[booboo]

Here's the short of it:

8 GB is too small for my OS X installation, and the app's I use, moving my Home folder would seem a good solution, is there a utility that simplifies this procedure..? (Symbolic what?)

OR

Is there any way round the Beige G3 8GB partition nonsense?

AND

Is FWB's Partition Toolkit a safe way of partitioning 'live'? (I don't have space to move all my files to a second drive, in order to erase/partiion the former...)

[hudson1]

Originally posted by booboo:
... is there a utility that simplifies this procedure..? (Symbolic what?)

Here's a tutorial by Mike Bombich, explaining how to move your home directory to another partition:

http://www.bombich.com/mactips/homedir.html

[jayg]

I have the same problem. I move most of my apps to my second partition, and then just leave aliases to them in my Applications folders. This way I can still keep my apps in a common place, without having to use up the space for them. Fortunately, few apps care where they're actually located (an advantage over many Windows apps).

[booboo]

Originally posted by jayg:
I have the same problem. I move most of my apps to my second partition, and then just leave aliases to them in my Applications folders. This way I can still keep my apps in a common place, without having to use up the space for them. Fortunately, few apps care where they're actually located (an advantage over many Windows apps).

Yes, but this is a pain - especially with software update, and the like insisting on using the original location...

I wish I knew why the Beige G3's have these apparently insurmountable limitations, whereas my older 8600/400 does not...

[booboo]

Originally posted by hudson1:
Here's a tutorial by Mike Bombich, explaining how to move your home directory to another partition:

http://www.bombich.com/mactips/homedir.html

Thanks for this - I may end up having to follow it. I just hoped there was a GUI app for a Terminally challenged sissy like me....

[Taipan]

Hi!

As far as I know the 8 GB limit is a limitation of older IDE controllers. So if it really bothers you that much and you have got a PCI slot to spare, you might want to get an PCI-IDE card. That should solve the problem.

[booboo]

Originally posted by Taipan:
Hi!

As far as I know the 8 GB limit is a limitation of older IDE controllers. So if it really bothers you that much and you have got a PCI slot to spare, you might want to get an PCI-IDE card. That should solve the problem.

Thanks.

OK. This makes sense, and it's great to know the cause, and that it's not just Apple slacking ;-)

Plus I'd rather spend £25 on an ATA controller than FWB Partition Toolkit...:-)

[ShotgunEd]

Originally posted by booboo:
Thanks.

OK. This makes sense, and it's great to know the cause, and that it's not just Apple slacking ;-)

Plus I'd rather spend £25 on an ATA controller than FWB Partition Toolkit...:-)

I wondered what the hell you were talking about as my dad's beige G3 is running with 4 partitions all over 8Gb until i realised you were talking about the IDE interface, his disks are all UltraSCSI disks using a PCI card interface.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by hudson1:
Here's a tutorial by Mike Bombich, explaining how to move your home directory to another partition:

http://www.bombich.com/mactips/homedir.html

According to some things I've been able to find on the Web, some things may not work right when you use the symlink method. It may be better to move it the 'official' way and set the Home directory in NetInfo Manager. When you go to Users -> your username, there's a setting in the bottom pane named "Home" which is the path to your home folder. Changing that would probably be a more kosher way to move your home directory.

[hudson1]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
According to some things I've been able to find on the Web, some things may not work right when you use the symlink method. It may be better to move it the 'official' way and set the Home directory in NetInfo Manager. When you go to Users -> your username, there's a setting in the bottom pane named "Home" which is the path to your home folder. Changing that would probably be a more kosher way to move your home directory.

CharlesS, you've highlighted what has to be the number one reservation with OS X. For me, I was a very early adopter and haven't looked back, except to occasionally use that dinosaur scanner of mine. But the fact that there's even a thread on how to move a Home directory is still somewhat disturbing. What's worse, those that know the most on how to do it might not even agree on the best way.

With the exception of pre-X system extensions and even the old Font/DA Mover (good riddance to both), our collective Macintosh experiences have led us to think that computers should be as simple as 'drag-n-drop'. In many ways, that's what set the Mac apart from other systems.

On my previous Mac running OS X, I had moved the Home directory to a different partition for all of the good reasons that have been mentioned elsewhere. On my new computer, I didn't bother because, frankly, the view wasn't worth the climb. That's the drawback of Apple basing X on Unix/NeXT. We may have to forever live with an extra layer of complexity for some tasks that, intuitively, we know shouldn't be there. Shouldn't moving the Home directory be about as simple as 'drag-n-drop'?