changing the location of Loops?

[cb911]

hi,

i'm just wondering if i can move the Apple Loops and other loops that are usually installed in /Library/Application Support/GarageBand without it causing any problems?

i want to put them on another partition because my boot volume is getting too full because of all those loops...

sorry if this is a silly question, but i do have to admit that i haven't even opened GB and messed about with it yet, so i don't know if this issue is covered in the GB preferences. but thanks for any help.

 

[cb911]

anyone? anyone at all?

i can't see anything in the GB preferences, it seems that everything has to be in the folder Library>Application Support>GarageBand.

well i'll try this on the Apple support forums and see what those guinesses come up with.

 

[encro]

Give it a try cb911, if an Alias doesn't work then a Symlink definately will

 

[cb911]

encro, i was thinking about doing that, but i've tried it before with the 'Movies' folder trying to get it to link to a folder on another parititon, and it didn't work... probably because i dont' know that much about syslinks etc.

but if you could help me out with that... it'd be great.

 

[Nermal]

OK, move the GarageBand folder to your other partition. Let's say it's in /Volumes/Part2/GarageBand.

Next, open up Terminal and type:

cd "/Library/Application Support"
ln -s /Volumes/Part2/GarageBand GarageBand

That should do it. Go into /Library/Application Support with Finder and you should see a link to GarageBand there (it'll have a little arrow).

 

[wrldwzrd89]

OK, move the GarageBand folder to your other partition. Let's say it's in /Volumes/Part2/GarageBand.

Next, open up Terminal and type:

cd "/Library/Application Support"
ln -s /Volumes/Part2/GarageBand GarageBand

That should do it. Go into /Library/Application Support with Finder and you should see a link to GarageBand there (it'll have a little arrow).

That symlink should work, although the "quotes" around the directory name in the cd command aren't necessary. If you go to the original location, you'll see a folder that looks like a Mac OS X alias. Double-clicking it will open the target - in this case, the moved GarageBand folder. As far as I know, all Mac OS X applications are aware of symlinks and will parse them, so it SHOULD work.

 

[Nermal]

The quotes are necessary because the path contains a space. If you don't use the quotes, you get the error "-bash: cd: /Library/Application: No such file or directory".

Typing cd /Library/Application\ Support will also work though.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

The quotes are necessary because the path contains a space. If you don't use the quotes, you get the error "-bash: cd: /Library/Application: No such file or directory".

Typing cd /Library/Application\ Support will also work though.

Thanks Nermal - didn't see that space in the pathname.

 

[cb911]

Nermal to the rescue! thanks alot for that, you instructions comehow seem alot simpler than the last time i tried to do this with the Movies folder.

but i've just tried to move the GarageBand folder and got the message 'you dont' have sufficient privellages to move some of the items'. currently i can 'read only' and the owner is the 'system'. if i change the permissions and then apply to all the enclosed items, will that 'break' it in any way? or is there a way i can use the Terminal to force move the folder and keep the permissions in tact?

thanks for taking the time to help me with this.

 

[Nermal]

Try this:

cd "/Library/Application Support"
sudo mv GarageBand /Volumes/Part2

I don't have GB installed at the moment so I can't try it myself, but it should work

 

[cb911]

okay, i moved the GarageBand folder to the other partition using that 'mv' command, after i moved it, there was a slight size difference. the original GarageBand was around 4.5GB and the moved folder says 3.3GB, i dont' know what happened, and also the permissions seem to have changed, now the owner is 'mugget' (my username) instead of 'system'. i've tried to change the owner back to system but it's not even letting me select it.

then i launched GarageBand and i got the message:

Instrument Library is invalid
The Instrument Library is invalid. GarageBand expects a valid Instrument Library folder in /Library/Application Support/GarageBand.
Please choose a valid Instrument Library folder or quit and re-install GarageBand.

well after only 12 days of uptime i think my PB might be starting to crack up. i'll try a reboot and see if i can put those permissions back to how they were.

oh, the Symlink did work.

 

[Nermal]

Hmm, I have no idea what went wrong there

 

[cb911]

BTW, i forgot to mention that when i got the message Instrument library invalid' it gives an option to choose the library. i tried to choose the Instrument Library from the new location, the other partition that i just moved it to but it didnt' accept it, and just popped up that message again.

okay, i've just repaired permissions, i just thought that i should have done it before i moved the folder. but i just cannot change the permissions of the GarageBand folder on the second partition? from the Get Info window i go to the drop-down menu and select 'system' as owner, and click it, and it just stays as 'mugget'? and the same thing happens for group as well. i try to change it to 'admin' and it just stays as 'unknown'.

i know when un-taring something from Terminal (or in other *NIX based systems) there is a flag to add to the tar command to retain permissions. is there something like that when using the mv command?

also, if i can't get this to work, i might have to use some other app. does anyone know of some shareware (or even payware ) that lets you use 'layers' of audio?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

BTW, i forgot to mention that when i got the message Instrument library invalid' it gives an option to choose the library. i tried to choose the Instrument Library from the new location, the other partition that i just moved it to but it didnt' accept it, and just popped up that message again.

okay, i've just repaired permissions, i just thought that i should have done it before i moved the folder. but i just cannot change the permissions of the GarageBand folder on the second partition? from the Get Info window i go to the drop-down menu and select 'system' as owner, and click it, and it just stays as 'mugget'? and the same thing happens for group as well. i try to change it to 'admin' and it just stays as 'unknown'.

i know when un-taring something from Terminal (or in other *NIX based systems) there is a flag to add to the tar command to retain permissions. is there something like that when using the mv command?

also, if i can't get this to work, i might have to use some other app. does anyone know of some shareware (or even payware ) that lets you use 'layers' of audio?

Check the options on that other partition - is the "ignore ownership on this volume" box checked? If it IS, you won't be able to set permissions, as you experienced. Also, any permissions on the other volume won't be preserved.

 

[JFreak]

copy the contents of "/Library/Application Support/GarageBand" library to the new partition and remember to preserve permissions. if you are unsure how to do this, .sit it and decompress it from the archive.

anyway, when you have things in the new partition, say named "Storage", open terminal and edit "/etc/fstab" file with root account. put in a line that says exactly:

LABEL=Storage "/Library/Application Support/GarageBand" hfs rw 1 2

and make all those spaces (other than in "application support") with a tab key.

then, after a reboot, your new partition will be mounted to the directory you just defined, and the operating system will not be able to tell the difference. only thing that will change is the folder icon of the mount point, which will become like the ones you get with network shares (which technically are mount points).

this is btw a proper way to move /Users folder to a new partition, and i'd suggest you move that away from the system partition and leave the loops where they are. after all, you install the loops once and they stay wherever they are installed - but /Users folder changes constantly, making system partition badly fragmented over time. moving it away keeps system drive faster.

in case someone is interested, i have a 60GB hard drive in this albook, partitioned 15GB system - 25GB users - 15GB storage. the users partition is mounted to /Users and storage partition is mounted to /Users/Shared and this way i can force the computer to store system files to the fastest part of the hard drive and all shared stuff (itunes library et.al.) to the slowest part of the hard drive. and should i reinstall the system, i will just wipe the system partition clean and do a clean install. no need to move user files anywhere.

 

[cb911]

whoa! edit the fstab... i'm not too keen on that.

i might just give up on it, i wouldn't really be using it that much anyway, and i've got better things to use the 5GB for.

also, on the Apple forums, someone was saying that Soundtrack is better than GB? but Soundtrack only comes with Final Cut Pro, right? it's not available by itself? but can anyone comment on that? is it better than GB? i'm guessing it would be, because it's a pro app.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

whoa! edit the fstab... i'm not too keen on that.

i might just give up on it, i wouldn't really be using it that much anyway, and i've got better things to use the 5GB for.

also, on the Apple forums, someone was saying that Soundtrack is better than GB? but Soundtrack only comes with Final Cut Pro, right? it's not available by itself? but can anyone comment on that? is it better than GB? i'm guessing it would be, because it's a pro app.

Soundtrack USED to come exclusively with FCP, but it's now available on its own.

 

[Nermal]

Presumably your second partition's in HFS+ format? It doesn't have a FAT format or anything, does it?

 

[JFreak]

whoa! edit the fstab... i'm not too keen on that.

it's not so frightening thing to do - all you do is a kind of an alias. in real-world speaking: you tell the operating system to put your second partition into the finder's "Users" folder so when you access your "Users folder you are actually accessing your second partition.

nothing to worry about. you will not lose files. you will not screw up your system. you just have to do a few things via the command-line interface, and you will have to have a root account enabled. first, move files to new partition, second, make the alias, third, reboot - voila, all done.

if you make a typo with the fstab line, the second partition will not mount, but the system will start. it will look strange however, because you did move your user files to the new partition and the system doesn't see them before you manage to tell it how to do that - so if you indeed make a typo, the system will generate a fresh /Users/yourusername folder with all fresh default settings, and you can try again to fix that typo. and if you're scared enough, you can always move your user files back to original location and forget about it.

if you have the courage, then go for it and give it a try. you can lose files only when you yourself delete them, so don't. and to minimize the possibility of a typo, i'd suggest you rename your second partition in such a way that there are no spaces in it.

 

[JFreak]

as i said, i myself moved my entire /Users folder to a different partition and couln't be happier with the decision. now whatever i do, i will not interfere with system files, and the system runs so fast it's almost impossible to imagine. and should i reinstall my system, i will not have to move my user files anywhere. i just wipe the system partition clean and install a fresh system. nice. i'd recommend this for everybody who doesn't mind the extra work

 

[cb911]

i had read about people moving the /Users folder, i might do that if i get bored and decide i want to mess about with my system some. but what if you can't boot after you edit the fstab file? and is that process documented in Apples' KnowlegeBase?

probably the most 'adventurous' thing like that i've attempted is changing the short user name in OS X. and i only did that because there is a document covering it in KB.

 

[JFreak]

fstab doesn't affect the boot process. it only controls the "mount aliases" and nothing more. it defines that "some directory" is found from "some partition" which has "some filesystem". it's not so cryptic

if for some reason you mistyped something, then the mount process will be terminated and your system boots without such a mount. in other words, having moved your /Users data to another partition before boot, that data will not be available in /Users folder if the mount fails. which means that your user settings will not be available in that login session. but to ease your mind, system keeps account information outside /Users folder so your users and passwords will be just as before - only user files are not accessible if the mount fails.

you have as many chances to get it right as you need. and if you get frustrated, you can always move your user data back and forget about the fstab file. you just need to be calm when you do it, because only reason for lost files is that you delete them yourself.

just two little minor details:
1) you should use tab key when making spaces in the /etc/fstab file
2) the directory you want to mount must exist before you mount (so don't delete /Users folder - just move the contents to another partition)

 

[cb911]

i thought the fstab file did more than that? well i guess i'm just thinking of linux, where a dodgy fstab file can stop the whole boot process. but considering that you are only changing the /Users folder in this instance, i see that the consequences wouldn't be so bad if something goes wrong.

well if i every run out of space on my boot volume i'll remember this thread.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

fstab doesn't affect the boot process. it only controls the "mount aliases" and nothing more. it defines that "some directory" is found from "some partition" which has "some filesystem". it's not so cryptic

if for some reason you mistyped something, then the mount process will be terminated and your system boots without such a mount. in other words, having moved your /Users data to another partition before boot, that data will not be available in /Users folder if the mount fails. which means that your user settings will not be available in that login session. but to ease your mind, system keeps account information outside /Users folder so your users and passwords will be just as before - only user files are not accessible if the mount fails.

you have as many chances to get it right as you need. and if you get frustrated, you can always move your user data back and forget about the fstab file. you just need to be calm when you do it, because only reason for lost files is that you delete them yourself.

just two little minor details:
1) you should use tab key when making spaces in the /etc/fstab file
2) the directory you want to mount must exist before you mount (so don't delete /Users folder - just move the contents to another partition)

I tried your tip, but the Users drive refused to mount! I wonder if it was because the Users directory didn't exist on the drive...
Oh well - I decided it wasn't worth it and went back to my previous configuration.

 

[cb911]

I tried your tip, but the Users drive refused to mount! I wonder if it was because the Users directory didn't exist on the drive...
Oh well - I decided it wasn't worth it and went back to my previous configuration.

i'm confused what you mean about 'didn't exist on the drive'? you should have moved your /Users folder to another partition, so it's not on your boot volume at all, but completely moved to another partition, then you just tell the fstab file where to mount it from. how is it that the /Users folder didn't exist on a drive? you didn't delete it did you?