How to Encrypt Home Folder Located on External Drive

I have an iMac 5K with a 512GB internal SSD. I decided to relocate my users' home folders to an external HDD due to their size (won't all fit on the SSD).
That part is working fine. However, it has now dawned on me that I would like to encrypt those home folders in case that external HDD is stolen. The problem, of course, is that by encrypting that external HDD, those users won't be able to login, since you can't login if your home folder is not immediately available.
Only solution that I read about is to have another user (with a home folder on the SSD) login first after startup and decrypt the HDD. The would then allow the other users to login successfully.
Is that the solution I should go with here? Or is there some other approach that will work better? Or should I move my home folders back to the SSD and just keep the large stuff on the external HDD?

If your pictures, music, movies are not sensitive, you could relocate those to the external drive.

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How do I move my Home folder to an external drive?

I am leaving for 3 months. I want to copy the entire Home folder on my iMac to an external drive so I can take it with me. I want to clean up the files/folders, sort and delete thousands of iPhoto pictures, organize hundreds of genealogy documents, etc., using my MBPr. When I return home, I want to replace the old Home folder with the cleaned up one. I thought I could simply drag and drop the Home folder to the external drive (2 TB) but twice now I get these two dialogue boxes mid-way. After the second, the copy window disappears and copying stops. A shadow of the Home folder is on the external drive, but nothing else. Can this be done? How? Thanks!

1, Yes. Making a partition for the clone is what you want to do if you want a bootable clone.
2, If you want a bootable clone, you do not want to create disk image.
3, Dragging and dropping will not get all of the files the was cloning software will. Using drag & drop uses more superficial commands then the cloning software uses. So that is is not able to get everything.
The next two link are a couple of site that explain how to set up SD to clone a disk.
http://www.lansharks.net/lansharks/SuperDuper_Backup_Instructions.html
http://mac.appstorm.net/how-to/hardware-how-to/how-to-make-a-bootable-hard-drive -clone-with-superduper/
The link below is the complete manual for SD
http://s3.amazonaws.com/com.shirtpocket/SuperDuper/SuperDuper.pdf
I hope think helps.

Is it possible to install my home folder on an external drive?

I need to hand my MacBook in for repair, but I don't want any of my documents on it when it goes in to the repair shop. I have full Time Machine back-ups of the entire laptop, but is there any way I can install my home folder on an external drive so that while my laptop is being repaired I can continue working as usual with my external hard drive plugged in to another (older, smaller hard drive) laptop?

Get an empty external drive properly formatted. Get Carbon Copy Cloner 4.0 and use it to backup your Home folder to this external drive. Create a new admin user account and turn off auto login if it is enabled. Reboot the computer and sign into the new user account. Delete your user account.

How to relocate Home folder to second internal drive

What is the process to migrate my Home Folder from the boot drive (256Gb SSD) to a new internal drive (960Gb SSD)? Can this be accomplished in finder or should one use the Terminal window?

Interesting, I'm having the same issue on my MacBook Pro that has both an SSD (for the OS and Apps) and a Hard Disk in place of the Superdrive. This config worked just fine with Mountain Lion; since upgrading to Mavericks this morning, I am unable to log into my personal account that has its home folder on the hard disk.
Unfortunately, it also seems to be an issue with the library folder, as I've been able to solve this issue with symlinks just fine with the exception of Library: the system keeps asking me to key in my password because the Library folder "needs to be repaired".
I can't move my Library folder to the SSD, as it is way too big (for whatever reason) - the SSD is only 96 Gig.
What is so different here is that the hard disk in the system is encrypted - I think this is the problem. I don't understand why, though, because under ML, I just logged in as admin after every reboot, which mounted the encrypted disk and then logged out / logged back in with my user account - it worked just fine.
Something seems to have changed with Mavericks regarding making available the encrypted HD...
Oddly enough, on my Mac Mini at home, which also has the SSD/HD pair, the moved home folder works fine - of course, here the HD isn't encrypted...
I hope someone has a fix for this, otherwise I'll have to go back to ML!

ITunes Media Folder Location on External Drive

Setting up a new Mac. I already have my iTunes media from my previous Mac on an external drive. Went to Preferences and selected the external drive and iTunes Media folder and the files are not showing up in iTunes. Any ideas?

FrustratedAJM3 wrote:
Setting up a new Mac. I already have my iTunes media from my previous Mac on an external drive. Went to Preferences and selected the external drive and iTunes Media folder and the files are not showing up in iTunes. Any ideas?
That simply tells iTunes where to put new files.
It does not add anything to iTunes.
You should keep the entire iTunes library (iTunes media and all library files) in one location.
Do this...
Connect external to old computer.
Copy /Music/iTunes/ folder from internal drive to external drive.
On the external, move the iTunes media folder into the iTunes folder you just copied to the external.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Everything should work fine.
Quit iTunes.
Connect drive to new computer.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Everything should work fine.
This is all you need to do.
This will bring all your playlists, ratings, comments, everything from old computer.
You do not need to change the iTunes media folder location in iTunes prefs..

Can I put my startup/home folder on an external drive?

I would like to stripe my four internal drives for a high-performance RAID 0 for video editing.
Is there ANY reason that it would be unwise to put my applications/library/system/users folders on an external firewire drive? (Of course I will continue to do regular backups of these folders, regardless of where they live.)
Any performance issues, startup issues, etc, that I should be aware of?

External drives are slower than internal drives but otherwise there's no reason you could not do it. I would not recommend it. I would leave one internal drive as your startup drive and stripe the other three. This would be the faster and more reliable alternative in my opinion.
Consider putting in a goodly amount of RAM which will also help with video work and limit the amount of disk usage during editing of large files.

I created a new home folder on an external but didn't move my old files over. Now I can't see the old hard drive in my mac mini. How can I locate that drive?

I wanted to move my home folder to an external drive. I created a new home folder and in advanced options I moved it over. I didn't however move my files over first, my bad. Now I can't see the hard drive on my mac mini. Is it possible to reverse it or get access to the old home folder and is it possible to still use the mac mini's internal hard drive for storage? How do I find my shared folder, it was on the internal drive. I'm new to macs as you might have guessed at this debockle. Can anyone help?

I'm using Mavricks. I wanted to move my home directory to an external and went into sys prop/users/advanced options and moved the folder ok. Being a noobie on Macs I didn't copy my data and such. So my settings were all new. Basicly now I don't see the internal drive on my mini. There is a lot of strage I'm not able to access. The internal drive doesn't show up. How can I put a folder back onto it so it shows up?

I have scanned a document, how do I save to a specific folder on an external drive from the Preview application?

I have scanned a document, how do I save to a specific folder on an external drive from the Preview application?

There is no 'Save as' in Lion. If it's a new document then select File -> Save will bring up a standard 'Save' dialog box which will allow you to specify the location. Otherwise select File -> Duplicate and then save the duplicate.

How do I get iTunes to use the iTunes folder on an external drive? Windows 7

I have used iTunes on an external drive on a Windows XP machine. I moved the drive to a Windows 7 computer, authorized it with Apple. However, when I go to preferences/advanced and try to change the Media folder location,the location is changed but the music is not recognized in Itunes. Help!

I experimented and discovered the solution by trial and error. I don't understand why this is not documented in a way that a naive user would understand. It is step 2, below, that is not obvious. Unless you know that there is this thing called a library and that you must import it, you would be at a dead end. I originally assumed that when I point iTunes to the folder on the external drive where iTunes was located it would recognize everything from there.
1. When installing iTunes, if music iTunes Library is on another disk, In iTunes Go to Edit/Preferences/Advanced - select the iTunes media on the other disk.
2. In order to bring in the library & playlists, in iTunes, Go to File/Library/import Playlist go to the iTunes location on the other disk and select the file iTunes Library. The file type is labeled XML document.
This will bring in the songs, albums and playlists.

How to change home folder name

How to change home folder name ?

Here are the instructions from Apple on changing user short name or home directory name. I've used this on a couple of used MacBooks I've bought on eBay. And remember to go into System Preferences>Sharing and change the Computer Name in there.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428

HT201250 Hi, I had updated folder on my hard drive wich was wrongly replaced with a folder from my external drive. I m not using time machine. How can i recover that updated folder? (it was done on 3-5-12)

Hi, I had updated folder on my hard drive wich was wrongly replaced with a folder from my external drive. I m not using time machine. How can i recover that updated folder? (it was done on 3-5-12)

If the folder was replaced, it was written over.
Nothing short of forensic data recovery (probably involving taking the drive apart to scan the discs seperately) is going to recover anything (if indeed even that will).

I am trying to burn CDs to an external hard drive to conserve space on our laptop. When I change the file location it says the folder on the external drive is invalid. Am I missing a step?

I am trying to burn CDs to an external hard drive to conserve space on our laptop. When I change the file location it says the destination folder on the external drive is invalid. Am I missing a step?

It does, but that's definitely strange. Try showing all hidden files and folders on your Mac to see if that helps.
To do this, head to Applications -> Utilties -> Terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE -> Press Enter
killall Finder -> Press Enter
Then navigate out to your iPod again via the Finder. Any luck now?
B-rock

I have a new western digital 1TB ultra. how do i format it? i can't create a new folder inside the external drive.

I have a new WD My Passport Ultra external drive. Once connected to the Macbook Pro retina, I can't create a new folder in the external drive. What do I do to solve the problem?

You should be able to format it for use with your computer using Disk Utility in the Utilities folder:
http://osxdaily.com/2012/01/04/format-an-external-hard-drive-or-usb-flash-drive- for-mac-os-x/

How to Move iTunes Library on an External Drive to Another Computer

How do you move your iTunes library (including all your playlists) if your iTunes media files—movies, TV shows, music, etc.—are housed on an external drive, rather than the local drive on your computer?
The usual advice concerns copying media files from one computer to the next, e.g.:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
But if your media is on an external device, you don’t want to copy it, just access it from a new device. You could plug the drive into your new computer and drag the media into iTunes, but then you would lose your playlists and other information.
Fortunately, you can transfer an entire iTunes Library using the Export/Import function. The essential information is found in an Apple support document, “iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists”:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451
Using this information, we can create a procedure for transferring both the media files that are on an external drive and the iTunes Library that goes with it.
Here is the procedure:
1. On the old computer, Export the playlist, using File > Library > Export Library. Transfer the resulting file to the new computer.
2. You might want to note the number of music files, TV shows, etc. you have on the old system. Select View > Show Status Bar, then choose the “List” view, and this information will be shown at the bottom of the iTunes window. Also disable sharing, etc.; you may want to deauthorize the computer as well.
3. Close iTunes on the old computer, dismount and disconnect the external drive(s). (Yes, this will work with media on multiple drives).
4. On the new computer, close iTunes and delete “iTunes Library.itl” in the iTunes folder.
5. On the new computer, Connect and mount the external drive(s).
6. Open iTunes on the new computer. Choose Preferences > Advanced. Deselect (uncheck) both “Keep iTunes Media Organized” (because it’s already organized on your external drive, right?) and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder” (because the files are on the external drive). Then set your iTunes Media folder location to your media folder on the external drive and click on “OK”. (Note: don’t close iTunes after this step, because it will automatically reset your media folder to your local machine rather than the external drive).
7. Choose File > Library > Import Playlist and choose the file you exported from the old computer. This will import all the media you had on the old system into iTunes (no need to manually move anything from the external drive). The import will probably take some time. (If you see that iTunes is copying files, you probably messed up Step 6; you can stop it and go back to Step 4 without harm).
8. After the import, you can check the numbers you noted in Step 2; if there is a discrepancy that bothers you, check out the scripts “Music Folder Files Not Added” “List MIAs” and at http://dougscripts.com/itunes/.
9. When everything is satisfactory, you can recheck “Keep iTunes Media Organized” and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder” in Preferences.
10. You may now want to enable sharing, sync iOS devices, etc. Also be sure to set up your backup strategies on the new machine (you *do* have backups of your external drive(s), right?). If you already had some media on your new computer and you want to incorporate it into the external drive, choose File > Library > Consolidate.
11. Oddities:
* iTunes Extras must be manually imported.
* Some of my movies & TV shows imported as “Home Video”.
* Mobile applications did not import (presumably because no iOS device was synced).
* Books that were once handled by iTunes are now handled by iBooks and will not import (to let iTunes see them again, you’ll need to add them manually to iBooks, then choose File > Move Books from iTunes). Audiobooks import okay, but you may have to authorize your Audible account.

Or:
Copy the iTunes folder from the old computer to the same location in your user area on the new one. Attach the external drive and start iTunes. If you have put it in your Home > Music folder the application will automatically know to look for it there and becausse you are using the same library it will be configured to look for media on the external drive.

How do I sync music from an external drive

I recently moved all my iTunes content including music to an external hard drive (multiple reasons: space, SONOS capability, etc.). In addition, I purchased a new iMac. I can wipe the nano, no problem, but how do I get music from the external drive that is not on my computer (but which iTunes will play via iCloud) onto the nano?
Do I need to download everything back to my computer from iCloud and sync that way or is there some toggle I'm missing that allows me to load the external drive --> iTunes--> nano?
Thanks!

Jairy,
You may need to run through the following steps:
Once you've done that, follow the next set of steps to change your iTunes Media folder location to the new drive and then consolidate your library to the new location. This not only copies your audio and media files over, it also retains your ratings and playlists. Note: If you move your music and media to an external hard drive, you will need to have that drive connected to access your files. No matter what, it's always a good idea to have a backup of the media you have in iTunes.
Open iTunes.
From the iTunes menu, choose Preferences.
Click the Advanced button in the Preferences window.
Click the Change button in the iTunes Media folder location pane.
In the Change Media Folder Location window that appears, navigate to the location where you would like your new iTunes Media folder to be created.
Note: By default, your iTunes Media folder is a folder named "iTunes Media" in ~/Music/iTunes/ where the tilde "~" represents your home directory.
Click the New Folder button in the Change Media Folder Location window.
In the New Folder window that appears, enter the name of the new iTunes Media folder.
Click Create.
Click Choose in the Change Media Folder Location window.
Click OK in the Advanced window.
From the File menu, choose Library and then Organize Library if using iTunes 9 or later. If you're using iTunes 7 or iTunes 8 for Mac, choose File > Library and then Consolidate Library.
In the Organize Library (or Consolidate Library) window, select Consolidate files.
Click OK. Important: This action copies all of your music and media files to the new location. There must be enough hard disk space available to copy all of your music and media files.
After the folder has been copied, locate your original iTunes Media folder, and drag it to the Trash. Important: Don't remove the iTunes Library files that may be in the same location as the iTunes Media folder. For more information about the iTunes Library files, see this article.
Quit iTunes and then open iTunes once more.
If you receive the alert "The folder containing "iTunes Library" cannot be found, and is required. Please choose or create a new iTunes library," you most likely moved the iTunes Library files. If this is the case, move them out of the Trash and back to where they were.
If you can open and close iTunes without encountering the above alert, empty the Trash.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Cheers,
Allen

How to Encrypt Home Folder Located on External Drive

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