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Issue with MacOS Software Updates & Home Directory on SoftRAID

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(@darrensony)
Posts: 2
New Member
Topic starter
 

This is the second time this has happened to me; I somehow managed to fix it the first time it happened after a software update, but apparently that fix was not permanent.

Hopefully you can help me with a better solution.

VISIBLE PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:

  • User Home Directory is on a SoftRAID External Volume
  • User performs MacOS Software Update and Reboots
  • User Logs in after reboot, "Home Directory is Empty"
  • SoftRAID Volume is mounted, but under different Filesystem Path than before Update

INFORMATION:

  • OS: Monterey 11.6
  • Hardware: IMAC Retina 5k, 2019
  • SoftRAID version: 6.3
  • SoftRAID Driver version: 6.3

DESCRIPTION BEFORE MACOS UPDATE (working state):

  • 1.1 SoftRAID Disk Volume "Home2"
  • 1.2 Volume [1.1] contains directory "darren"
  • 1.3 Volume [1.1] is Mounted on "/Volumes/Home2"
  • 1.4 MacOS User "darren" has Home Directory set as "/Volumes/Home2/darren" (so [1.2])
  • 1.5 User logs in, types `pwd` in Terminal, sees "/Volumes/Home2/darren"
  • 1.6 User types `ls`, sees files in directory "darren" from [1.2]

DESCRIPTION AFTER MACOS UPDATE (non-working state):

  • 2.1 Same as 1.1, SoftRAID Disk Volume "Home2"
  • 2.2 Same as 1.2, Contents of SoftRAID Volume have not changed
  • 2.3 !!!! Volume [2.1] is Mounted on "/Volumes/Home2\ 1" !!!!
    • (Different than 1.1, Added SPACE+"1")
  • 2.4 No change from 1.4, MacOS User "darren" has Home Directory set as "/Volumes/Home2/darren"
  • 2.5 No change from 1.5, User logs in, types `pwd` in Terminal, sees "/Volumes/Home2/darren
  • 2.6 !!! User types `ls`, all their files are "missing", because home directory is "newly created by update" !!!

UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO FIX

When I look (using Terminal) (as a different user) at the /Volumes directory, I see:

  • "Home2\ 1" (The SoftRAID volume)
  • "Home2" (A regular Directory, creation date today)

What I tried to do:

  1. Use Disk Utility to Unmount Volume Home2 [1.1, 2.1]
  2. Verified the "Home2\ 1" entry has been removed from /Volumes
  3. Try to eliminate this problematic Home2 directory so that re-mounting [1.1, 2.1] can get the proper name.
    1. sudo mv /Volumes/Home2 /Volumes/Home2.bad.20220913
    2. FAILED: Operation not permitted

The previous time, if I remember correctly, I then went into recovery mode, did `csrutil disable`, then did the `sudo mv` to get rid of the problem directory, then rebooted.

But since the problem has returned, I'm hoping there's a better, more permanent solution.

APPARENT PROBLEM CAUSE (my thoughts)

  • Something related to the Software Update seems to be "looking" for the User Home Directory "/Volumes/Home2/darren" at a point BEFORE the SoftRAID volume has been mounted 
  • Not finding said directory (because unmounted), it seems to be triggering the creation of an empty, new-user directory with the default contents
  • When the system later tries to mount all volumes, it finds an unexpected "/Volumes/Home2" directory, and thus mounts the volume at an alternate pathname "Home2\ 1"
  • User's "home directory" is now "wrong"

Help please! How should I fix this so that it doesn't keep happening with every software update?

 
Posted : 13/09/2022 4:44 am
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8008
Member Admin
 

I have done some reading on this, but want to warn you, I am not expert in external home directories.

My recommendation is not to move the entire home folder, but alias the large folders, such as Movies, Downloads, Pictures, etc. Leave the Home folder and Library on your internal. then you avoid these issues.

Anytime your home directory is unavailable, macOS will create a new one, as in this case. A common recommendation I have seen is to have a second administrator account, with the home folder on the internal, so you can recover more easily when this happens.

Example comment:
"one option would be to keep an admin user on the startup drive solely for unlocking the external before you log into the user with the home folder on the external."

Problems are not unique to SoftRAID volumes. I will note that it is more likely for a SoftRAID volume to be "missing" than a Apple formatted volume, for reasons such as the driver not loading, being blocked temporarily by macOS, etc. But in general, you can avoid most all of these issues by Aliasing the non-Library folders, rather than the entire home folder.

 

 
Posted : 13/09/2022 1:37 pm
(@darrensony)
Posts: 2
New Member
Topic starter
 

OK, thanks but unfortunate. :(

For various reasons, I have hundreds of folders under my home directory, which is why I have it moved to an external 8Tb RAID volume, so having mounts or symbolic links for the standard Mac directories would not help me out.

 

For reference, here's how I ended up fixing the problem.

 

1. Log in as myself, without a home directory, but with Administrator privileges.

 

2. Create fixit user

2.1. System Preferences > Users > Create a new user "janitor"

2.1.1. Set "janitor" home directory on the Boot Volume & grant Administrator permissions.

 

3. Log out of myself, log in as "janitor"

 

4. Ensure Terminal can be used to clean up

4.1. System Preferences > Security > Privacy

4.1.1. Select "Full Disk Access" in left side

4.1.2. Ensure "Terminal" is present and checked on the right side.

 

5. Unmount Home2 Volume

5.1 Disk Utility

5.1.1 Select "Home2", right-click, "Unmount"

 

6. Open Terminal

6.1. cd /Volumes

6.2. mv Home2 Home2.crud.`date +%Y%m%d`

6.3. In Disk Utility

6.3.1. Select "Home2", right-click, "Mount"

6.4. Verify Home2 entry exists: ls Home2

6.5. Cleanup: /bin/rm -fr /Volumes/Home2.crud.`date +%Y%m%d`

 

7. Log out of "janitor"

 

 
Posted : 13/09/2022 2:35 pm
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8008
Member Admin
 

@darrensony 

Hopefully this is useful for other users here!

 
Posted : 13/09/2022 9:11 pm
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