How do I move my home directory to another disk?

I want to find out the "standard procedure" for moving my home directory to another disk. My current system disk is getting quite full, so I have purchased additional storage. The issues I am concerned about are the following:
Preserving the file permissions
I have used rsync and ditto commands to copy the file. Does rsync preserve the permissions like the ditto command?
Updating the System to use the new home directory
I have used the Ctl-Click on the accounts control panel to update the location of the home directories. Do applications use "~<username>" or /Users/<username> to find the home directory of the user (obviously this is limited to Apple Controlled software).
Understanding the /Users and /home directories
Since Apple is no longer using netinfo, I wanted to get a better understanding how these directories are set up. Is the /home directory exclusively for network mounted home directories.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

I disagree with Linc Davis on whether to move the home folder, But I think you are going about it the wrong way.
Having a Boot drive with only System, Library, Applications, and the hidden unix directories including Paging/Swap on it is one of the best ways to speed up routine disk Access for all your other files. The system keeps "snacking" away loading and reloading bits and pieces of System and Applications as you work, and that System activity slows "regular" disk access way down by moving the drive heads away from the files you are processing.
Giving System files their own drive speeds up everything.
Here are two good recipes and discussions about how and why to do this, and how to make it happen without a single line of Terminal code:
http://chris.pirillo.com/how-to-move-the-home-folder-in-os-x-and-why/
http://jcsenterprises.com/Japamacs_Page/Blog/00E03B83-1ADA-406E-A940-396D39F598E A.html

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How do I move users' home folders to another disk other than boot disk

I would like to move all of my various users' home folders to a different disk. How is this done?
Do I need to then have the disk mount before any users log in? If so, how do I mount it?

But if you are using Leopard (since you are posting in the Leopard category) and simply forgot to update your profile, you can select the location of your home directory by going to System Preferences Accounts pane, and right (control) clicking on your user name to get the +Advanced Options+. You may need to +unlock the lock+ (give authorization) first.
Here are more specific directions.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071025220746340

How do I move the /Users folder to another disk

I have a shiny new MacPro, dual proc, with four, one TB hard drives in it, running OS X Server on Mountain Lion. The first disk is the startup drive, the other three are simply empty, partitioned drives.
I am to be the sysadmin for this machine (and a half dozen Macbook Pros) for my organization. I don't want user data to exist on the startup disk on this machine. Right now, the only user that exists is my sysadmin account. I want the three non-startup hard disks to hold the user data. I think that what I want to do is map the /Users folder to one (or all) of the other three hard disks, and get that data off of the startup disk.
How do I change the location of the /Users folder?
Assuming this is possible, or desirable, the next question would be about RAID. I have not created any RAID arrays using disk manager yet (this Mac Pro does not have a RAID card).
Should I first create a concatenated RAID set from the three additional disks? I see no advantage to striped or mirrored sets, I will have a HUGE external drive for TimeMachine, and disk access speed is just fine. But, I think I'd want drives 2, 3, and 4 to act as one big drive. I think the concatenated RAID set is the answer to that.
Thank you,
Jess

How to relocate system and user data to another drive:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4337
http://chris.pirillo.com/how-to-move-the-home-folder-in-os-x-and-why/
I would only use TimeMachine as an add'l, not primary, or only method for backups.
How to clone your system:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone-backup.html
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone.html
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
http://www.macperformanceguide.com/blog/2012/20120711_2-MacPro-internal-clone-ba ckup.html
With drives of 2, 3 or 4TB now why use three and the one time I used Apple's concatenate, no I didn't like the way it made use of drives. So I would either stripe or mirror, and maybe not even using Apple Disk Utility.

Lion Update with Home folder on another disk

Currently with Snow Leopard I have my home directory on another disk. If I update to Lion, will I have problems? Or will it just work. Or will I have to redo the moving of the home folder?

Should work. Do retain a bootable backup/clone or Time Machine backup of your current Snow Leopard installation to ensure you can work if the upgrade goes awry.

How to stop the removing a user account and saving the home directory to a disk image?

I tried to delete one of two administers on my iMac (10.10.1). After more than 12 hours it will not let me quit System Preferences for it "is removing a user account and saving the home directory to a disk image". How do I finish deleting the administer and quit System Preferences?

I would recommend asking them in C# forums: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/home?forum=csharpgeneral&filter=alltypes&sort=lastpostdesc
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.
Ahmed MALEK
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My MVP Profile

How can i know the home directory of my runtime report on registry

Dear sirs,
please how can i know the home directory of my runtime report on registry?
i have a lot of homes and when i make file to modify the home directory it not done and that is mean that i make effect of another home, and i want to know which home is activated in registory.
Thanks in Advance and waiting the help

If you have a backup on computer iTunes see below:
iTunes > Preferences... (Windows: Edit > Preferences...) > Devices > hover over your backup with the mouse, the serial number will popup.

How do i find my home directory in order to clear it

How do i find my <home directory> in order to clear it

In Mac...the 2 home directories that have to be erased under the "Unintall Flash Player" on the Adobe website. its Step 9
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 11:49:55 -0800
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: How do i find my <home directory> in order to clear it
    Re: How do i find my in order to clear it
    created by Mike M in Installing Flash Player - View the full discussion
Windows or Mac?
and which home directory are you looking for?
     Please note that the Adobe Forums do not accept email attachments. If you want to embed a screen image in your message please visit the thread in the forum to embed the image at http://forums.adobe.com/message/5887758#5887758
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           Start a new discussion in Installing Flash Player at Adobe Community
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Can I and should I move my home directory to my new Thunderbolt RAID drive?

I have just purchased a Thunderbolt Promoise Pegasus Raid set to Raid5. I have never owned a RAID device before so i apologise if these questions seem strange or rudimentary.
I am running an internal 7200 RPM 1TB disc but I have heard that the Thunderbolt throughput is faster than even my internal drive. Is that the case?
If so...
Would it be possible/wise for me to move my home directory to the RAID?
Would it be possible/wise for me run the entire system from the RAID?
Finally, if I keep the system/home directory on the RAID, can I/shoud I use the RAID for Time Machine Backups?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts

Here's what I did:
Copied my home directory to the RAID (not NAS incidentally, but RAID via thunderbolt)
System Prefernces -> accounts
Unlock to make changes and control-click on the account you want to move.
In there you will see a home directory location. Change it to where your new home directory location is.
Restart.
You know it has worked if the new location icon is the familiar picture of a house.
Probably a good idea to have a fallback account you can log into in case something happens.
No issues with any software, plenty of room now on the internal drive ad everything works nice and snappy

Re: Lion Update 10.7.2 Home Directory on another volume

Hi all,
Fought this for a few days.
Machine MacMini 2007 with 500GB Hard drive installed.
On OS X 10.6.x and OS X 10.7.1.x I had moved my home directory to another volume, as my Home directory was initially as big, and is now bigger than my boot drive. Installed 10.7.2 upgrade and after macine rebooted told me it could not find my home directory.
1. External volumes were not showing on left panel of Finder or on desktop as was in previous version.
      Problem: Obviously 10.7.2 did not preserve previous preferences and machine setup. Did not see that notice in release notes.
      Solution: went into finder preferences and selected options to set those.
2. Ran Applications/Utilities/DiskUtility on all Volumes.
     Solution: some drives had some errors, but everything repaired just fine.
3. Opened Terminal and checked external volume with my home directory on it /Volumes/Users/<HomeDirectoryName>, all files seemed to be there and intact
4. Opened Settings/Users & Accounts, right clicked on login, Home directory was set to the correct location.
5. In Terminal performed the following steps, and verified directories:
         >cd /
         >ls -la
         > cd Volumes
         > ls -la
         > cd Users
         >ls -la
       Directory showed Login Name symbolically linked to location on external drive
        Problem:   No home directory files (i.e. Documents, Pictures, Movies were all empty) Dock showed up as if new install, no preferences remembered
6. Called Apple support line, finally got senior technician on line, and had to argue a bit with the technician that I wanted to have my Home Directory on another volume. After we settled on that fact, and review of previous steps, he had me change the Home directory setting which we did several times. After changing /Volume/Users/<LoginName> a couple of times and getting Users1 and Users2 directories created he convinced me that the problem was using /Volumes/Users/ anything for my external volume. We then created a new partition by splitting the drive, and I proceeded to copy to a new partition called MyUsers. Left apple support while approximately 700 GB were copied to new partition.
7. Let computer cook until next morning. Tried setting home directory in Users Accounts/Login/Advanced to /Volumes/MyUser/<LoginName> still no joy!
8. Took Shower -- always get best ideas in shower! went back re-read MacWorld Articales on moving Home directory, and TUAW article.
9. Determined the problem.
10. Problem: OSX 10.7.2 creates a new home directory on the boot drive, even if you symbolically link to another one. Thus the Users1 and Users2 directories on the boot drive root directory. Settings/User Accounts/<login>/Advanced does not do this properly
      Solution: Delete the boot drive login directory, no matter what it points to and symbolically link to external directory.
          Open Terminal Session:
             >cd /
             >sudo rm -rf <LoginName>
             >sudo ln -s /Volumes/<VolumeName>/<LoginName> <LoginNme>
            Restart computer
            Note: VolumeName =Users works just fine.
If Engineering will check to see if an existing directory exists for the Home directory and set it up, then the problem would not have happened.
Hope this helps Engineering and others with this problem.

I tried something a bit different that worked (so far). I always have a second Admin account that has its home directory still on the main Mac HD. I logged into that account and opened system prefs. Then I found my account and right clicked on it to get the "Advanced options." I reset the account's home folder (which said it was on the external drive) to the internal Mac HD.
Logged out of Admin account and back into my account, which showed as a new user account. Logged out and back in as Admin, then back to system prefs and "Advanced options" for my real account. Changed the path to my home folder on the external drive. Logged out of Admin, back to my account and it was fixed.
Hope this helps anyone having the same problem.

How do I move a back up to another external drive and how does the Mac Book then find the new back up?

how do I move a back up to another external drive and how does the Mac Book then find the new back up?
I currently have the back up on a Time Capsule, I want to move it from the Time Capsule to another external hard drive.

Did you read the link to the Pondidni website? You will have to select the Time Machine HDD for the new MBP and the old one in System Preferences>Time Machine:
Ciao.

How do I move from one website to another using Safari, while still allowing Pandora to provide music in the background? It seems that when ever I open a new URL, I lose Pandora.

How do I move from one website to another using Safari, while still allowing Pandora to provide music in the background? It seems that when ever I open a new URL, I lose Pandora.

Try running Pandora in its own tab and leaving that tab open (Safari 7.1.5, OS 10.9.5). I don't have Pandora to try this, but it works for me otherwise.
Good luck
srb

How do I move my home videos to Movies from the TV Shows category in iTunes?

In itunes on my iMac, most, but not all, of my home videos and homemade slide shows have been saved in the TV shows directory rather than the movies directory. I've tried to move them to the movies directory in iTunes, but they won't be moved. How can I move them, and then have the moves reflected on my iPad?

Select the shows in your TV Shows library. You can select several adjacent shows at once by holding the shift key. If they are not adjacent, hold the command key and click on each. Open the Multiple Item Info window (File menu > Get Info or type commamd + I). Select the "Options" tab. Check media kind and use the adjacent menu to select Movie. Cloick "OK" to save your changes. The shows should automatically move to the Movies library.

How can I change my "Home directory" folder name?

Hello, everyone.
I was given a pre-owned MacBook Pro that's running OS 10.6.8. How can I change the name on the Home directory folder? I was able to change the Administrator Account settings, but the Home directory still shows the previous owner's name. It bothers me a bit, though, to see the previous owner's name still come up on the Home folder.
I came across the instruction listed below, but I can't get past step 4. It instructs me "rename it just like I would rename any folder." I can't seem to rename it, though. The cursor doesn't come up when I click on the folder name.
For Mac OS X v10.5 or later
Enable the root user.
Log in as root.
Navigate to the /Users folder.
Select the Home folder with the short name you want to change, and rename it just like you would rename any folder. Keep in mind that the shortname must be all lowercase, with no spaces, and only contain letters.
Use the Users & Groups pane (Accounts pane in Mac OS X v10.6.8 or earlier) in System Preferences to create a new user with the Account name or Short Name that you used in the previous step.
Click OK when "A folder in the Users folder already has the name 'account name'. Would you like to use that folder as the Home folder for this user account?" appears. Note: This will correct the ownership of all files in the Home folder, and avoid permissions issues with the contents.
Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.
Log in as the newly created user. You should be able to access all of your original files (on the desktop, in Documents, and in the other folders of this Home).
After verifying that your data is as expected, you can delete the original user account via the Users & Groups pane (Accounts pane in Mac OS X v10.6.8 or earlier).
Disable the root user.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi everyone,
I followed this https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3872
and got to the stage of having renamed my Home folder with the new name but the Home folder is STILL designated to the old name?
When I try and create a new user with the new name, I don't get asked if I'd like to use the existing name as Home folder, I get told I can't use the newname because it exists already - thats the end of it - no further options.
So to clarify - I now have oldname folder STILL assigned as Home folder. A newname folder with all my stuff in - apps, desktop, etc etc but this is just another user folder.
Interestingly at login stage, the oldname folder isn't an option. I think I've confused the system somewhere by titling things differently at some stage in an attempt to rename Home folder.
I'm running Mountain Lion (as of yesterday) and because I've kinda lost the use of my User folder as the Home folder, can't get to my Time Machine. I'm in trouble but I'm trying not to panic. Would appreciate any help!
Laurie

How do I move the Home button between Back Forward and address bar?

The way I have my firefox set up for years is to put the buttons like this:
[Back][Forward][Stop/Reload][Home][Progress Animation][Address Bar]
Now in FF29 I'm trying to move the Home button between the BackForward buttons and the address bar and it won't let me.
I thought FF29 was supposed to be the most customizable Firefox yet? *confused*
Is there a way to do this, am I missing something? Thanks

''' "I thought FF29 was supposed to be the most customizable Firefox yet?" ''' <br />
Whoever told you that was incorrect, as far as I am concerned. Firefox still is more customizable that the "competition", but not as much as previous versions were.
The Home button can be moved, but the Back / Forward combo button is attached to the Address Bar - they can't be separated.
The combo Stop / Reload button is locked in the Address Bar.<br />
The old "Activity Indicator" is gone. Deemed unnecessary with the loading animation on the left corner of each tab, where the Favicon appears once the page is fully loaded.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-make-new-firefox-look-like-old-firefox
Many users are installing the Classic Theme Restorer extension. <br />
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/ <br />But I don't think that is going to turn out to be along term solution. As users start installing other extensions I think they are going to run into compatibility issues where the new extension "expects" the user to be using what Firefox came with - not the "retro" features.

How can I use the /home directory

I'm doing development work on my Mac (running Snow Leopard). The output location for the production server I use is under "/home/subdir". I'd like to develop my files on the Mac so they reside in the same relative location, but from the default install this is not possible.
The /home directory is hidden by default. If I view hidden files, it looks like a mounted hard drive, but with no space. If I try to do something in the /home directory, I get "Operation not supported". For example, from the command line "sudo mkdir /home/test" returns "mkdir: /home/test: Operation not supported".
(Originally, when I was useing Leopard, I moved the installed /home to /home_old and created my own /home directory, but the install to Snow Leopard reverted it back to the locked out /home dir. The other one was preserved, but it makes me nervous enough that I don't want to try it again without some reassurance.)
So, the question: Is there a safe way to use /home on a Mac running Snow Leopard?

Found the answer in another forum post here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2073807&tstart=0
To get the /home directory back. Edit /etc/auto_master and remove or comment out the line that starts with "/home". Then reboot.

How do I move my home directory to another disk?

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