Update to 10.9.2 killed my Mac Setup

Question

So I just updated my Mac to 10.9.2 with the most recent security update. I restarted the Mac and when I logged in as my standard user, I could no longer access any of the files from my home directory.
I should note that my home directory is located on an external drive. I can still see all the files on the external drive. I can read/write the files without problems.
So the first thing I checked is whether the link to the external home directory is still in place (System Preferences->Users and Groups->Right click on User name->Home directory) No problem there, the home directory location is what it should be, pointing to the correct directory on the external disk.
Next thing I did is check read/write permissions, but like I said, I can read and write all the home directory files with my standard user login.
I went to the "Documents" tab in the finder. As I said, I can't see any files there. It appears to be empty, even though "Get Info" claims that it is located on the external disk in the correct directory. When I try to create a new folder in that empty Documents folder, it asks me for admin permissions. I can create a folder there with the admin password, but when I check my external drive, I can't find it. Utterly weird. In any case, there seems to be some permissions problem, though I have no idea how to resolve it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

I managed to fix it myself. For some reason, OS X had created a new volume named "Macintosh HD External" to replace my external hard drive, while the existing volume was renamed to "Macintosh HD External 1". Deleting the new volume and then ejecting the external drive and reconnecting it was enough to fix the problem.
Magical, Apple. Really magical!