents
- Library
- Movies
- Music
- Pictures
- Public
- Sites
Desktop
Your desktop, the place with the pretty picture and your hard drive on it, is actually a folder like any other in The Finder. This directory in your Home Directory is just another representation of it.
Documents
This is the primary directory for all your files. Consider this the equivalent of ‘My Documents” on Windows.
Library
This directory contains preferences, unix libraries and other supporting files. You really shouldn’t have any reason to muck around in here unless instructed by some Mac Geek.
Movies
By default, this is where iMovie stores your project files. If you use the Palm Desktop application, your Palm movies will also be stored in here. You can choose to store your random movie files here, or not. It’s up to you.
Music
This is a very important directory as its used by iTunes to store your music and your iTunes library. In general, you shouldn’t play around in here as you can manage everything from iTunes.
Pictures
This is the directory where your iPhoto Library is stored, but you can use it for all your photos. Once again, stay out of the iPhoto Library - you can manage everything in there through iPhoto.
Public
This is a very useful directory. Within this directory is another called “Drop Box.” It allows other people, either on the same machine or over a network to share files with you without having full access to your machine or Home Directory.
Sites
As a fully enabled Unix machine, you also have the ability to run a web server on your Mac. This directory is where you would store all your files and scripts.
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Technorati Tags: Macintosh, Mac OS X, Switchers, Apple, OS X, Software, John Federico, Unix, Mac, Desktop
