Move user default folders

Newbie Corner
#1

Hello
I just moved my desktop pc from windows to manjaro kde and my problem is that i have 2 discs, ssd for boot and hdd for storage, and I was wondering if there is a way to move the Documents, Downloads, etc system/user folders to the hdd just like in windows so my hdd manages all the mass storage.

In case its worth mentioning, with the purpose of moving my steam library to de hdd, I alredy gave my user the ownership of the disc (with chowd command or something like that) and created a mounting point for it in /run/media/$USER/hdd (as the guide i followed said)

Thanks :slight_smile:

#2

Well, if this is a permanently attached HDD ─ as in "an internal disk" ─ then I would not use a mountpoint under /run/media, but rather under your home directory.

Answering your question, yes, it is possible to move those directories to the other volume, provided that you create links for them in your home directory, which is where the system would normally be looking for them.

Another and perhaps better option would be to move the entire content of /home to the filesystem on the HDD and set that up as a mountpoint for /home in /etc/fstab. But the safest way to do this without losing any data would be from the live session on the install medium, so that no files on your internal drives are in use when you do it, and so that you can be sure that you've copied over everything, including the hidden files.

What is your partitioning layout right now? How many partitions do you have on your SSD and on your HDD, and how big are they?

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#3
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#4

In the ssd just the system partitions and in the hdd one big ex4 partition
ssd size 120gb hdd size 500gb
Yes its an internal disk, could you please elaborate on why mounting it on the home directory? Just for knowledge
Thanks

#5

Those are the ones I wish to know about, to see whether /home is on a partition of its own, or whether it's part of the root filesystem. :wink:

Well, you are obviously treating your computer as a single-user machine, and so why would you have your data stored anywhere else in the directory hierarchy than under your home directory, which was intended to hold your data?

In addition to that, anything under /run/media is intended for removable storage ─ USB thumb-drives, optical media, and so on. :wink:

#6

Okay, as stated by lsblk command the ssd has only partition sda1 and the home folder is in it. Is that what you need to know?

It has logic, going to look up for a guide to change the mounting point and hope steam dont fuss about it

#7

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/XDG_user_directories

cat .config/user-dirs.dir

If it is one of the XDG dirs you can change it

xdg-user-dirs-update set XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR=/new/path/to/documents
#8

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