Make partion appear inside other partion?
 

Well, a bit tricky to explain in a short way, so here goes:

I have a rev b. iMac G3, in which I want to replace the stock 4 Gb drive with a 20 Gb drive.
I have to partion the disc into 2 partions, one 8 Gb with OSX on it, and one on 12 Gb. So far, so good..

But here comes the tricky unix part!
First of all, I want the /users/ to be the entire 12 Gb drive, I know how to change this. But in the OSX gui, 2 partions appear as 2 discs on the desktop. I want the /users/ harddrive to appear on the primary harddrive, as if it was one big drive!

It this possible with OSX? As far as ive been informed, this is possible on most normal unix systems... Something about changing the /etc/fstab file, but that one is almost empty on OSX, and only contain comments.

Any help?

I'm not certain on how to do this for OS X. By the way, I believe the term for this is "mount point". (e.g. You want the mount point of the 8 GB partition to be "/" and the mount point of the 12 GB partition to be "/Users/".)

It can be done, to keep things entertaining Apple changes the inner workings of their mount-magic from time to time, make sure to use hints meant for the version you run.

Your best bet is to look around in the hints where mounting the swap on a seperate partition is discussed.

Keep a copy of the unmodified files you tinker with around. If things turn sour, you could be stuck in single-user mode to straighten things out and I bet you won't like the editors availible ;)

Also - I believe it is often referred to as "grafting" so you might search for that too.

Want the easy way? Leave /Users where it is and leave the backup admin user home folder there. Move the individual home folders to the bigger partition. Make a symlink (ln -s destination linkname) to the new folder - you'll find it in /Volumes.

This way survives updates and major system changes better than fstab, and if it does break it takes about 30 seconds to fix. You don't even need to be a priviledged user.

So it would be just fine to call the second partion ".something", copy my user to the second drive, and then link that user to the /users/ folder on the primary partion? Or would it be smarter to make the second partion, not mount on the desktop.. (Not a unix geek, so plz correct me if that was gibberish)
Just need to make sure I dont make any mistakes.. :)

This is one of those things where you can do it 6 different ways, and it really doesn't matter which one you use.

Call your partitions Larry, Moe and Curly if you want. Show them on the Desktop or not, your choice. Wether you get to your data by Go -> Home -> userfolder or Go -> Computer -> Moe -> userfolder doesn't make any difference with the symlink method. Programs that look in <userfolder> or programs that identify the true path and go there directly (iTunes for example) will behave properly.

While the name indeed does not matter much, you should refrain from using a leading dot, otherwise you could be in for some entertaining problems due to the "invisibility" of dotfiles.

I think that's the plan, although we'll have to wait for Mr. Munsch to explain exactly what he wants to do and why.

The thing is, the harddrive is for my moms iMac, and shes already having trouble turning on the machine, so having 2 drives on the desktop would just make her go insane...

So the second partion is going to be invincible somehow, so it wont show up in the GUI as an extra drive.

What would be the best solution then?

Eject the unwanted partition on login via a script?

or...

Get an app-launcher + file/folder opener like DragThing,
to make disk navigation -- initiated by double-clicking a
desktop HD icon -- totally unnecessary.

A properly populated Dock might even suffice.
[use Finder's prefs to not show HD on desktop]

-HI_

Sounds terrible complicated? :/

As i said before, its for my mothers computer, so it has to be as simple as possible.. Ive spend a few years learning her to double-click the harddrive in the corner on the desktop, and i dont want to start all over teaching her to click the Finder icon in the dock.. :( And she wants to be able to find a document on the harddrive, so...


Maybe I wasnt clear about my request:
What is the easiest way to 'hide' the second drive from the desktop, so that I can use the symlink function (Should be the best solution, yes?), but keeping the primary partion on the desktop?

Use Finder's prefs to hide all HDs and then
put an alias on the desktop for... whatever.

Simple. :rolleyes:

Then I would have to do that with each user account, and if one deletes the alias, I'm back to point zero.

Good luck
 

:o I keep it simple... by having only one Mom.


It's a hard life.

So, what do you do when she... er, "they"
delete(s) their(her) Documents folder(s)?

:cool:

After you make the alias, simply copy them to the stepmother's, mother-in-laws, and adopted mother's accounts. Or put them in the new user template folder.

Lock anything you don't want people to delete, either in the Finder Get Info box or through the terminal. At least 4 different ways come to mind here.

I believe acme has the correct solution
 

I believe acme has the correct solution, it would make it harder for her to accidentally find the user folder, in hals solution you would still see the drives when trying to open a file through the Open interface of every program, but with acme's it would stay invisible, True? gentlemen correct me if I'm wrong.

You'll still see the other volumes* in the save dialog, IF you click on the arrow to display full paths. I believe Simple Finder doesn't do this. Test and see. What you WON'T have to do with a symlink is look anywhere else. Everything has the illusion of being where it normally is.

* `drive` = spinning piece of metal with attached circuit card and cables.
`volume` = thing in user interface that represents a persistent storage device

Still, the True Unix Way of doing what you need to do would require appropriate editing of the /etc/fstab file.

You should have a look around for the correct syntax.

Before editing it, make a backup copy.

In case you wrote inappropriate stuff in there, reboot in single user mode, remount the / partition rw and move the backup copy where the botched version was.

While the alias thing is clever and easier, it is more confusing in the Save dialogs, your call.

How is it more confusing? I've done it to all the machines at work, and unless they look REALLY closely at the Finder icon for the little arrow, you can't tell. Save dialogs are completely transparent, and it's way easier for the less unix-fluent user to maintain.


*symlink, not alias. BIG difference.

--> acme.mail.order

It was not at all my intention to lessen the merits of your solution and I am sorry if that is the message you read in my post.

I think both options can be worthwhile exploring, it is a matter of personal taste and I've simply expressed mine, even if it may have sounded a litte bit like "The True Unix Way" :) of doing things was meant to be superior to others. It is not.
I just sometimes get taken away with some cute punchline...


Anyway, I think by now the original poster has all the pointers he needs to come up with a simple, intuitive setup for his Mom's iMac.

Wasn't reading that at all. Your method is also fine, will do exactly the same thing. We simply have different philosophies. Your method is probably better for multiple drives and mounting system directories and drive arrays.