Weird issue after upgrading to SSD

[sawxray]

I thought I had read all the threads I could possibly read before making the move, but maybe I missed something...

I have a 2011 15 inch MBP with a stock 750 GB HD. I bought a new SATA 3 Vertex 240 GB SSD and a Data Doubler.

1. I installed the SSD in the primary slot.

2. I used my install disk to install SL 10.6.7, then Software Update to bring everything up to date. No problems. It started, connected to the internet, all just fine, except none of my apps or settings.

3. I installed the 750 GB HD in the Data Doubler, then into the optical drive slot. No problems. I could restart and find both disks.

4. I had made a clone of my 750 GB HD onto an external FW disk using SuperDuper before starting all this. I now connected the FW drive, then used Migration Assistant to move my System, Library and Apps over to the SSD.

I had created an admin account on the SSD with my first and last name. When I tried to use Migration Assistant, it asked me to change the name (since I had also used my first and last name on my 750 GB HD). So I created a new account with first name and last initial.

5. The transfer went fine. All my apps are available, and all my settings, at first glance, appear intact.

6. So now I follow all the previous advice I have read about, and go to Settings->Accounts-> Right click on my new user account (with just my last initial, not an admin account), Advanced Settings-> change my Home folder to the previous Home folder on my 750 GB HD in the Data Doubler, and restart.

7. Now it gets interesting. When I restart under my new user (last initial only), all my app settings are gone, I cannot access the Documents folder because I don't have permission, and I have no data.

If I sign into my new admin account on the SSD (which has the same user name-full first and last name-and password as my 750 GB HD, I have all my settings, and can access the data.

8. So I don't know what I am doing wrong. If I go back and change the Home folder under my regular user account (with just a last initial) back to the empty Home folder on the SSD, I have all my system and application settings, but no data.

Perhaps I am missing something really obvious here. I certainly hope so. I am pretty sure I haven't lost any data.

Thanks in advance if you can point out how I missed something right before my eyes!

 

[incongruity]

My best guess is that it's a permissions issue created by differing user ID numbers.

The quickish/dirty explanation: OS X bases permissions on a user ID # (UID for short) and it always starts numbering from the same # from clean installs. (There are also user names/user short names, but at the end of the day, they all map back to UID and permissions are assigned to UIDs (or groups, but that's more complicated than we need here)).

So, on your old disk, I'm guessing that your account was probably the first user created, so it's UID should be 501.

On the new drive, it sounds like you created the initial admin user (who thus got 501) and then migrated over your old account, which probably then got assigned to UID 502.

Somewhere in that move, the UID situation got borked and the files were likely not updated to reflect the new UID.

If you're at all comfortable navigating in the terminal, you could check what I'm suggesting fairly easily, but you should be able to see/fix it in the finder as well.

In the finder, open up the folder that contains the user directory you want to use. Select that directory and go to the file menu and get info (aka: command-I).

At the bottom of the get info window, it will show the sharing and permissions settings.

It will say explicitly "you have no access" or "you have read only access" in that area.

If it says anything other than "you can read and write", go down to the bottom right corner of the get info window and click the lock to authenticate yourself as an admin user.

Once you've done that, if your new user name isn't listed in the list of users for that file, hit the plus button, add yourself, give yourself read & write permissions. Next, select your new user in the get info window and under the gear menu, at the bottom of that window, make your new user the owner. Then, in that same menu, apply those changes to all enclosed items. Do that and you should be all set to use that directory as your user directory.