Rename an external volume without breaking a bunch of apps?

[thebart]

I have a T7 Shield SSD and when first setting it up, I thoughtlessly went with the default volume name "T7 Shield". This isn't strictly a problem only mildly inconvenient at times on the command line.

But now, I'm trying to install android studio and it tells me not to install the sdk in a path with space as it will cause problems with NDK. So I want to rename the volume once and for all.

How can I do this without breaking a bunch of apps? Can I alias the old name somehow?

Thanks

 

[thebart]

answering my own question: yes it is possible.

Rename the folder in Finder

In terminal

cd /Volumes
sudo ln -s new-name old-name

In my case

sudo ln -s T7 T7\ Shield

This lets most apps to follow the old name to the new name. Some apps get broken and have to be fixed manually

 

[chown33]

You can put the symlink anywhere. For example:
ln -s "/Volumes/T7 Shield" "/Users/Shared/T7"

Then point the app at the /Users/Shared symlink. You can also update the symlink later, i.e. point it somewhere else.

Share files with others who use your Mac

Share files with others who use your Mac using the Shared folder, Public folders, and Drop Box.

support.apple.com

 

[joevt]

Apps that are not poorly written should not care about the volume name.

Perhaps Android Studio is the only poorly written app you have, and all the other ones will not care if you rename the volume to "T7Shield".

The volume name is used for the name of the mountpoint in /Volumes and it will change if you have multiple volumes with the same name. For example, if you connected another "T7Shield", then it would have a mountpoint named "T7Shield 1" even though it will appear as "T7Shield" in the Finder.