[switters]

I've got OS X on its own drive and I put Users on a separate internal drive. I set up a SymLink to the Users directory on the separate drive to make sure that any application or process that looks for Users on the boot drive is directed to the Users directory on the other drive.

I am having frequent system freezes and other issues. These always seem to happen in the Finder. For example, when I try to mount a .dmg, it takes several minutes and the finder locks up. The same is true for ejecting a disk that is already mounted. Also, I am having trouble saving files to disk.

I booted from the install DVD and repaired permissions. I got the following message: "permissions differ on "Users", should be drwxr-xr-x, they are lrwxr-xr-x. After repairing permissions, the problems stopped for about six hours, but they came back. I rebooted again from the DVD, and repaired permissions and once again got the message above "should be drwxr-xr-x, they are lrwxr-xr-x".

I think this may have something to do with the SymLink because from what I understand, "L" in the above means "symbolic link". But I'm a real novice when it comes to Unix, so I'm not sure.

[ibook_steve]

If you're a novice (or even if you are not), you should NOT be doing this. Why are you trying to do this? Keep the Users folder where it is. If it's because your hard disk is not big enough, a better solution is to get a bigger drive.

Steve

[switters]

Two reasons I'm doing this:

1) improved performance (having files that apps open on a different drive than the boot drive improves performance)

2) when/if I need to reinstall OS X, I can do so without losing my User data and having to migrate it back after install.

I followed the instructions for drive set-up over at MacGurus:

MacGurus:Move Users

Are you saying it's a bad idea to have Users on a separate drive? If so, why does Apple not discourage it?

[Cold Warrior]

Originally Posted by switters 

Two reasons I'm doing this:

1) improved performance (having files that apps open on a different drive than the boot drive improves performance)

Not really, unless you have some fast SSD or 15k RPM drive I don't know about.

Originally Posted by switters

2) when/if I need to reinstall OS X, I can do so without losing my User data and having to migrate it back after install.

This is best done via the archive-install option, which preserves most applications, users and network settings while installing a completely fresh OS system - and keeps other non-automatically transferred stuff in another folder for easy drag-drop transfer.

[switters]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

Not really, unless you have some fast SSD or 15k RPM drive I don't know about.

This is best done via the archive-install option, which preserves most applications, users and network settings while installing a completely fresh OS system - and keeps other non-automatically transferred stuff in another folder for easy drag-drop transfer.

Well, that's what they say over at MacGurus about performance. It made sense when I read their article, but I certainly am not qualified to debate it.

Let's assume I want to move my Users directory back to my boot drive. What's the best way of doing that without screwing up permissions and creating havoc?

Thanks.