Can 'Home' directory be on a different partition?

[madmaxmedia]

Hi,

I am toying with the idea of upgrading a tray-loading iMac to OSX as a spare computer. The problem with the tray-loading units is that the OSX partition is limited to 8GB in size. If I could have the 'Home' directory be on a second partition to save space, that would be great.

Failing that, of course I could just have iTunes and other apps to store data on the second partition. But it would be cool to have the actual 'Home' directory be on the second partition for convenience sake.

(there's a G4/466 upgrade for the slot-loading iMacs for only $160, which is part of the reason why I'm interested-
http://www.fastmac.com/products/processors/tl_imac.php)

 

[Norouzi]

I don't believe so, I'm pretty sure that the home directory has to be on the same partition as the OS. Although, I've never tried something like say, logging in as root and copying the users directory to another partition, or drive and creating an alias to it where the folder should be. But I don't even know if OS X would allow you to delete the users folder and replace it with an alias.

 

[kgarner]

Yeah I did that with my old 233 iMac. You just have to create a symbolic link in the terminal from where it normally would put you (the Users folder) to where you want it to be (the other partition). There are some other ways you can do it, but I never had a problem with this method. I can't remember the exact syntax, but a google search for symbolic link unix ought to do it.

 

[Norouzi]

Huh, see you learn something new every day.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

It's actually quite easy (without making any symlinks)...

Open NetInfo Manager (it's in /Applications/Utilities) and choose / -> users -> <your short user name>, then "Click the lock to make changes" and in the "home" field write the path to the new home folder, wherever that might be...

 

[madmaxmedia]

Awesome guys, thanks!!! That helps a lot with the small partitions...

I'm thinking a G4 466 slot-loading iMac won't be a speed demon, but will run pretty well (I think it should be better than most all later G3 iMacs, besides the pokey graphics card.) Just debating whether it's worth the $160 for the upgrade (since I don't really 'need' the computer...)

 

[yellow]

Here is another way to do it:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030813142415898