Relocate entire User Directory

Looking for an official statement from Apple on the option of relocating the entire Users directoy in OSX ( lion + )
I'd like to partition the boot drive and relocate the User Directory to the second partition.
( need a method that ensures new accounts are created in the preffered location automaticaly )
Partitioning the boot drive will make it possible to reimage the machine without touching the User's data.
Our image evolves and our user's move between systems - this would save a lot of time and server space.
An alternative to the per user System Preffrences / Users & Groups / ( specific user ) / Advanced options ( choose path )
this method is per user ( involves many steps ) not great for mass deployments.
I have used a symlink ( that works fine as far as I can tell ) perhaps their is another way I am unaware of?
dose the above update the path to a file somwhere in the System ? maybe we can modify that file for all future users..?
or somthing via the "/System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj" ?
Please Advise =)
Thank you!

Thank you Bob, Perfect I have tried the Symlink solution on the entire Users folder - it does seem to be working great. Looking for some official apple support articles - any idea where I could find them without a support contract?
Sorry, but no.
My knowledge of Symlinks comes from being a Unix file system developer for 16 years (several different *nix implementations, but none of them Mac OS X ), plus 2 years Unix file system support, and 7 years network file systems developer (although there were no symlinks in this network protocol ).
I've paid attention to how symlinks seem to behave on Mac OS X, and their difference from Mac OS X Aliases.
While the Finder does use an alias icon for symlinks, the finder seems to use symlinks just fine, and most other applications seem to just ask the file system to navigate the path, and let the file system worry about the details.
But that is my observations. If you insist on official, then you will need to continue your search.

Similar Messages

HT2374 How do I relocate my /users directory to a new partition?

How do I relocate my /users directory to a new partition?

Drag them there and then either put symbolic links to them in their original location or open the Users & Groups pane of System Preferences, unlock it, control-click each account, choose Advanced Options, and change the home folder path.
(122052)

How do I relocate the user directory?

I have a new iMac with SSD and HHD. I want to just leave the OS and apps on SSD and relocate user directories to the HHD, but Migration Assistant doesn't recognize trhe HDD. How do I do this properly?

Do not perform the following steps while the account you are working with is active. Create a new administrator account with a different account name to perform all these steps.
1- Boot using the HD (i.e. the platter drive, what you're alternately calling the HHD and HDD). Create a user account with the exact same name and password as the one you're using on the SSD. Then reboot into the SSD.
2- Go to System Preferences->Accounts. Look for the account you want to work with. Right-click on the account name in the left sidebar and choose ADVANCED OPTIONS.
3- Look for the line that is labeled HOME DIRECTORY. Click on the CHOOSE button to the right of the entry field of this line. Navigate to the UserAccountName folder you created on the HD and select it. Then click the OK button at the lower-right of the ADVANCED OPTIONS window and close the System Preferences application.
4- Now copy the UserAccountName folder from the SSD to the HD, overwriting the one currently on the HD.
5- Restart the computer, booting into the SSD. You can now log into the copied/moved user account.
6- Perform some tests to be sure this "took" properly. You might want to perform a Permissions Repair using the Disk Utility application.
edit: You can see an earlier discussion about this here:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/9932616#9932616
Message was edited by: John Hammer1

Enable User Directory

I am setting up CPS. I am setting up users using the
file-bases selection. I have a connection between publishing server
and the website. When I go into the administrative tools in
Contribute and go to Publishing Server, and click the button to
Enable User Directory, I first receive a message that Local/Network
protocol cannot be used with both Windows and Macintosh computers.
Am I sure I want to enable it? I click Yes because we don't have
any Macintosh computers. Then i have a window to login using my
User Directory name and password. I have entered this the same way
it is entered in the User Directory. I check the "Trust the server"
box and click OK. I then receive a message that my user name and
password are incorrect. I've changed the password in the User
Directory in case it was typed wrong but still receive the same
thing. Can anyone tell me what the problem is? I believe I've set
everything up according to the documentation. Please help. We are
needing to get this site out asap. Thanks.

Not entirely sure, but I've had it stop like that when it
tried to validate the FTP connection. We've had to add folks to our
FTP server in order to make it work.

Move Users Directory

I'm currently running out of hard disk space and would like to keep the existing internal hard drive intact for software. I've purchased an external drive that I plan to have on when the computer powers on. I called Apple support and they didn't have any solutions to move my Users directory to another volume. They told me it wasn't possible. Their solution to my problem was to just add an external drive and just randomly move data to it whenever my main hard disk gets full. This is messy and a very windows-like solution and will make migrating to a new mac painful. Not very happy I paid for Applecare and found better support from Google, but I digress. I came here for real support.
I've found a number of guides, but none were up to date on this topic and were for 10.5 or earlier. I'm currently running 10.6. I know the main steps but wanted to verify the proper flags for ditto.
1. Setup and format new disk, mount it to /Volumes/newdisk
2. copy data (this is where I get a little confused due to different guides.
ditto -V /Users/username /Volumes/newdisk/Users/username
3. In the system preferences, visit accounts, control + click the username and edit the home directory field with /Volumes/newdisk/Users/username
4. logout / login
Does this sound like a sane solution?
According to the ditto manpage the --rsrcFork has been depreciated to --rsrc and is the default behavior, grabbing all meta-data. The -V flag just verboses everything.
Thanks for your help!

What you plan should work, though as Kappy says CCC would be an easier way to do the copy. However, the reason that Apple support recommended against this is that it makes things needlessly complicated. If you have problems down the line and need assistance, it's almost a guarantee that the first thing you'll hear when you describe your setup is "Oh, try moving your user folder back to the boot drive and see if the problem goes away."
Instead, make a plan as to what data you want to store on the external drive and just move that data there. For example, video, audio and photo files are typically large and can be moved to the external drive without moving the entire user folder. This keeps things simple and allows you to potentially move that hard drive to another computer without compromising the integrity of your iMac, among other potential advantages.

Is it sufficient to just backup users directory in time machine?

I am backing up my macbook to my Buffalo Linkstation Live. Is it ok if I just backup the users directory to save all the images,movies,files etc? It is a bout 40 gig.
I use garageband, iweb and all the ilife programs and assume all these items including my itunes music/backups is in this directory?
I am not concerned about the system files as I can restore them if need be.
Thanks

doobias123 wrote:
I am backing up my macbook to my Buffalo Linkstation Live. Is it ok if I just backup the users directory to save all the images,movies,files etc? It is a bout 40 gig.
I use garageband, iweb and all the ilife programs and assume all these items including my itunes music/backups is in this directory?
The data for those apps is probably there (unless you've moved it), but the apps aren't.
I am not concerned about the system files as I can restore them if need be.
Please reconsider. Strongly consider letting Time Machine back up your entire system. You're only saving a few GBs (10 - 20) by omitting your System and Applications folders, and only on the first backup, because very little changes there, but here's what you'll have to do when (not if) your internal HD fails, or something else awful happens to your Mac:
Install OSX from your Leopard or Snow Leopard Install disc.
Go through the set-up procedure: setup your Internet connection(s), server names, etc.
Download and install the "combo" update, to get back to your current version of OSX.
If you upgraded iLife since purchasing your Mac, find and restore your iLife apps.
Find all the discs for 3rd-party apps and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
Find the websites for all downloaded 3rd-party apps, download and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
Restore whatever data you saved.
Wonder what you missed, and find out the hard way . . . for months or longer.
In most cases, this is a no-brainer.

Restoring a user directory encrypted with FileVault

The hard drive on my PowerBook (which was running Tiger) was hosed last week. "Luckily", I had been making regular backups of the entire hard drive onto a Firewire drive.
Meanwhile, I've got a spanking new iMac here (running Leopard). I plugged in the backup drive hoping to restore all my precious files, only to discover that everything seems accessible EXCEPT the user directory, which was encrypted with FileVault. In Finder, it looks like an alias that's not pointing to anything.
Now I'm panicking. It looks like everything is there, in that the directory containing the encrypted user directory takes up about as much space as I'd expect it to. I can access everything off the hard drive that's not encrypted. But all the stuff that's actually important to me is inaccessible.
If I can't recover this directory, I'm screwed. But I have no idea where to start. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance (and more later if you help!)

Glad you recovered it!
As I recall, the Filevault encrypted sparseimage is normally kept in /HD/Users/username, but when you are logged into that account the username folder is temporarily renamed .username (with a leading period) so as to made invisible, and a temporary alias called username is created in Users instead.
If so, then it sounds from your description of your files as if you may have been logged into the Filevault account when you made the backup clone. I don't know if you plan to continue to use Filevault in the future, but if so, here is a tip from SuperDuper's documentation:
If you’re using FileVault, your home folder and all its data is stored in a single, large file that’s open and active when you’re logged in. Because of this, you should create a non-FileVault account for use with SuperDuper! Then, log out of your FileVaulted account, into this new account, and run SuperDuper! from there. This ensures that the special FileVault volume is put away and backed up cleanly.
---------

WARNING!!!!! 10.5.2 UPGRADE KILLS ENTIRE USER BASE!!!!!!!!!!

Greetings,
A strong word of caution. I've reproduced this three times on my Quad G5 Server. Did an Erase and Install under Standard Install setting. Configured all users. Services worked properly. Then, I performed the OS X Server 10.5.2 Update. After reboot, the ONLY account that can log in is ROOT. There are NO OTHER USERS IN THE DIRECTORY STRUCTURE!!!!! All user data is GONE.
Repeated the install. Did a Standard Install. Configured users. Promoted the server into Advance Mode using Server Admin. Performed OS X Server 10.5.2 Update. After reboot. All users are gone.
I'm now on attempt number 4. This time, after promoting into Advanced mode, I'm exporting the entire user base to XML to see if I can't fix it after it kills my users again without having to reinstall.
I'm telling you people, this is really bad. I've been administering Apple servers for 15 years. I have NEVER lost a single user in an upgrade.
Clint Potts
IT Director
The Runbeck Companies, Inc.

I had the same problem as well but it happen before the 10.5.2 update.
I thought it was because I was switching from Server Settings to Server Admin and promoted the server to Open Directory Master.
But after a fresh re-install it did happen again.
I never been able to replicate the exact same behavior twice.
So I never experienced the loss of the user database after an upgrade but only after changing settings.
It is true however that before going live I had to setup my database and teamserver 4 times.
The server is now stable (AFP "just" need to be restarted regulary) and I'm happy with.
Anyways I always follow those rule in order to be safe:
• I never apply a Friday released update straight on unless if I want my week-end ruined. I usually wait the Monday, then forgot about it up until 2 weeks after release.
• I like Time Machine but it takes forever to recover. So I clone regulary my boot disk with SuperDuper.
• I usually always apply a combo server update instead of a delta update.
• Since I've made quite a lot of changes on teamserver I cannot apply anymore any update without knowing excatly what's inside. So I have to apply the update first on my test machine. Then sync my changes with the new files and do more tests.
I think it's fair to think that an update can break a server. I don't see anything wrong with that. Maybe because that's the way computers works since I started to use them.
What's NOT OK is to have to record manually yourself the list of all the files who changed and figuring out yourself what changed. Apple doesn't do a good job at communicating what their update are doing.
Good luck for 10.5.3. I still can't wait for it!

Moving Users Directory to Raid 1

Hi all,
I'm going to install a Raid 1 system with two WD1500KS.
I'd like to put the full existing Users directory onto this Raid 1.
One question about Raid 1 system, is there a Master and a Slave ? What appear on the screen , a disk called Raid 1 and the system manage the distribution or we can see the two drives composing Raid 1 ?
There was discussions about how to move Users directory to another Volume :
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3225806#3225806
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3231609&tstart=0
After reading again and again these posts, where Ned, Steve and The Hatter have proposed solutions for this move, I'm lost and thinking as Ned's solution has not yet been deployed, and Steve's one seems easy but could be problematic with some applications according to Ned, I'm still uncertain about what should I do ?
Could you please tell me if Steve's solution :
"For this example, assume that you have a drive called disk2, accessible at /Volumes/disk2. This is more steps than required, but it is a safe way to accomplish the task.
1) Back up your users directory.
2) Create a new users directory on the target disk:
sudo mkdir /Volumes/disk2/Users
3) Set permissions appropriately on new directory:
sudo chown root:admin /Volumes/disk2/Users
4) Copy data from existing Users directory to new Users directory:
sudo cp -Rp /Users/ /Volumes/disk2/Users/
* note: make sure you use the switches shown (-Rp); this does a recursive copy, and duplicates the permissions of the copied files.
* note: make sure you add the trailing backslash!
5) Rename the existing Users directory to be extra paranoid:
sudo mv /Users /UsersBackup
6) Create a symbolic link pointing to the new Users directory:
sudo ln -siv /Volumes/disk2/Users/ /Users
It wouldn't hurt to restart at this point.
Once you are satisfied that everything is present on the new drive, you can delete the extra paranoid backup we made in step 5:
sudo rm -rf /UsersBackup
Enjoy "
is problematic for Users directory or only as The Hatter mentionned for Applications directory :
"Trying to use a symbolic link to relocate /Applications, and especially Apple programs is where there was usually trouble."
Thanks,
Peloche,
MacPro 2.66, 6GB, 1TB; Mini G4, 1.45, 1GB; iPod 60 GB; 30" & 20" ACD; Apple IIC Mac OS X (10.4.8) X1900XT

Done,
Used Ned's and Steve's methods:
1 - Create "Users" directory onto Raid 1 system
2 - Copy all from Volume/Raptor/Users directory to Volume/Raid1/Users/
3 - Activate Root User with Netinfo Manager
4 - Modify all users "Home address" into Net info Manager and save
5 - Reboot, log into my account and "You are unable to log in to the user account" message, even with administrator account.
6 - Reboot onto old OSX partition, wonder what could be the reason ? IMHO it could be only my mistake (Peloche's method), may be typing error within the "Home address", change Raid name from "Raid1" to "Raid 1"
7 - Reboot onto Raptor, log to my account and OK it works
8 - Use "sudo mv /Users /UsersBackup"
9 - Reboot OK
10 - Copy all my "Documents" from "UsersBackup" to another partition
11 - Reboot OK
12 - Use "sudo rm -rf /UsersBackup"
13 - Reboot OK
14 - Thanks to Ned and Steve
Peloche,
MacPro 2.66, 6GB, 1.7TB; Mini G4, 1.45, 1GB;iPod 60 GB; 30" & 20" ACD; Apple IIC Mac OS X (10.4.8) X1900XT

How do I delete a Pages file from the Users directory?

Browsing my new MacBook I've spotted that a version of one of my earliest Pages docs is stored directly in the Users directory. There is no option in Finder to delete it. I can drag a copy elsewhere, but I want to get rid of it completely. How do I achieve this?
Thanks.

Hi Andrew,
You need to go to your Users Library...
users/yourname/library/application support/iwork/pages/templates/my templates
If using Lion... in Finder, hold down the Option key while clicking on the Go menu and your users Library will appear...

Brand new MBP and the user directory is corrupt?

hi, i just installd my new MBP and did a sync of my G5 settings (all except bookmarks) added a few things to my desktop and when i rebooted the desktop was cleared and the home directory was missing "Movies" "Music" "Pictures" in the left most column. all that is left is "Applications" and my user home symbol.
i tried to create a new user and when i did so was given a message that the "home" folder could not be located. weird.
anyway. i also installed a canon IP4300 driver. can anyone tell me what may be going on? do i need to erase the drive and do a fresh install?
UPDATE: i see what happened! the User directory somehow got into the Applications folder! no idea how. but i can't seem to get it out. can anyone help me out?
thx
Message was edited by: Frank Jacob

Open the Applications folder and drag the Users folder inside to the top level of the hard disk; you may need to press the Command key when dragging the item and/or provide an administrator username and password. When done, log out and back in. If only the home folder is present in the Applications folder, move it to the Users folder. Rename existing items as needed.
(25013)

How to Change Default User Directory without changing System Directory

Hi Everyone,
I need to change default User Directory for my JDeveloper 11.1.1.0.2.
Default User Directory = C:/JDeveloper/mywork
Default System Directory = *<JDEV_HOME>/System*
Now I Need to Change it to
My Default User Directory = C:/Monty/JDev11g2/
But System's Default Dir = *<JDEV_HOME>/System*(Same)
For this i explicitly Set variable ide.user.dir to C:/Monty/JDev11g2/ in JDev.boot file as explained in Installation document.
Working fine but it contains System Folder too. I don't want this.
Any Help to find me separate these both as it works for Single User.
Thanks,
Fizzz...

Hi John, You must be right if i'd believe in ghost, A Ghost of System's Folder :-). Well that's true, We should ignore it. But still If someone finds any Clue then let me know.
Thanks
Fizzz...

How to use External Drive for Users Directory

I just did a clean install on my Mac Mini - I have over 4 TB of storage attached, but the main drive (160 GB) keeps filling up. What is the best way to have the Users directory located on an external drive?
Thanks for your help,
Chris

Think about it for a second. What would happen if that external drive wasn't connected for some reason? Maybe it died the night before, as external drives have a habit of doing. How are you going to log into the system?
If the main drive is filling up, it says that you aren't making effective use of the attached storage. There's nothing saying you have to keep video files in the Movies folder, and music in the Music folder, etc. Find some things, that aren't your user profile, and move them to your external storage. Or consider putting in a larger internal drive.
< Edited by Host >

I have a 2nd gen Mac book air with Lion. The hard disk has filled up even though i keep my data , music etc on hard drive . I used disk inspector to find where problem was and it is 20GB in the hidden files under the user directory can i resolve this ?

I have a 2nd Gen MAc book Air with Lion . The 60GB hard disc has quickly filled up despite me keeping most of my data on a portable hard drive . I used disk inspector to locate the problem but found that it was was in 20 GB of hidden files in my user directory . Is this correct and is there anything i can do about it ? Using disk inspector you can not see individual hudden diretories or files. I did unhide them but there is a mass of diretories etc and so no way i could see if this is one or multiple files using the space. Library System and Applications are at 4 3 and 3 GB respectvely. The data I actually keep on there is 9GB Thanks for any help

I think the problem is Quick Time Player. I am using OS 10.6.8 by the way.
I tried it out again.
I had about 26 GB of space before I played an .avi video.
After the movie started to play (it was slow to load), I got a warning message that my startup disk was full. I opened Disk Utility and it told me I had no space left (about 20 MB or something like that was left).
I watched to the end of the movie.
Then I quit Quicktime Player.
And I shut down the computer.
I turned on the computer and checked Disk Utility. I have about 26 GB of space.
I think for some reason Quicktime Player uses up a lot of the disk space when it runs movies that are problematic. This movie I was watching did not open with vlc.
I normally use vlc to watch movies.
Probably it doesn't use up this much space when the movie is OK.
I think there's a problem with this particular movie. It is about 50 MB so it's not that big a file. I watch .smi subtitles with it. The Quicktime Player automatically loads the subtitle file in this case because the subtitle file has the same name as the movie file.
I watched about 10 movie files from the same series that I downloaded together and did not have any problem watching them. I watched them on vlc. But this latest movie had problems I think (as I repeat). It did not load on vlc even though I waited for a minute, and normally movies load instantly on vlc.
So I think that movie file caused problems. It made QT player use up a lot of hard disk space.
I had better avoid watching that movie in the future. I don't want it to wreck my hard drive.
So to sum up, everything is back to normal. I have the hard disk space that I should have. However, I am scared of damaging my hard drive due to shonky movie files that eat up all the space when they are played using QT player, and so I will not watch those files in the future, as I do not know why the files do that.

Time Machine does not backup home/user directory (on separate drive)

I recently installed a SSD into my Mini. Due to size restrictions, my home/user directory has to be kept on another drive. I retained the stock 1TB drive that came with the Mini for this.
Ok, installed the SSD, restored a Time Machine backups (sans user data). Used a different admin user and configured my user to use the 1TB drive for it's home directory (/Volumes/1TB/home/<user>). Restart, log in as my user, all is good. All data, settings, etc is there. Everything looks normal.
Time Machine REFUSES to backup this directory. It will backup the 1TB drive and anyting else I create in it, but not the home directory. I tried every permission trick I could think of or found online. I even tested it further by formatting the 1TB drive fresh, adding a new user, configuring the user to use the 1TB for their home directory and it still won't back it up (this was a test of permissions the OS set, to make sure I didn't change my data perms somewhere along the way). Time Machine would not backup the new user's home directory on the 1TB drive.
Any thoughts? I can't be the first person to have their home directory on a non-OS drive.
If I were to create a folder/file in /Volumes/1TB/<test file> ... Time Machine gets it perfect. It just will NOT touch /Volumes/1TB/home/<anything here>
Thanks!

Open the Time Machine preference pane and unlock the settings, if necessary. Click the Options button. If there is one particular folder with items that are not being backed up reliably, add it to the list of excluded items. If there are many such folders, add your home folder to the list, or add a whole volume (i.e., what Apple calls a "disk.") Save the changes.
Start a backup, or wait for one to happen automatically. When it's done, open the preference pane again and remove the exclusion(s) you made earlier. Back up again and see whether there's a change.

Relocate entire User Directory

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