Copying file vs. deleting file on Mac notebook

[buggie@auriga.unm.edu (stephen e buggie)]

       COPYING A FILE VS. DELETING A FILE ON A MAC NOTEBOOK COMPUTER
       =============================================================

	The headline is about Mac, but I feel that many A2 loyalists can
comment on this problem I face.

	Today is the first day of the fall semester orientation.  A
colleague, whom I have not seen since last May, came storming up to me.
He accused me of deleting a huge file from his Macintosh notebook
computer.  The file was of a book he is writing, for which he has no
backup!

	I recall the episode from last May.  He has a Macintosh notebook
computer.  He's been writing this book for months, entirely on the hard
disk with no backups.  He'd been hearing from others that he should keep a
backup copy on disk, so he asked me.  The disk was inserted, formatted in
HFS, then the file icon was dragged from the hard disk folder to the 3.5"
HD disk icon.  I vaguely remember the "thermometer" filling as the copy
was made.  I also vaguely remember clicking the 3.5 disk icon to see the
file icon appear.

	The colleague now accuses me of _deleting_ his valuable file and
destroying his work, for which no backup exists.  I told him that my IIgs,
as well as my Macs (Plus, SE. SE/30) all work the same way, in which the
thermometer shows the copying of dragged files, and that this thermometer
does not appear with deletion.   Is this correct?   In his rage, he
suggested that if I am unfamiliar with the Mac notebooks, I should not
have given him help.

	Do the Mac notebooks work differently than the compact Mac
desktops for copying files?

	In retrospect, I feel I should have kept a copy of his disk
myself.  _My hunch_ is that he deleted the file himself, later. He is not
very skilled with his computer if he needed help just to backup a file.

	What should I do or say????

	Steve Buggie			buggie@unm.edu