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  1. #1

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    Default OS X folder structure on iMac with SSD + HDD

    I'm curious about how OS X is set up when you get an iMac with a solid state drive and a normal hard drive with spinning platters. According to the Apple store:
    If you configure your iMac with both the solid-state drive and a Serial ATA hard drive, it will come pre-formatted with Mac OS X and all your applications on the solid-state drive. Then you can use the hard drive for videos, photos and other files.
    But this does not explicitly say where your home folder is located, and the default location for all you music, photos and videos is under your home folder, is it not?

    So, is the /users folder redirected to the SATA hard disk, or would a user have to do something special to put their data there?
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  2. #2
    tcn33's Avatar tcn33 is offline I was saying Boo-urns

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    Also quite interested in this. At a guess everything is put onto the SSD and the HDD is left empty for you to do what you will. If Apple preconfigured it with the /Users folder on the HDD (or with symlinks from the SSD to the HDD for the Documents folder, for example) it could be pretty confusing for a non-techie person to work out. I think it's more likely it'd be left to the user to set up according to their level of expertise.

    Though I guess we'll have to wait for the first SSD+HDD iMacs to be delivered before we find out.

    edit: woo, 6000th post

  3. #3

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    As a guess, I would say that the HDD is mounted on /Users. Just like most UNIXs would mount a separate disk/partition on /home

  4. #4
    glacierdave's Avatar glacierdave is offline Just some guy, you know...

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    I believe Lion will approach this by mounting /Users on the HDD but AFAIK Snow Leopard doesn't do this. It just installs the entire OS on the SSD and then lets you store whatever you want on the HDD.

    That doesn't mean you can't then reconfigure this, or tell particular apps (e.g. iTunes, iPhoto, etc) to store their data on the HDD.

    David

  5. #5
    The_Hawk's Avatar The_Hawk is offline Subtle plans are here again!

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    I replaced the HDD in my MacBook Pro with an SSD and an opti bay holding the mechanical drive and did lots of reading at the time about how best to store files on the SSD/mechanical drive (most of which I don't remember anymore). A quick google turned up this page, which is one of the options I was looking at:
    TUAW Tip: Moving your home folder to another disk (or moving it back)

    But yes, it seems the Snow Leopard install doesn't ask or care about the second disk during install, nor is there a straight forward way to make it just happen.

    I think it's down a little to personal circumstance on what you may choose to do. In my case I have a huge iTunes library which is dead simple to move onto the mechanical drive then just point iTunes at it. Everything else I left on the SSD since there isn't all that much else in my case. For me I have a NAS at home which stores all the photo's and video's so I don't need to worry about space for those.

    Personally I want to keep as much possible on the SSD since I bought it to get speed, why waste it if I don't need to? Sure I keep the rarely used VM's on the mechanical disk, but the XP VM I use all the time is on the SSD and boots quicker that anything I have ever used before
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  6. #6

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    Thanks for the replies folks. I'll be interested to see how it is configured when someone gets a factory build SSD+HDD iMac.

    You would think that Apple would make it as easy as possible for users (ie. nothing to do, "it just works"). Accordingly, I would be surprised if it was necessary for users to reconfigure their apps so that they stored data such as photos on the HDD.

    I'm leaning towards the camp that says that the HDD will be mounted on /Users (or the other way round - whatever)
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  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by snark View Post
    I'm curious about how OS X is set up when you get an iMac with a solid state drive and a normal hard drive with spinning platters. According to the Apple store:

    But this does not explicitly say where your home folder is located, and the default location for all you music, photos and videos is under your home folder, is it not?

    So, is the /users folder redirected to the SATA hard disk, or would a user have to do something special to put their data there?
    Ignore this post.

  8. #8
    Currawong's Avatar Currawong is offline Knowing beats guessing

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    Apple has not ever configured Mac OS X (Client) to put the home folder anywhere other than /Users/ on the main hard drive, so the answer will definitely be that Mac OS X is installed on the SSD drive with the second drive empty. I haven't checked with 10.6, but you could move the home folder to another drive by downloading the Mac OS X Server admin tools and using the Workgroup manager to alter the settings for individual users. I have a vague recollection there was some other way to do this in 10.6 via hidden System Preferences, but I can't find it.
    The discussion has continued at AppleTalk Australia.

  9. #9
    JimWOz's Avatar JimWOz is offline 56 no. ...and still seeing it big as a footy

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    Quote Originally Posted by Currawong View Post
    ... I have a vague recollection there was some other way to do this in 10.6 via hidden System Preferences, but I can't find it.
    Control click on your account in the Accounts preference Pane (after admin authenticating) and select advanced. This brings up a dialog where you can change the path to your user directory.
    Obviously, you need to copy your user directory to the new location first. After changing this path and logging out and back in, the new user directory becomes active.

    This has been available Since 10.5. You could do it in 10.3-10.4 with symbolic links I recall.

    So, I'd be putting the System and main applications on the SSD, leaving the bulky user directory on the HD, along with your secondary Apps and Utilities, and any other data directories that are outside user directories.

    A 64GB SSD is big enough for this set up.

    VM files can be relocated too using other utilities, but use of the SSD for these should help with performance. Remember, the VM swap files and a sleep image can use up 2x the installed RAM in disk space. Turning off safe sleep, (no sleep image can save half this space, - but if the power goes off you're rebooting and will lose anything not saved)
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  10. #10

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    Excellent post mate. You learn something new everyday, this is why these forums are so good. I will keep that in mind for when i upgrade my imac

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Currawong View Post
    Apple has not ever configured Mac OS X (Client) to put the home folder anywhere other than /Users/ on the main hard drive, so the answer will definitely be that Mac OS X is installed on the SSD drive with the second drive empty...
    Have Apple ever offered a factory built Mac with SSD + HDD before? I haven't been following what is in the store except for just recently when the iMac piqued my interest.
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  12. #12

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    Yes.
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  13. #13
    tcn33's Avatar tcn33 is offline I was saying Boo-urns

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    Confirmed:

    FYI, the SSD contains ALL the system files, the 2TB HDD is empty.
    https://twitter.com/#!/DetroitBORG/s...45262765256704

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