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SSD Boot w Remote Home Folder

P

praybould

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2012
12
0
I just installed 256MB Samsung SSD and upgraded from Leopard to Lion.

My user account is 183 GB, so I read (on this forum) how I could store that content on another drive. Unfortunately, there are permission issues with many applications - mostly resolved, but I am still unable to get to my iCal calendars, and in Mail, I continue to get an error that says that my preferences can't be saved because or permission or the disk is full. It seems that the preferences are saved - thankfully.

I know how to select 'Get Info' and change the permissions - and use 'apply to enclosed items' when available.

I am tempted to abandon this setup, but thought to see if anyone has suggestions.

Thanks in Advance
Paul
 
Do you use iPhoto (or Aperture) and iTunes? These are the easiest programs to move to another drive because they're actually built to expect to be moved.

Plus, by moving all the media files I'm betting that everything else will fit on your boot drive just fine.
 
Remote Home

Thanks... I use iPhoto and iTunes..

I have 60 GB of Music, 40 GB of Picts, 36 GB of Movies.

There are 'downloads' and 'attachment' folders that total 20 GB. That I can eliminate (or keep a backup on another drive).

So, if I can keep my home folder on the SSD - without bringing the music, picts and movies over, do you suggest using aliases? To connect to that bulky content.

----------

The specific error message is:

"Calendar Cache" couldn't be moved because you don't have permission to access "Calendars".

(To view or change permissions, select the item in the Finder and choose File>Get Info.)

I can't find that file - having searching for it with spotlight and in all the Library folders.

Anyone know where it is?
 
My boot drive was close to 200GB, and I decided to install a 256GB SSD. I had 85GB of iTunes music. I copied that to another drive and deleted it from the boot drive, leaving 106GB on the boot drive. I installed the SSD and cloned the shrunken boot to it, then pointed iTunes to the new location of music files. Applications, Developer, Library, System and Users are all on the SSD, and iTunes has a folder in Users, but it only contains Album Artwork and a few Library files that total 502MB so no big whoop.

Seems to be very happy that way. Also, I take it you meant 256GB SSD, not 256MB.
 
It should be straightforward to move your music and other read-only type media to another drive. Consider this though, since you have a large capacity SSD what's the point of having such fast access unless you keep some data on it?
 
In my case, music files do not require SSD performance, so it was moved. OP could leave movie and photo files if desired, and still have cut the boot drive size down to 123GB. That would be fine.
 
Would it be equally straightforward to move the home to the SSD now?

I suppose I would 'clean' the current home file that is remote and then use Migration Assistant?

Yes, 256 GB... Samsung 830.
 
Is your Home folder currently somewhere besides your boot drive? I was under the impression you're still on a standard HDD, and that all folders were on one drive.

I didn't mess with any migration assistant stuff. Just cloned HDD to SSD with SuperDuper! I think it's best to keep Home folder inside Users folder, and move media off the SSD.
 
wonderspark said:
I think it's best to keep Home folder inside Users folder, and move media off the SSD.
Click to expand...

It really depends on what it is. No better or worse just how often it is accessed. I could see how your ~/Library folder could see a benefit from staying put but nothing else really.
 
Did you point the boot drive to your remote Home folder? Go into your Sys Prefs, Users & Groups, find your account, hold down the Control key and click on your profile, selecting Advanced. This will allow you to change where your account looks for it's Home Directory. Reboot and you should be OK.

I did this same upgrade a few weeks back, my OS and my Apps are stored on the SSD drive, my User folder is on the original HD and it works great.
 
For clarity, I have my Applications, Library and System on the SSD, but have my User Home files on the HDD. But, I am running into problems. I can't open iCal and I can't synch my iPhone. Mail gives a constant error message saying that it can't save the preferences.

I am cleaning out a lot of unnecessary files from the Home file on the SSD, and once it is lean - I want to move those files to the SSD and, using the Advanced Options in System Pref - select the files on the SSD.

I think it would make sense to use the Migration Assistant - because I am not cloning the drive. (I wanted a clean install.)

One concern is that I might lose the organization created in Mail. To make sure I don't, can someone tell me where the Mail files reside? I have been a long-time user of PowerMail - and those files are in the Mail folder of my Users' Home folder, but I don't see where Mail stores its files.

Thank you.
Paul
 
praybould said:
For clarity, I have my Applications, Library and System on the SSD, but have my User Home files on the HDD. But, I am running into problems. I can't open iCal and I can't synch my iPhone. Mail gives a constant error message saying that it can't save the preferences.

I am cleaning out a lot of unnecessary files from the Home file on the SSD, and once it is lean - I want to move those files to the SSD and, using the Advanced Options in System Pref - select the files on the SSD.

I think it would make sense to use the Migration Assistant - because I am not cloning the drive. (I wanted a clean install.)

One concern is that I might lose the organization created in Mail. To make sure I don't, can someone tell me where the Mail files reside? I have been a long-time user of PowerMail - and those files are in the Mail folder of my Users' Home folder, but I don't see where Mail stores its files.

Thank you.
Paul
Click to expand...

User/Library/Mail
User/Library/Mail Downloads
User/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
 
Thank you for that path.

I can see why things are not working. For some reason there is NO Library folder in the User folder on the HDD. There is a folder 'Librar'... so maybe the copy was interrupted - not sure.

When I look at the older 'Library' folder, the Mail files are all old.

When I look for the mail.plist file on my computer... so far I can not find it. (Spotlight is currently indexing.) So there is hope that the organization that I created can be found and saved.

Seems I am breaking the rule I used to use - don't transition too much at the same time. But, I am transitioning from: HDD to SSD, Leopard to Lion, and PowerMail to Mail.

Oh well.

If anyone can suggest how to find the current Mail folder's file - in light of the fact that my Library folder was absent. I would appreciate the assistance.
 
Last edited:
The folder is hidden if you are on Lion. If you had no library you would have no user account:)

In Finder go to the menu bar Go>Go to Folder
Enter "~/Library" without the quotes.
Viola, library directory.
 
Thank You.

At this point, I want to move all my 'cleaned up' user files to my SSD and drop the remote folder. I plan to use Migration Assistant.

Hopefully that will enable my iCal to work and iTunes to sync my iPhone.
 
Ok, I moved my user folder to the SSD, but some issues remain.

They seem to all be permissions related. iCal works.

iTunes can't backup my iPhone or iPad... "because the backup could not be saved on the computer."
 
Last edited:
Thanks Derbothaus,

Chris.pirillo.com's site looks to have a lot of interesting posts, but none that immediately address my issues. If anything - I am the reason why so many cautions are there.

I am able get the graphics projects done. And need to - but it is a bit disconcerting not having everything working. Especially - since part of the reason for going this route was to have syncing capability with my iPad and iPhone.

I put together a pdf of the error messages, and will address them later - as I have time.

View attachment SSD Errors.pdf
 
iCloud

. . . . part of the reason for going this route was to have syncing capability with my iPad and iPhone.

Your syncing issues may resolve once you join the cloud and everything gets reset. Not sure.

eTube
 
Thanks... I have joined iCloud (though there are problems with that too). Password with iCal?
 
If you have about 183GB in data, why move everything? It seems like you have issues. Personally I would have just moved pictures, movies, and music. Those are easy to link to (since you're using iTunes and iPhoto).

It's just that it wouldn't seem useful to purchase a large SSD and then leave 80% of it free.
 
I think I am going for a clean install... I think I'll reformat the SSD and install Snow Leopard fresh from the DVD. Then reinstall the Lion upgrade.

The instability is impacting my ability to get work done. It is one thing after the other. Items won't move in InDesign!

I want to be able to restore what I have organized in Mail, but that's about it. I want to get rid of all the legacy junk in all my Library folders.

Any advice?
 
Personally I'd just create a new user account and move everything into it then move the new account via the links I posted earlier. The issues you are having are because the applications don't have permission to write to their Library folders in your user account. The Extensis error is a known bug and can be fixed by logging out and back in again NOT a restart. Unless, of course, permissions are screwed up there as well.
A clean install will definitely get the job done but so could just pushing permissions down into the library folder. You as owner with r/w and staff and everyone read only. Telling someone how to do that effectively is something else as not all directories are the same and in the end may take longer to sort than the re-install.
 
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