Can I move my home folder in Mac OS X?

I want to move my OS X home folder to another location. Can I do this?

Solution 1:

First you should ask yourself, "Do I really want to do this?"

You can easily move large media files and documents to another folder without moving your home folder. If your home folder is unavailable for any reason when you try to log on to OSX, you will not be able to do it.

If you decide to move your home folder anyway, make sure you have another account with admin privileges that you can log on to if things go pear-shaped.

Other than that, all you have to do is copy the folder to the new location, and control-click on your user in the "Accounts" section of "System Preferences" and select "Advanced Options." You'll see a setting for home directory there. Set it to the new location and restart your Mac.

Solution 2:

Yes you can, and quite easily as well.

System Preferences » Accounts » Unlock Preference Pane » Ctrl Click your account and select Advanced Options:

You can change it to any directory you like from here although I recommend keeping it somewhere sane - not /System or /Library, obviously. If you intend to make it a second partition, you'll need to create that first of course it won't take effect until after you logout and log back in.

A caveat: any app preferences that reference a folder inside your home directory might need to be changed after, so for example the download folder for your browser. It's a small thing but quite easy to forget and I think it goes without saying to make a backup first.