How did I get two "home folders"?

Question

I suddenly got into problems with my backup because the home folder did not have the usual content. When I try to see what happened, it looks like I have two "home" folders.
When I select Go>Home from the men, it looks like this:
And when I click on the Data drive below the Data folder, it looks like this:
The juliusson-folder in the second image is the one that I thought was the home folder. It contains the stuff that I want to back up.
Can someone see from this what could be wrong? I don't really know how it should look.
When this happened, I also lost my user settings.

Answer 1

julle300 wrote:
I don't know if I moved the Home folder out of the start up drive on purpose It could have been part of my original configuration.
I set up my computer years ago by following some online instructions for an optimised set up for Photoshop work. I have three drives installed. One 1TB drive and two 2TB drives. The instructions that I followed were meant to put the system and programs on one drive (also used as scratch drive) and then have images and other stuff on the other two. Those two were set up as a mirrored RAID configuration.
Everything has worked fine for over three of years. Could the problems be caused by an accidental folder move?
It's hard to understand how an accidental folder move would cause this - the home folder path is also set within the system configuration. That means you can't just use any old folder as the home folder location.
I guess it's possible an accident moved it, but then there would have been some user interaction to have agreed to use it in the new location. It seems likely that you somehow managed to use the OS when the Data disk was offline - the folder got created in place of the old home folder, that caused a new one to be made (new home folders get the default template with Desktop, Documents, Music, Pictures etc).
Have you got another user account on the system? Is that user an admin?  Does that user work OK?
You will need an admin account to fix this issue, please create one & leave the home folder for the admin on the main boot disk.
Do you have any data that you need within the current home folder (the new one inside the Data folder)?
Your original settings will be saved in the original home folder, but that is not being used at present. If you can abandon the new home folder here is what I suggest…
Disable automatic login if it is enabled - you need to stop logging in as 'juliusson' whilst you fix this, it can be re-enabled when it is fixed.
Create a new admin user account in 'System Preferences > User & groups', this is as a backup to allow you to manage the computer whilst fixing the home folder.
Reboot, login as the new admin account.
In 'System Preferences > User & groups', unlock the panel with the admin password (click the padlock)
Select the 'juliusson' user account, right click (or ctrl+click) the name & select 'Advanced Options…' in the popup.
Look at the 'Home Directory:' path. That needs to be set to the old location. By default that should be /Users/juliusson, yours looks like it should be  /Volumes/Data/juliussonIf you are unsure use the Finders 'Go menu > Go to Folder…' to open '/Volumes/Data/juliusson' confirm that it contains some of your old user files.*
Save the correct path in the 'Home Directory' setting & reboot (do not edit any other Advanced fields)
*NOTE: In steps 6 you probably will not see the correct path since the Data folder is occupying the same location that the Data disk uses. To get around this you will need to rename the Data folder insider /Volumes, and reboot. I'd suggest you move the user home inside the Data folder to a new location as a backup & then delete the entire Data folder in /Volumes/. A reboot will be required to allow the Data disk to mount into the /Volumes/Data location. Once it mounts correctly login should work.
You can merge the home folders as Barney suggested, but this is probably safest via a manual approach unless you are willing to spend time & are experienced in comparing files with apps the can do selective copying (ChronoSync for example).
Please ask if you are unsure about any of this - it's major changes to your user data setup - a full backup is essential before beginning. Setting the home path is the correct way to relocate a home folder once the data is moved.