Symlink pickle.

[TurdFerguson]

A long while back I used a symlink to store my home folder. I have a SSD and HDD. I want to put my home folder back into my SSD and use symlinks for specific folders in my home folder. Mostly I want my applications on the SSD and media (photos, movies, desktop, downloads, etc) on my HDD. I'm not sure how to go about this considering my SSD is not big enough to hold my entire home folder.

EDIT:
I think i have a plan.
1. Copy Home folder and all sub folders I want to be on the SSD (applications, documents, etc) to the users folder on SSD
2. Create empty folders for home folders still on HDD
3. Change home folder location to volumes/SDD/users/jhs from the system pref. (currently pointed to volumes/hdd/users/jhs)
4. create symlinks for folders stored on HDD

Does this sound like a good plan? I have created a back up of the SDD using Carbon Copy Cloner.

 

[satcomer]

Buy several externals. Then first move your iTunes Library to the external by follow the steps in the article/video How to move an iTunes library to an external drive.

Then move your iPhoto Library using the Apple instructions iPhoto: How to move the Library folder to a new location.

Plus SYM links are hard core. In OS X use Aliases.

 

[ElectricSheep]

Plus SYM links are hard core. In OS X use Aliases.

I would hardly classify symbolic links as hardcore. They are straightforward to use and integrate into the filesystem better than Aliases, which will not be understood by the BSD sub-layer. From that perspective, an alias is just a file which cannot be followed in the command-line.

If you want hardcore, you skip using symbolic links and actually mount external volumes into your root filesystem; Instead of making a link from /Users/<username> that points to a folder on another drive, you manipulate the /etc/fstab file to have the volume mounted onto the root filesystem at /Users/<username> at boot time.