Resolved Copying HOME directory to an external drive

[yukari]

I am trying to move my data from an internal SSD to an external SSD.
When I try to copy the "home" directory (i.e., user directory), it says I do not have permission for some of the files so it can't be copied.

How do I move home directory to an external drive in Mojave. Most of the internet searches do not address this permission error.

FYI - I stored some documents in iCloud and I have FileVault turned on.

 

[Fishrrman]

Unless you really know what you're doing, it's not a good idea to attempt to move your home directory from your boot drive (the one that contains your boot OS and apps).

You can make a copy of it to another drive, and then access stuff that's "inside".

If you have large libraries of stuff -WITHIN- your home folder, and that's the reason you're thinking of "moving it", just move the large libraries (while leaving the home folder "in place"). This is easily done, and the apps that access these libraries can do so from any drive without problems.

 

[yukari]

Thanks, Fishrrman. Do I then need to set up a symbolic link to the Library?

What I would like to move are 1. Documents and 2. Mail data.

 

[Fishrrman]

The "Documents" folder itself (I believe) has some kind of symbolic link to the home folder.
I wouldn't try to move it, but perhaps you're more skilled at such things than I am.

However...
You CAN move things that are INSIDE the Documents folder to other places.

If you keep lots of your own stuff there (by that I mean document files that YOU have created), you can move those (or the sub-folders that contain them) anywhere you wish. An external drive is a good place, if there's no room left on your internal drive.

Personal example:
I don't use the Documents folder AT ALL.
On my Mini, the Documents folder contains only 70k (yes, that's kilobytes).
I keep ALL of my personal data on a separate drive partition that is dedicated to "data only".

Mail is a different story.
Mail.app seems to store it's stuff (including personal mail) within the user/Library folder, in a folder called "Mail". There's also a second folder called "Mail Downloads" (at least it's this way in OS 10.12, which is what I use).

Personal example:
In 15 years of using OS X, my Mail folder has grown to 1.5gb in size. That's entirely reasonable and manageable. It would be less if I went through it and weeded out emails that have attachments in them. But again, 1.5gb isn't "too big".

So... the question is... how large is YOUR home/application support/Mail folder?

If it's really large, I'm wondering if it might be possible to do this:
1. Copy the home/application support/Mail folder to another drive
2. Delete the folder on your internal drive
3. Create an alias of the home/application support/Mail folder and then copy that alias to home/application support ??
4. Now Mail.app will "see the alias" and use the folder on the external drive ??

If your Mail folder is gigabytes and gigabytes in size.... have you given any thought into just throwing a lot of that old junk out...?

 

[yukari]

I know that you can keep documents in an external drive by not using "Documents" folder. However, I am using iCloud which requires me to use "Documents" folder in order to allow access from other computers. Since this is for work, my mail is over 10 GB and the documents that are in the iCloud is over 80 GB.

Of course, I can move all other files (non-system or apps) to external disk, but it means I cannot access them through iCloud.

 

[Fishrrman]

Ah, ok.
I don't use iCloud and will never use it.
(just the way it is for me)

 

[yukari]

SOLVED!!!
After some internet search, I finally was able to move my Home directory to an external disk.

MOD-can you put "SOLVED" in the title? or is it necessary to do so?

 

[CoastalOR]

SOLVED!!!
After some internet search, I finally was able to move my Home directory to an external disk.
MOD-can you put "SOLVED" in the title? or is it necessary to do so?

You can mark Resolved yourself, see this link to my post showing how to edit the title to a thread that you started:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/can’t-update-how-do-i-get-back-to-where-i-was.2111699/#post-25922428

 

[flaubert]

I would be curious about what method you used, Yukari. I have maintained my user home directory on a separate volume for several years now, primarily because I like to keep my files in a ZFS dataset (see openzfsonosx.org for details). In general terms, here is what I do: first of all, I always maintain a second administrative account that is on the boot disk, and perform my work within that account to move the target account to its new destination. Although there may be ways to perform the work within the GUI, I prefer to use the Terminal because I can be very precise about what I am asking the system to do.

First step is to create a new User top-level directory on the destination using mkdir ('mkdir /Volumes/ExternalDisk/Users'), then use 'sudo chown' and 'sudo chmod' to make the owner:group and permissions mimic the /User directory (use 'ls -l /' to see the details on the original Users directory). Then copy your files from /Users/username to /Volumes/ExternalDisk/Users/username using the built in utility ditto (command will look like 'sudo ditto /Users/username /Volumes/ExternalDisk/Users/username'). So now the files are in place, all that has to happen is to point macOS to them.

Go into System Preferences, then the Users panel. Right click on the user that you want to move, and you should get a context menu option for Advanced settings or something like that. Select Advanced, and it will take you to a panel where you have the option to specify a new home directory. Click on the button to the right of the text field to get a standard file selection dialog box; select the new home directory at /Volumes/ExternalDisk/Users/username. Then click Save. In prior versions of macOS it used to warn the user that changes don't take effect until restart, but I don't think I saw that warning in Mojave; just to be sure, I would reboot your computer before trying to log in as the moved user.

I think that this should allow iCloud to interact with your Documents and Desktop folder just as it did prior to the move. Hope this helps.

 

[yukari]

You can mark Resolved yourself, see this link to my post showing how to edit the title to a thread that you started:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/can’t-update-how-do-i-get-back-to-where-i-was.2111699/#post-25922428

Thanks! I did not know that.
[doublepost=1554244595][/doublepost]

I would be curious about what method you used, Yukari. I have maintained my user home directory on a separate volume for several years now, primarily because I like to keep my files in a ZFS dataset (see openzfsonosx.org for details). In general terms, here is what I do: first of all, I always maintain a second administrative account that is on the boot disk, and perform my work within that account to move the target account to its new destination. Although there may be ways to perform the work within the GUI, I prefer to use the Terminal because I can be very precise about what I am asking the system to do.

First step is to create a new User top-level directory on the destination using mkdir ('mkdir /Volumes/ExternalDisk/Users'), then use 'sudo chown' and 'sudo chmod' to make the owner:group and permissions mimic the /User directory (use 'ls -l /' to see the details on the original Users directory). Then copy your files from /Users/username to /Volumes/ExternalDisk/Users/username using the built in utility ditto (command will look like 'sudo ditto /Users/username /Volumes/ExternalDisk/Users/username'). So now the files are in place, all that has to happen is to point macOS to them.

Go into System Preferences, then the Users panel. Right click on the user that you want to move, and you should get a context menu option for Advanced settings or something like that. Select Advanced, and it will take you to a panel where you have the option to specify a new home directory. Click on the button to the right of the text field to get a standard file selection dialog box; select the new home directory at /Volumes/ExternalDisk/Users/username. Then click Save. In prior versions of macOS it used to warn the user that changes don't take effect until restart, but I don't think I saw that warning in Mojave; just to be sure, I would reboot your computer before trying to log in as the moved user.

I think that this should allow iCloud to interact with your Documents and Desktop folder just as it did prior to the move. Hope this helps.

That is pretty much what I did. You need to work with a second administrative account.
One thing that is required for Mojave is to allow Terminal program access to all files. This is done by going to "System Preferences" --> "Security and Privacy" --> "Full Disk Access" then add "Terminal"
If you don't do this step, you will get a message saying to the effect that you do not have access permission.

If you need exact details, let me know.

 

[elmomac]

Using mojave and a new MacMini, I moved my user folder via Carbon Copy Cloner to an external SSD while loged in from a second admin account. Then setup the new folder in advanced user settings as described above - I didn't got any warning at all. However, this doesn't work for me. When I login to the user on the external drive - I get a warning that my home folder isn't on the boot drive or some such. I also got a lot of keychain windows asking for my user password. I finally did reboot the mac and did change it back to the old home folder path. Any idea why I have this issues?

 

[flaubert]

@elmomac, did you reboot after switching your home folder to the external SSD? Your changes won’t be applied until you reboot. The other thought that comes to mind is that you probably can’t boot and login directly into that user with the home folder on the external drive, especially if you have FileVault turned on. You probably would need to boot into an account that is on the boot drive to get the external drive connected and functioning, then switch to the relocated account.

 

[elmomac]

Thanks @flaubert I saw that after a restart it worked for me.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Sorry to revive an old thread, I have just got interested in doing this.

To those who have done it, is there a reason why you didn't use the macOS built in method in System Prefs/Users and Groups > right click > advanced options?, as detailed in this article for example:

https://www.lifewire.com/move-macs-home-folder-new-location-2260157

Have you come across any problems with moving the Home folder, especially with third party apps?

 

[roadkill401]

Some apps I had trouble with. Imazing didn't want to work well for me. It wouldn't allow the mini app to run when loaded on an external disk.

I sort of tried a different approach to what you'd done. I copied my home directory to an external drive but left the folder on my boot. I created an alias pointer from the boot home over to the external drive for Documents, Downloads, Pictures, temp but left the library on the boot drive.

 

[Gamusren]

Thanks! I did not know that.
[doublepost=1554244595][/doublepost]

That is pretty much what I did. You need to work with a second administrative account.
One thing that is required for Mojave is to allow Terminal program access to all files. This is done by going to "System Preferences" --> "Security and Privacy" --> "Full Disk Access" then add "Terminal"
If you don't do this step, you will get a message saying to the effect that you do not have access permission.

If you need exact details, let me know.

Sorry for reviving this old thread.. a second time. But as I have just purchased a base M1 Mac Mini I wanted to do the same with an external SSD as my main working drive with users on it.
Could you, also @flaubert if you are here as well, please elaborate a little more to see if what I am planning to do is correct?

I am thinking of:
1: setup the new Mac Mini with a administrator account.
2: create a second admin account with all the same privileges but do not login just yet.
3: from the main admin account, copy and paste(or drag and drop I don’t know if there is any difference) the second user in the GUI to the new formatted APFS external SSD.
4: so now there should be two identical second account exist in both drive. Go to Settings select User&group, point the second user directory to the one in the External drive.
5. Delete the second user that is in the boot drive.
6. Reboot the computer and login to the second account that is in the external drive for the first time and setup everything.

Are these steps correct? I am worried if I should delete the second user in the boot drive before I point the user to the one in the external drive or not.

also as this post is from 2019, how’s your experience with using this method/external ssd setup in the age of Big Sur? Will it work? Also will the system utilize the swap memory as efficient as the internal ones?
Thank you all!