Relocated Home directory to exFAT partition => Skype freezes

[mariusmbp]

Do you have a fix for this particular scenario:

1) Two partitions boot drive, the second one formatted exFAT
2) Relocate Home directory to Partition2 using the default way:

System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Advanced Options -> Home directory

3) Install Skype
4) At first launch Skype will freeze / not connect / CMD + Q will also freeze Skype
5) Any other app except Skype works fine

I've tried installing Skype on two different systems (El Capitan & Mavericks) with Home directory relocated to another partition and the problem persist.

If you want to experience this and hopefully find a solution you can create a small partition of a few GBs and another OS user and move its Home directory to new partition created then try to install Skype.

UPDATE: I've just learned that the issue is related to how the second partition is formatted. Skype freezes while partition2 is formatted as ExFAT but if I format it as Mac OS Extended, Skype works fine.

I am ready to any kind of solution but is very very relevant for my that Desktop + Documents + Downloads folders to remain on partition2 formatted as ExFAT.

Thank you

 

[maflynn]

Sounds like the app doesn't like that you moved your home directory. There's really no work around, short of putting your home folder back on the first partition.

Why did you split your physical drive in two and moved your home folder to the second partition? You're not going to get any benefit from performance, and apps like Skype may not behave.

 

[elf69]

I was going to add 2nd HDD to my machine an move the home folder.

But maybe not now a skype is very important to me.

I was reading about moving home folder online and they said ha to be done from another admin account not he one your using to b sure all permissions are kept.

Don't know how true this is.

 

[mariusmbp]

Sounds like the app doesn't like that you moved your home directory. There's really no work around, short of putting your home folder back on the first partition.

Why did you split your physical drive in two and moved your home folder to the second partition? You're not going to get any benefit from performance, and apps like Skype may not behave.

There plenty of benefits in having OS and User data in different partitions (http://www.macworld.com/article/1164891/mac-apps/keeping-mac-os-and-data-on-separate-drives.html ) beside that this is a feature offered by the OS X itself not a tweak or a hack and all other apps works fine except Skype which appear to be poorly written and does not know to consult the table to find the current location of the Home directory so is try to load it from default location or something like that...

 

[KALLT]

Does it work normally when the home directory is in the default location? Has Skype been installed on a clean system? Have you relocated the home directory while logged out with that account?

You have not explained why you want to do this. I cannot think of any benefit. One big downside is that partitions cannot be changed easily later on.

 

[elf69]

What if you placed an alias where original home folder use to be would that redirect skype?

I know very little about this but This is how I have done similar in windows in the past.

 

[mariusmbp]

Does it work normally when the home directory is in the default location? Has Skype been installed on a clean system? Have you relocated the home directory while logged out with that account?

You have not explained why you want to do this. I cannot think of any benefit. One big downside is that partitions cannot be changed easily later on.

- yes, if I change anytime the location of the Home directory back to the default one (/Users/Admin) Skype works fine
- already specified in my original post, I do a clean Skype install AFTER changing the Home directory location and the problem persist
- no, i only relocated the home directory while logged in that account but I don't think is relevant because OS X allow you to do this change while logged and after every change OS X require full system restart

What if you placed an alias where original home folder use to be would that redirect skype?

I know very little about this but This is how I have done similar in windows in the past.

- Not helping, I am not even deleting the full copy of the full Users directory from Partition 1 (default location)

 

[maflynn]

There plenty of benefits in having OS and User data in different partitions

Separate drives, yes, but on the same spinning platter (different partitions), not so much. You're not getting any performance benefits, and if your drive goes south, your data is gone regardless if its in a single partition or two partition.

Apple's upgrade process is solid, and splitting the OS and home folders (like what people do in Unix) is of marginal benefit.

Basically, you're increasing the complication of your setup for questionable benefit.

 

[KALLT]

- no, i only relocated the home directory while logged in that account but I don't think is relevant because OS X allow you to do this change while logged and after every change OS X require full system restart

It is relevant and you should never do that. Always log out, then move the directory with another account, or do it from single-user mode. Some environment variables are also not refreshed immediately.

I do not see an evident solution for this. If Skype does not work, then it does not work. Is there anything in Console that might help?

 

[mariusmbp]

UPDATE: I've just learned that the issue is related to how the second partition is formatted. Skype freezes while partition2 (the one that holds the Home directory) is formatted as ExFAT but if I format it as Mac OS Extended, Skype works fine.

 

[chrfr]

UPDATE: I've just learned that the issue is related to how the second partition is formatted. Skype freezes while partition2 (the one that holds the Home directory) is formatted as ExFAT but if I format it as Mac OS Extended, Skype works fine.

I would not expect home folders on volumes formatted as other than Mac OS Extended Journaled to ever work correctly. I'm surprised the operating system even allows you to select the exFAT drive as an option.

 

[mariusmbp]

I don't think this is totally true. macOS fully support exFAT. During the last hole year I have installed and used aprox 30 different applications along with the other 20 that came with the macOS and everything works OK with the Home directory located on a exFAT partition except Skype so the problem is with how the app is been written

 

[KALLT]

I completely overlooked this fact, despite you mentioning it. Regardless of Skype-particular issues, it is not smart to use exFAT for this purpose. Metadata journaling is not supported, neither are POSIX permissions. Effectively, everything is read-write-execute for every process on the system. I hope you realise that this is very dangerous. It also causes all sorts of weird permissions problems once you start moving files from that drive to another one that does support permissions.

If you must have documents, desktop and downloads on such a disk, then move them there and leave the library itself on the HFS+ disk.

 

[mariusmbp]

I completely overlooked this fact, despite you mentioning it. Regardless of Skype-particular issues, it is not smart to use exFAT for this purpose. Metadata journaling is not supported, neither are POSIX permissions. Effectively, everything is read-write-execute for every process on the system. I hope you realise that this is very dangerous. It also causes all sorts of weird permissions problems once you start moving files from that drive to another one that does support permissions.

If you must have documents, desktop and downloads on such a disk, then move them there and leave the library itself on the HFS+ disk.

Thank you for your answer and trust me, this was my first intention but didn't knew how to accomplish. How do I relocate the Documents + Desktop + Downloads folders only to partition2 and leave the Library on the default HFS+ partition? Windows offers you the possibility to set the location for each individual directory but in macOS there is only one settings for the hole Home directory which includes the Library

 

[KALLT]

It would be easier if your home directory is simply located at the default location. You can create symbolic links to the external drive for these three directories. Traditionally, other drives are mounted directly at the file system, however, given that you only have one extra partition anyway, I do not think that this would be very practical.