High disk usage

socrbob
socrbob
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Topic 197608

Why is Einstein@home using over 1gb of disk space when the other projects I am running are only using 106 MB(Milkyway@home) and 15.5(SETI@home)?

Logforme
Logforme
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High disk usage

Explained here

socrbob
socrbob
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Is there a setting that I can

Is there a setting that I can put Boinc manager and or Einstein, or its large data sets, on a different drive instead of my SSD startup disk on a MAC?

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
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When you install BOINC, a

When you install BOINC, a default location for the BOINC data directory is suggested and will be used, unless you make the decision to change it to somewhere else. Any projects that you add to your BOINC installation will have their own files in a 'project directory' which is located under the directory 'projects' which itself is a sub-directory of the main BOINC data directory.

If you now find that you want to put project files on a different partition or drive, you will need to reinstall BOINC with an appropriate new location for the BOINC data directory in order to achieve this. The basic procedure will have different details for different OS's but the following list should be enough to allow you to achieve your aims.

  • * Stop BOINC and run the uninstaller. This removes programs but leaves all data and configuration and all project files untouched.
    * Make a copy of the BOINC data directory and all its contents somewhere safe.
    * Shift the BOINC data directory in its entirety to the new desired location.
    * Run the BOINC installer (same version or even an upgrade if you want) and make sure you pay attention to when you are asked about where you want BOINC to be installed. If you don't seem to see this, maybe it was under an 'advanced' button on an earlier screen or something like that. If you specify the new desired location correctly, the installer will find and use all your previous setup.
    * Once the installer finishes, you can launch BOINC and you will be operating from the new location. Tasks that were 'in-progress' will be restarted from saved checkpoints so you shouldn't lose any previous crunching. If all goes well, you can discard your saved backup copy of the BOINC data directory.

If anything is not clear, please ask for clarification.

Cheers,
Gary.

Jord
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Good advice, Gary, but your

Good advice, Gary, but your advice is how you do it with the Windows installer. Macintosh OS X does it slightly differently, with use of sudo and such. All explained in the BOINC Wiki (the official one) at http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Tools_for_Mac_OS_X#Moving_BOINC_Manager_or_BOINC_Data_Folder_to_a_Different_Drive.

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
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Gee, I thought everyone used

Gee, I thought everyone used Windows!! :-).

Thanks for supplying the details. I hadn't run across that article previously so I didn't know it existed. I had guessed (wrongly it seems) that the functionality would be somewhere in the OS X installer. I'm surprised there isn't a simpler way. Symbolic links that disappear each time you run the installer is a bit painful. Quick re-installs to fix permissions problems could have dangerous side effects if you weren't careful.

Cheers,
Gary.

socrbob
socrbob
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Gary, thanks for the info.

Gary, thanks for the info. Tried your suggestion, but OS X 10.9.3 will not let me install the Boinc manager. It says it will only install on a drive that is running OS X. Any ideas?

Jord
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What is the hard drive

What is the hard drive formatted as?

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
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RE: Any ideas? Did you

Quote:
Any ideas?


Did you read the article that Jord linked to? If so, you might like to tell us what particular part of the procedure doesn't work for you?

I'm no OS X authority but it seems to me that setting up the symlinks correctly and fixing permissions as described would work since this is done after you have a working installation that OS X is happy with.

Are you saying that the symlinks don't work in redirecting things when you launch BOINC? Did you run the Mac_SA_Secure.sh script as suggested? My guess is that you are missing something in the instructions.

Cheers,
Gary.

socrbob
socrbob
Joined: 16 Feb 13
Posts: 19
Credit: 44739240
RAC: 2519

Sorry, I did not try the

Sorry, I did not try the procedure that Jord suggested. I will try that shortly and advise.

socrbob
socrbob
Joined: 16 Feb 13
Posts: 19
Credit: 44739240
RAC: 2519

Jord, the external hd

Jord, the external hd (firewire 800 connected) is formatted as Mac OS extended (journaled). Is this ok to work with the procedure you listed?

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