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Filed under: Terminal Tips, TUAW Tips

TUAW Tip: Moving your home folder to another disk (or moving it back)

In ye olde times, with "Mack OSe 9," many users chose to keep their personal files, work, and documents on a different physical disk from their startup disk. It was a safety measure: If one disk goes down, at least the other won't. There was no structural reason to keep files in a particular disk location, other than keeping them out of the System Folder.

I visited a client yesterday whose drive scheme was set up exactly like this, and he wanted to be (finally) upgraded to Leopard. I wasn't sure how Leopard would handle the fact that his Users folder had been moved to a different drive, so (knowing I had backups of his entire system) I cautiously proceeded with the installation.

After the installer finished, Leopard had created a fresh, blank Users folder on the startup disk with a home folder bearing the same username. This wasn't exactly the answer I was looking for. I had to link, somehow, the new Users/hisname folder with his existing user folder on the other volume.

Turns out, Leopard handles this much better than previous versions of Mac OS X. Read on to find out how.

Continue readingTUAW Tip: Moving your home folder to another disk (or moving it back)

Filed under: Mac 101

Mac 101: Quickly change directory in save/open dialogs



More Mac 101, our series of tips for new Mac OS X users. Have you ever tried to open or save a file, and you want to quickly change from the directory (folder) you are browsing to another directory? It might be simpler than you think, and it doesn't require you to go searching for the directory from the dialog box!

When in an open/save dialog, drag a folder from any Finder window (including the Desktop) to the dialog. The open/save dialog will instantly show that directory. You can then type in a file name to save as, or locate the file to open. Using this method to change directories can often save time; it's also one of the Mac OS X features that can be confusing for switchers, as the Windows XP & Vista behavior is quite different (dragging items to a dialog will copy them to the displayed directory, instead of changing the target).

Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 section!

Filed under: OS, TUAW Tips

TUAW Tip: visit your Library

This tip could definitely be classified as rudimentary to some, but I thought it would be handy to shed some light on a folder in the Home directory that is rarely opened by many users: the Library. For those who sometimes wonder things such as where Safari stores your bookmarks or where Mail.app keeps all those messages you never reply to, your Library folder is calling your name. The Library in your Home folder is where Mac OS X stores all the data you enter into almost any and every application you use. Take a look at ~/Library/Safari, for example (the (~) stands for your Home folder). In there is just about everything Safari stores for you, including your bookmarks and history. There are plenty of other handy folders to check out in your Library, such as the Fonts folder which stores all the fonts you install, but I think the real meat of the Library is the Application Support folder. This is where most applications will store their information, such as Adium extras, Camino/Firefox bookmarks, NetNewsWire subscription information and the database file iWeb uses to create your website.

The Library is where (almost) all of it happens boys and girls, so take a look around. There are a lot of handy folders in there, but more importantly: in addition to the rest of the folders in your Home directory, the Library is one of the most vital to back up. So feel free to look around and familiarize yourself with your Library, the "guy behind the guy" of your Mac OS X Home directory.

Tip of the Day

F11 moves all your windows off the screen so you can quickly glance at your desktop. F10 shows you every open window in an application. F9 shows every open window for every application that isn't hidden or in the dock.


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