Copying Library folder in User folder to external drive

In addition to my Time Machine backup, I have always kept an additional copy of the contents of my user folder on an external USB drive. Tried to do this for the first time since updating to Snow Leopard and copying fails when it gets to the Library folder with a message that I don't have permission to copy this folder. With Leopard this always worked, but not anymore, anyone know of a solution, also is there actually any purpose in backing up that particular folder?

Does your external drive have any ownership flags for the folder you are copying to?
Check out BATCHMOD try www.macupdate.com
Also do Get info on the external drive; on the folder you want to copy to, my guess is that 10.6 has changed something.
For synching a backup of user account(s) I would turn to a program, like SuperDuper, to keep current and let it handle these kind of issues, and great program for $29.
I use SD to copy (clone) the entire account, but ~/Library has email, prefs, bookmarks and all kinds of things you find handy to have backed up.

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After copying my Applications and Users folders to external drive using Carbon Cooy Cloner, I cannot see the files on the drive when accessing them from a freshly installed OS.

The folder where the Archive should be is empty yet activity monitor shows that the drive isn't empty

Use Data Rescue on the Mac and out the recovered files to another external drive.
Just grab your users files, the rest you trash. That's all you can do.
Good Luck

How best to move user folder to a Mac Mini + external drive

I am streamlining my desktop computer setup. Whereas before I was using a PowerMac G5 as my primary desktop computer, I realize I am using my MacBook Pro more often, so in the interests of conserving space, I will be switching over to a Mac Mini connected to my AV system for hosting all my iTunes music, videos, media, photos, etc.
Here is where I need advice. My PowerMac has a lot more media on it than can fit on the internal hard drive of a Mac Mini. I have already secured a 1 TB external drive which will be permanently connected to the Mac Mini, but I am unsure as to how to best go about copying my data to it.
My initial thought was that I could move the iTunes music folder to the external drive using the library consolidation feature, and I could copy my iPhoto library to it, then point the respective applications to the new location. However, I want the external to act as my home folder where the OS looks for all my personal data, including movies, documents, etc.
I know there is a procedure for changing your home folder's location to an external drive, but because of the limited size of the Mac Mini's internal HD, I would like to use migration assistant when I first start using the Mac Mini. Should I hold off on moving the home folder until after I have migrated, or can it be done beforehand?
Anyone have any thoughts or ideas? Thanks!

Thanks for the procedure. It seems very easy, but I am wondering about the consequences depending on when I do it. For example, let's say I first copy my entire home folder to the 1 TB external drive, set up the PowerMac to use it as my home folder, then use migration assistant to import my user accounts, applications, and settings onto the Mac Mini. Will it try to extract the data from the external drive onto the Mac Mini's internal drive? There won't be enough room for everything.
As an alternative, I can move my iTunes library and iPhoto library onto the 1 TB external first, keeping the rest of my user data in its original location. Then it can fit on the Mac Mini, and I can do the migration, then move the home folder to the 1TB external once it's all up and running on the new computer.
Which will work best?
I had heard about people using a single drive as their home folder across multiple computers, but that is not the case for me. My MacBook Pro will become my primary computer, but I intend to keep it clear of media, whereas the MacMini will become my media server for my AV system in my living room. The 1 TB will be constantly connected to the Mac Mini, so there shouldnt be a problem with starting it up once the user folder location has been moved.

I used a terminal command to show the Library in the User folder, and now the Finder is behaving erractically. Can anyone tell me how to reverse the show library terminal command?

I used a terminal command in Lion to show the LIbrary in the Users folder, and now the Finder is behaving erratically, hanging up and becoming almost paralyzed. Can anyone tell me how to reverse the terminal command for show Library. The command I used was:
chflags nohidden ~/Library/

Showing the Library folder will not cause the problem you've described. Nevertheless:
chflags hidden ~/Library
will hide the folder. To reveal the folder:
chflags nohidden ~/Library
Note, there is no "/" after Library.

Where is the Library in the users folder?

Where is the Library in the users folder?

NOTE: In Lion and Mountain Lion the Home/Library folder is now invisible. To make it permanently visible enter the following in the Terminal application window: chflags nohidden ~/Library and press the Return key - 10.7: Un-hide the User Library folder.
OT

Library missing, holding down option/go/library opens my user folder. Now what?, Library missing, holding down option/go/library opens my user folder. Now what?

Library missing, holding down option/go/library opens my user folder. Any ideas?

It should open the Library within the User's folder. What does it say at the top of the resulting pane?

Move Users folders from external drive to a new internal drive

Hi All,
I have a white Intel iMac running Snow Leopard. I have kept the Users folder (4 users) on an external hard disk (too many photos and movies). The internal hard disk recently died, but since all user data was on the external, I wasn't too worried.
The iMac now has a new hard disk, and I've installed the system back, starting from the original System Install DVD so that all the iApps are also reinstalled.
What I want to do now is to move the user folders to the internal drive, and use the external for backups. It seems that I can't use Migration Assistant because it only works when moving data from another Mac or another startup drive. I've looked around the forums and on the web, and the only thing I found was a post on TUAW in which the writer talked about eventually having to do this but without giving much info about how to do it (http://www.tuaw.com/2009/05/14/tuaw-tip-moving-your-home-folder-to-another-disk- or-moving-it).
Does anyone have any experience moving the user folders from an external drive to an internal drive, (or even just having a Mac recognize user folders on an external drive from another machine)?

Hilal Malawi wrote:
Thanks, but that site doesn't have a clear answer.
Correct. As it clearly states, there are too many variables to have detailed solutions for every possible situation.
In the 'pink' box, which best matches my situation, the instructions begin with: "•You must be logged on to the account being moved...".
That's not clear at all. How do I log in to an account that doesn't exist yet? Connecting a hard disk that has a home folder to a new Mac doesn't allow me to 'log on' to that home folder's account, because it doesn't yet exist on the new Mac.
You may have to set up user accounts "from scratch." Then change the ownership and permissions on the old home folders so you can copy the contents of the sub-folders from the old home folders to the new ones.
If you're comfortable with permissions and Terminal, this may help: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20013630-263.html

HT1766 I wish to move my iTunes library from my PC to an external drive to make room on my PC. How do I do this?

I wish to move my iTunes library from my PC to an external drive to make room on my PC. How do I do this?

The following may help: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Note the following fine print therein:
Note: If you move your library to an external drive, you'll need to power up and connect the drive before starting iTunes. If you don't, iTunes will prompt you to either locate the library or to create a new library (which will result in an empty library). No matter what, it's always a good idea to have a backup of the media you have in iTunes.

Can photo library be saved direct to an external drive?

can the iphoto library be saved directly to an external drive?

Not "saved" - Moved
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

How can I put part od the iTunes music library of iTunes music on an external drive in order to free up disk space?

How can I put part od the iTunes music library of iTunes music on an external drive in order to free up disk space?

see this
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Peace, Clyde

HT1364 I need to reload my operating system on my computer. I created a folder, itunes media, on a external drive. When I download itunes again how do move my library information back?

I have to reload my operating system. I created and copied my library info to a folder, itunesmedia, on a external drive. when I download itunes again, how do move the files back?

You need to follow the moving media per: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

My iphoto library disappeared. i am trying to restore my library from time machine -- from an external drive -- but everytime it tries to copy my library it tells me it can't do it because i don't have access to my iphoto library??!!! help!!

My iphoto library inexplicably disappeared! i am panicked but i do back up by time machine to an external drive and also to JustCloud. I am trying to restore my iphoto library from a back up on feb 28, 2014 and it says it's copying but then gives me a message that it can't do it because i "don't have authorization to access iphoto library"?! what does this mean? i really want to get my library back on my mac. Also if anyone knows why this happened or where my photos might be on my computer, i'd appreciate help with that, too.

Thank you Terence for your help. I was able to restore my backup from my time machine ext drive to a new 1tb seagate ext drive. so i felt sort of ok. but yesterday that older ext drive i used for time machine wouldn't open! i called applecare and they trouble shooted with me and said it's probably a goner and data is probably corrupted. it's only a few years old and i'm very careful with it. my husband accidentally dropped my new drive last night -- i know, unbelievable, i was SO upset, poor guy -- but I'm so stressed with all of this. i have 10 years of photos and videos. so now i only have the one newer drive with a backup. i have to buy another one today to backup again so i at least have two backups. i tried to delete a ton of files last night to free up the 30 gb of space i need to get my full library back on my mac. i have 90gb free and deleted 7 years worth of photos i had on picasa that were in my "pictures" folder and also a ton or random photos and videos i had in that same pictures folder and thought that would give me the 30 gb but it hardly freed up any space at all! do you know why that is? all of this stuff is really a pain and really stressful. thank god i did have a backup in the first place but now i am panicked the one i have left will somehow crash. especially after my husband dropped the drive lastnight! it didn't fall far and fell onto a wood floor and seems fine, but after my older ext drive crashed yesterday -- and i lost my entire iphoto library a fewweeks ago off my mac -- i feel cursed. any answers you have would be great. thank you.

How do I copy a mac user from an external drive?

At the apple store about 2 weeks ago now they rold me that the hard drive was busted and I needed a new one. So, the hard drive was too damaged to make a disk image so they made a copy of my profile using terminal to my external drive. How would I moving the profile back on my new drive.

Copy the contents of the folder on the external drive to your user folder on the new hard drive. Example - replace the Music folder with the old one. If you have folders that are the same name it should ask you if it is okay to replace the new ones. Be sure you don't have anything in the folders you replace, as you would lose any contents.

Copying library from one user to another

I have 2 Nano's. 2 very different song preferences. I want to keep the two libraries separate but right now all of the songs are in one library. I am tired of unchecking and rechecking every time we want to update one iPod.
Question is: If I consolidate the library to the other user (in Docs and settings) then go to that account and delete the music not desired, then come back to the original and do the same along with changing the itunes location to point to the account in documents and settings will I ruin anything?
My basic question is if I consolidate do I lose the pointer to the original location? I want the same library in both users and I will manually delete the songs from each user so they each have their own library.
Keep in mind that all of the CD's were loaded and are presently in 1 library which is driving me nuts.

Hi beeb,
Jeff and I both use a mac not Windows so I hope this will work.
When I had to do something similar I found the folder on my hard drive that contained the album I wanted to move. I copied that to the hard drive of the other machine and then used the Add to Library command in iTunes.
This worked but I lost my ratings and my play count.
Give this a go to see if it does what you need. Copy only, don't move, then you won't be any worse off.
If it does work then you can move things around.
One thing to be wary of is if an album has multiple artists - they are in different folder for each artist. Well they are on the mac
Hope this helps until a Windows expert comes along.
Regards,
Colin R.

Single User Mode - mount external drive and copy user files to there

I have an iBook G4 running (I think) Tiger (although it may be Panther). AHT reports a bad HD and it will not boot from that drive. Mounting it via Target Disk to another Mac won't permit me to even see beyond the root directory; just a spinning sunburst at the bottom of the Finder window.
If I boot into single-user mode, I can "ls" and "cd" to see the files and folders in the home folder. Assuming the HD is named "Macintosh HD" and I have a USB-connected hard drive named "Backup", what are the commands I need to use in single-user mode in order to mount "Backup" and copy the user's home folder (there's only one on this drive) over to "Backup"?
As I indicated above, I'm not absolutely sure whether this iBook is running Panther or Tiger.
Thanks in advance for any assistance!

I'm in the middle of copying things.
I did a chmod -R ug+w (IIRC) to the 300GB volume and this made it writable.
I then CD'd to the Pictures folder on the Macintosh HD.
I then did a cp *.jpg /Volumes/300GB/ and found that it managed to copy all of the jpegs that were sitting loose in the Pictures folder. Some of the photos were corrupted but I expected this as the drive is reported to have a hardware issue by AHT.
I'm now in the process of copying the iPhoto Library using the cp -r command. Some files are being reported as bad and can't be copied but, again, I'm expecting this.
Whatever I can get from this drive will be a bonus. I'll mention that I used Drive Genius to duplicate the HD to a disk image and, while this was done successfully, it resulted in a "no filesystem" error when I attempted to mount it. However, I -did- ask for it to be mounted anyway and then used DiskWarrior on it (even though it didn't appear in the Finder). It took a few hours for DiskWarrior to come up with a "preview" of the disk (as the filesystem was thoroughly hosed). The User folder was nowhere to be found and every file that was displayed was corrupt. That's why I'm trying this "out of the GUI" process.
I'll thank everyone who made suggestions; they all pointed me in the proper direction.

Copying Library folder in User folder to external drive

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