I moved my user folder to an external drive and Ventura put it inside of a “Moved Users” folder on the external drive. Now I am think it is best to move it back but will it work in the same manner as originally where I changed the locator the user folder in accounts? Is there something else that I should be aware of here? I have trimmed the size of my user folder so there should be no problem moving it back. BTW I never deleted the original folder after moving it. Should I delete it before changing the location accounts? Thanks for any help.
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Moving user folder back from external drive
- Thread starter danny_w
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I see you have a lot of views on this thread, but no replies, so I'll just share my thoughts.
I have always been very cautious with manipulating the user folder and the other default folders inside it, like Pictures, Movies, Downloads etc. I was never confident that the system or apps, expecting to find the default folder structure, would not be confused. If I need to move stuff to make space, I'll move subfolders to a different disk and use an alias or symlink instead.
In your situation, I would use Carbon Copy Cloner or similar to sync your external user folder to the user folder on the internal. That should work, with the slimming you've made on the external being reflected on the internal. Or else, it's a manual job.
Be sure you're properly backed up, anyway.
I have always been very cautious with manipulating the user folder and the other default folders inside it, like Pictures, Movies, Downloads etc. I was never confident that the system or apps, expecting to find the default folder structure, would not be confused. If I need to move stuff to make space, I'll move subfolders to a different disk and use an alias or symlink instead.
In your situation, I would use Carbon Copy Cloner or similar to sync your external user folder to the user folder on the internal. That should work, with the slimming you've made on the external being reflected on the internal. Or else, it's a manual job.
Be sure you're properly backed up, anyway.
I agree that moving the user folder to an external is for advanced users who know what they are doing. Safer to use symlinks or aliases to folders and libraries on an external.
If you used the correct method to put it on the external (via the Advanced options in Users & Groups), and it all worked, I don't see why moving it back by the same method shouldn't work.
Several links about moving the user folder, eg this one.
If you used the correct method to put it on the external (via the Advanced options in Users & Groups), and it all worked, I don't see why moving it back by the same method shouldn't work.
Several links about moving the user folder, eg this one.
Is everything you want/need in the "external" user account?
If so, do you "lose nothing" by deleting the [old] internal [drive] user account?
If the answer to both of these questions is YES, here's how I'd do it:
(probably an entirely "roundabout" way, but it should work)
First step:
Log out of your external account (for the moment).
Log INTO your [old] internal account.
Next:
Run migration assistant to see if it is able to find the "external" account.
If it does, DON'T attempt to transfer it yet. At this point, we are "just checking".
Quit migration assistant and go to next step.
Now:
Open up the "users & groups" preference/settings pane.
Click the lock and enter your administrative password (for the old account).
Now, click the "+" sign at the bottom to create a NEW account.
This is going to be a "temporary" account, so give it a name/password that is fitting. It IS NOT going to be the "main" account.
WHY we are doing all this:
Every account has an "ID number" that is assigned by the system.
One SHOULD NOT be fooling with it.
However, there are ways to control which account gets assigned "the first" ID number, which is 501.
Your old internal account probably has that number.
The new temp account should have ID 502.
(you can check the ID in "advanced settings")
OK, next step:
LOG OUT of your old internal account.
LOG INTO your newly-created temporary account.
I believe you again have to click the lock icon and enter your password.
Now:
Click on the old internal account to select it.
Then, click the "-" sign to DELETE the old account.
You want to delete it completely -- NOT "archive" it or anything like that.
Now, "the space" that the old account occupied (ID 501) is "empty".
Now that the old account is gone...
Open migration assistant.
"Aim" MA at the external drive that has the "external" account.
Give MA time to "digest" everything.
Assuming you can now see your external account in MA, select it and choose to "bring it over" to the internal drive.
Give MA time to do its job.
When done, the external account should now be internal, AND, it should have the ID 501 as its account number.
Now, LOG OUT of the temporary account and LOG INTO the migrated account.
Look around and make sure everything is as it should be.
That's how I'd do it (but I guess that's just me).
Good luck.
If so, do you "lose nothing" by deleting the [old] internal [drive] user account?
If the answer to both of these questions is YES, here's how I'd do it:
(probably an entirely "roundabout" way, but it should work)
First step:
Log out of your external account (for the moment).
Log INTO your [old] internal account.
Next:
Run migration assistant to see if it is able to find the "external" account.
If it does, DON'T attempt to transfer it yet. At this point, we are "just checking".
Quit migration assistant and go to next step.
Now:
Open up the "users & groups" preference/settings pane.
Click the lock and enter your administrative password (for the old account).
Now, click the "+" sign at the bottom to create a NEW account.
This is going to be a "temporary" account, so give it a name/password that is fitting. It IS NOT going to be the "main" account.
WHY we are doing all this:
Every account has an "ID number" that is assigned by the system.
One SHOULD NOT be fooling with it.
However, there are ways to control which account gets assigned "the first" ID number, which is 501.
Your old internal account probably has that number.
The new temp account should have ID 502.
(you can check the ID in "advanced settings")
OK, next step:
LOG OUT of your old internal account.
LOG INTO your newly-created temporary account.
I believe you again have to click the lock icon and enter your password.
Now:
Click on the old internal account to select it.
Then, click the "-" sign to DELETE the old account.
You want to delete it completely -- NOT "archive" it or anything like that.
Now, "the space" that the old account occupied (ID 501) is "empty".
Now that the old account is gone...
Open migration assistant.
"Aim" MA at the external drive that has the "external" account.
Give MA time to "digest" everything.
Assuming you can now see your external account in MA, select it and choose to "bring it over" to the internal drive.
Give MA time to do its job.
When done, the external account should now be internal, AND, it should have the ID 501 as its account number.
Now, LOG OUT of the temporary account and LOG INTO the migrated account.
Look around and make sure everything is as it should be.
That's how I'd do it (but I guess that's just me).
Good luck.
You're certainly right about wanting to end up with the internal account being UID 501. Your method may work but it looks different from the method in the many links, which say to use Users & Groups > Advanced. I have never done either so not speaking from experience.
Possibly relevant to your method is that Migration Assistant has changed since the early days. Now if you have a an existing user "JohnSmith" with UID 501 and you migrate in a second user called "JohnSmith" it will offer to overwrite the original and the migrated one will be UID 501.
I just had a look at Users & Groups in Ventura and can't see any way to get "Advanced" as seen in the screenshot in the link I posted.
EDIT You have to control-click on the user in Ventura as per this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ventura-cant-move-user-folder-to-external-drive.2378144/
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Thanks everyone I moved it and everything seems to be working correctly. I had to unlink Dropbox and delete the files in my Download directory to get things to copy over correctly but now it is done. If I relink Dropbox can i set it to use the external drive? I don’t want to waste more of the precious internal space.
Officially Dropbox says the new CloudStorage/fileproviderd method does not enable the Dropbox folder to be on an external drive, as the old way did. Detail here. As in that link this has caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Onedrive, which has had the same CloudStorage/fileproviderd change forced on it by Apple, does provide a workaround so don't know why Dropbox doesn't.
I don't need to do it so haven't investigated any workarounds but maybe a symlink would do it. There is also a workaround suggested in the link.
EDIT this thread on Dropbox community sounds more encouraging, but I haven't read it all:
https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Sto...ternal-disk-support-for-Mac-users/td-p/659876
Wow I guess I will be leaving DB then, as I am sure many others will be forced to do. I have never been a OneDrive fan but will check it out. Thanks!
This Tidbits article on the subject says Onedrive is the only one with a workaround. Scroll down to the “External drive support disappears, except for Onedrive” section.
It includes this Microsoft link about doing it. Scroll up to the “Using another volume” section. Basically it seems to use a symlink. However at the end there are 12 pages of discussion from a lot of mostly unhappy users, the most recent being two days ago. As I said I have no experience of doing this.
There is also this undated Microsoft article, which says external drives have to be made non-removable in Disk Utility. This is mentioned in one last user comments.
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Thanks for that. My experience with One Drive on external volume is that the cache was on the external but still needs ~/Library/CloudStorage for data access. Doesn't solve the issues of space on the internal disk, Spotlight indexing or backup. From the links, I don't think anything has changed since I investigated this.
My current usage:
1) Dropbox with about 7GB free storage which I use for rapid sync of things like app preferences. I keep all file "offline" and use TM/Arq/CCC for backup. Arq (and now the latest CCC) have options to "materialise" any missing files as required.
2) For OneDrive (1TB with Microsoft 365) I use a folder on an external disk and GoodSync to synchronise once a day (could be more frequent) to Microsoft. That is sufficient for me. The folder is fully Spotlight indexed and backup is same as any other folder (no issues with CCC and Arq).
GoodSync is a rather cludgy looking app, but works happily in the background.
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Interesting, I hadn't thought of using Dropbox for that. Do you symlink the pref file to Dropbox, or vice versa?
Sorry, I mislead you there. "Configuration" would have been a better word than "preferences". I use Dropbox for apps that let you specify where to keep settings and configuration - like Keyboard Maestro, Alfred, BetterTouchTool.