🚀 go-pugleaf

Here's what I did:

I have an external drive that I call stan*.  I added this line to /etc/fstab:

  /dev/sd1a /stan 4.3 rw,noquota 1 2

and created the directory /stan on the internal drive.  The directory has to be  
there for the disk to mount properly (and you have to reboot to get this to  
work).  The fstab thing is there so that file ownership and permissions are  
preserved.  So now when I boot I have:

  /
  /stan/<all the files on my external drive>
  <all the other files that NeXT ships>

Since I keep another whole OS on stan, I have a single directory for all my  
non-shipped stuff, /Local, with links as appropriate.  So the setup is:

  /stan/Local/{Apps, Library, Developer, and so on}
  /Local        -->   /stan/Local   ("-->" means it's a link to another
                                     file; see below)
  /LocalApps    -->   /Local/Apps
  /LocalLibrary -->   /Local/Library
  ...
  /users        -->   /Local/users   (my user accounts)
  /usr/local    -->   /Local/usr/local  (UNIX weenie junk)
  /usr/spool/uucp --> /Local/usr/spool/uucp  (uucp weenie junk)

  and so on

The reason you make a /Local --> /stan/Local is that if you rename the external  
drive, you only have to relink one directory.  Even if you only keep your own  
files on the external, you might want to link /Local --> /externalDrive and  
link all the other things to /Local.  That way you can still rename the hard  
drive or replace it with another with little pain.

To create the links, either control-drag the folder in Workspace, or type the  
following in Terminal:

  ln -s <file to link to> <name of new link>

For example, to make the /Local, I typed:

  ln -s /stan/Local /Local

That's basically it!  If you have problems, give me a holler.  Maybe this  
should be put in the FAQ (or better yet, our documentation...not :-).  I've  
never done disk partitions, and am vague on their advantages;  if someone would  
like to add something about that, I'd like to hear it.

* Stan is a character appearing on "The Commish," a show I'm growing to enjoy.   
If you know the name of the actor who plays him, I'd appreciate hearing it.

--
Nik Gervae
Software Publications
ngervae@next.com