Change user folder/subfolders location to other partition.

[Timpion]

Hi,

I just installed a new harddrive and I made 2 partitions. One for my system, preferences and installed programs and one for my files.

The problem comes when i put things on my desktop or download stuff. These folders are on my system partition and when i download or save to the desktop temporarely, i have to copy the files later to my other partition and delete the original.

It would save me a lot of time if downloaded files and files saved to the desktop are written on my documents partition.

hence the question: is there any way to change your desktop and downloads folder location to another location/drive?

thanks in advance!

Tim

 

[JustinVM]

These folders are on my system partition and when i download or save to the desktop temporarely, i have to copy the files later to my other partition and delete the original.

A better way of getting your files from one drive to another is to hold down your command key and drag the files to the other drive. This will move the files without leaving a copy on your boot drive.

is there any way to change your desktop and downloads folder location to another location/drive?

On Snow Leopard the only SAFE way to move your 'Downloads' folder to another drive and place an alias back in to your HOME folder is to boot from another volume and then make the change.

 

[Timpion]

Thanks for the reply!!

I have leopard 10.5.8 however (I forgot to mention it in the first post ). Will this work as well? I have some bootable backups made with superduper, so that shouldnt be a problem. will there be system difficulties or some things I have to keep in mind after doing this?

Thanks again,

Tim

 

[Timpion]

I was just getting some more information when i stumbeled upon this: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071025220746340

They say to change the entire users folder with an option in the advanced accounts pane. How does this sound to you? Is this a better option then the one with the alias or are both options equal?

I d like the first option more because some apps store information in the home folder and I d like to keep this on the same disk as the apps themselves. With the first option I can just change the downloads and desktop which seems more interesting for me.

Tim

 

[JustinVM]

Will this work as well? I have some bootable backups made with superduper, so that shouldnt be a problem. will there be system difficulties or some things I have to keep in mind after doing this?

Yes, having my 'Downloads' folder on my other volume and an alias in the HOME folder has worked very well for me on two Macs.

I was just getting some more information when i stumbeled upon this: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071025220746340

They say to change the entire users folder with an option in the advanced accounts pane. How does this sound to you? Is this a better option then the one with the alias or are both options equal?

To me this sounds like over kill. I just don't see the point of having the HOME folder on a different volume.

I d like the first option more because some apps store information in the home folder and I d like to keep this on the same disk as the apps themselves. With the first option I can just change the downloads and desktop which seems more interesting for me.

Well, go for it Tim.

Regards

-Justin

 

[Timpion]

Thanks a lot Justin,

I ll try it today!

Tim

 

[GMink]

I'm installing a pair of small SSD drives for OSX boot and applications. And using a 2T drive for all of my data and work files. I remember being able to relocate the user data folders to separate drives with earlier versions of OSX. Can you still do this with snow leopard?

I'm not talking about just coping the folders, I want the applications to look for the data on the other drive. does this make sense?

 

[Timpion]

I just did it with the alias. Everything works fine, but the only problem I had was with Jdownloader. An error occured, saying "this is not a folder" and the program could not save files in the download folder. After selecting the original folder instead of the alias, everything went worked again. I wonder if some other programs will display errors as well.

 

[GMink]

Ok, found this and it's too easy:


To tell it you’re changing your home folder, go to System Preferences -> Accounts, unlock it if it’s locked (otherwise the next step won’t be possible), right-click on your account name, and click "Advanced Options…”

There is a box there where you can choose your home directory. Direct that to the newly named one.