I've read other threads here discussing whether/how to partition an OS X drive to separate data from the core system. Many people say not to bother, and I never have since Panther, so I generally agree. Lately though I've been thinking of doing it for a pretty particular purpose, and I have a couple of questions that could use advice.
First, how do you recommend I set the permissions of my data drive? I'd like my "regular" users to have unrestricted access, but I also keep a local "guest" account (for friends checking email, etc.) and several sharing-only accounts, and I don't want them mucking up my files. What's the best way to achieve this? I'm thinking a new "regular_users" group, and restricting all privileges on the data partition to that group. If I set the perms that way on the top directory of the data drive, is that sufficient? Or do I have to always make sure every individual file/folder on the drive has those perms? I know how to do this, but it sounds like a hassle.
Second, are there any security or convenience concerns you think I might be overlooking? I know OS X keeps everything pretty tidy with the standard directory structure, and I don't want to mess anything up too much. E.g. some programs stick files in ~/ by default; I don't mind fixing little things like that, but is there anything more substantial to worry about? Are my machine or data any more vulnerable with the 2-partition setup? I keep ports open to the WAN for ssh & ftp (but I have good passwords
, and I do need to be able to access the data drive from abroad.
Finally, how big do you recommend for the system drive? I'd like it to contain the OS, Applications, Dev Tools, and my Users (but very few documents, which will be on the data drive instead). I've got plenty of space (laptop's smallest at 640 GB) and performance is most important, but I still don't really want to waste much more HD than I have to. I've had mixed luck partitioning on the fly, so I'd rather not rely on resizing partitions later as needed.
Thanks much in advance.
First, how do you recommend I set the permissions of my data drive? I'd like my "regular" users to have unrestricted access, but I also keep a local "guest" account (for friends checking email, etc.) and several sharing-only accounts, and I don't want them mucking up my files. What's the best way to achieve this? I'm thinking a new "regular_users" group, and restricting all privileges on the data partition to that group. If I set the perms that way on the top directory of the data drive, is that sufficient? Or do I have to always make sure every individual file/folder on the drive has those perms? I know how to do this, but it sounds like a hassle.
Second, are there any security or convenience concerns you think I might be overlooking? I know OS X keeps everything pretty tidy with the standard directory structure, and I don't want to mess anything up too much. E.g. some programs stick files in ~/ by default; I don't mind fixing little things like that, but is there anything more substantial to worry about? Are my machine or data any more vulnerable with the 2-partition setup? I keep ports open to the WAN for ssh & ftp (but I have good passwords
, and I do need to be able to access the data drive from abroad. Finally, how big do you recommend for the system drive? I'd like it to contain the OS, Applications, Dev Tools, and my Users (but very few documents, which will be on the data drive instead). I've got plenty of space (laptop's smallest at 640 GB) and performance is most important, but I still don't really want to waste much more HD than I have to. I've had mixed luck partitioning on the fly, so I'd rather not rely on resizing partitions later as needed.
Thanks much in advance.