Mounting a folder as a drive?

[TheRdungeon]

Hi, I have a 2012 Unibody/Classic MacBook pro with two SSDs in it, which I am about to finally update to a M1 Pro 16". On my second drive is a lot of critical sound files for music production. Basically, I'd like to copy 'SSD 2' to the new machine and mount it as a drive (maybe inside /Volumes/) so that when these applications/samplers open on the new machine all the expected file paths are there.

From what I've searched I've heard there is a danger of placing things inside the /Volumes/ directory. This old stackexchange thread seems useful https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/97920/mount-folder-as-a-volume-osx but I can't quite make out if this is a modern solution? Any help greatly appreciated

 

[chabig]

Your new machine will be using Apple File System (APFS). APFS supports multiple volumes on one SSD. Open Disk Utility and select your Internal volumes in the left column. Then choose Add APFS Volume... from the Edit menu. This will create the new volume on your SSD. Give it the same name as what you're using in your paths, and then copy all of your files to that volume. It will behave exactly as it did on the old system.

The beauty of APFS volumes is that they all share the space available on your SSD. You don't have to choose sizes in advance, so it's space efficient.

 

[joevt]

Use Disk Utility.app to create a volume on SSD1 (either a new partition or as a new APFS volume in the existing APFS container) and copy the contents of SSD2 to the new volume using either the Finder or the Recovery option in Disk Utility.app.

In Disk Utility.app, select Show All Devices in the View menu so you can see the APFS container.

 

[TheRdungeon]

Your new machine will be using Apple File System (APFS). APFS supports multiple volumes on one SSD. Open Disk Utility and select your Internal volumes in the left column. Then choose Add APFS Volume... from the Edit menu. This will create the new volume on your SSD. Give it the same name as what you're using in your paths, and then copy all of your files to that volume. It will behave exactly as it did on the old system.

The beauty of APFS volumes is that they all share the space available on your SSD. You don't have to choose sizes in advance, so it's space efficient.

Oh my god that is amazing. You read my mind in terms of the sharing space, was worried I may have to partition things. Thanks so much

 

[TheRdungeon]

Use Disk Utility.app to create a volume on SSD1 (either a new partition or as a new APFS volume in the existing APFS container) and copy the contents of SSD2 to the new volume using either the Finder or the Recovery option in Disk Utility.app.

In Disk Utility.app, select Show All Devices in the View menu so you can see the APFS container.

Brilliant, praise be to APFS this makes it so much easier

 

[chabig]

Oh my god that is amazing. You read my mind in terms of the sharing space, was worried I may have to partition things. Thanks so much

Yes. No more partitioning with APFS. It's possible but no longer necessary. The use case for partitioning is virtually nil. Just add a volume.

 

[Fishrrman]

You could take the SSD (that has the sound samples) OUT OF the 2012 MBP, and put it into an external USB3 enclosure, and then connect that to the new MBP.

It should work until you arrive at a more permanent solution.
You might want to keep the external "sound sample drive" as a backup, in any case.
If these files are important, you should have them "backed up".

Chabig seems to have a good path forward in reply 2 above.

I would have suggested "partition the new drive", but I'll reckon that APFS provides a different way of doing things that may be more efficient...

 

[joevt]

The use case for partitioning is virtually nil.

True. The use case is old macOS versions (Sierra or earlier) or other OSes or booters.

 

[chabig]

True. The use case is old macOS versions (Sierra or earlier) or other OSes or booters.

Yes. It's no longer for logical separation of data.

 

[TheRdungeon]

You could take the SSD (that has the sound samples) OUT OF the 2012 MBP, and put it into an external USB3 enclosure, and then connect that to the new MBP.

It should work until you arrive at a more permanent solution.
You might want to keep the external "sound sample drive" as a backup, in any case.
If these files are important, you should have them "backed up".

Chabig seems to have a good path forward in reply 2 above.

I would have suggested "partition the new drive", but I'll reckon that APFS provides a different way of doing things that may be more efficient...

Cheers, i actually have it already up and working on the MacBook Air M1 I bought as a test-case. It's kinda mind blowing how seamless this all is. I'm kinda shocked compared to what I thought I was gonna have to go with