Can't change Downloads to External Drive

[sgmiller]

From Faq:

"How do I change my download folder to another drive?

Simply enter in the full path, such as D:\Downloads
A tip for OSX users, to save to an external drive, enter /Volumes/nameofdrive/Downloads"


I am using Beta 1.5  and OS 10.6.2 and I have tried this repeatedly on my external USB drive (named Media) using:

/Volumes/Media/Downloads

but SAB always creates the folder on

/Users/{my user folder)/Volumes/Downloads


I don't know what else to try

[zito]

You can make a symbolic link of your external drive's folder into your home folder and tell sabznbd to use your symlink

[sgmiller]

I am a relative latecomer to the Mac and have no idea how to create Symbolic Links. What I found on Google was a bit confusing.

Could I bother you for some simple instructions on how to do this?

[sgmiller]

Ok, I found a finder plugin that creates symlinks and I created symlinks to the two folders on my External Drive. My only problem is I have no idea how to get SAB to use those symlinks. I put them in my SAB Application Support folder and tried to give SAB the path but I am having no luck. When I give it the path to the symlink, it just recreates a folder by the same name.

[sgmiller]

Guess I am still confused...did you mean make a symlink to the entire external drive and somehow get SAB to recognize that in my Home Folder?

[zito]

I just tested to input a full path to an external drive's folder in the "Completed Download Folder" field and it works (10.6.2 / 0.5.0ß1), so you should not have to bother with a symlink...

If for an unknown reason it's not working for you, you can create a symlink of your External drive's download folder and put it in your home folder, then use the symlink in Sab's "Completed Download Folder" field.
If you need help with symlinks, type "man ln"  in Terminal.app

[sgmiller]

That’s fine except when I do that it doesn't work. As I said above, I tried:

Volumes/Media/(My userfolder)/downloads

but it still creates the folder in my user folder instead of on my external drive (Media)

[zito]

If you want Sabnzbd to create and use a folder "Downloads" on a drive "Media", you should type in "/Volumes/Media/Downloads" ;
is that what you done ?

[sgmiller]

Sorr yes, I goofed on the last reply. I have repeatedly tried:

/Volumes/Media/Downloads

but it always creates the folder in my User directory

[zito]

Ok. I don't think it's creating a folder at all since Downloads is already a folder on your user's directory...
Did you check permissions on your external drive ?
If you don't need permissions on your external drive you can disable it with a checkbox at the bottom of the information window of your drive...

What's in the Sab's "Completed Download Folder" field after you press "Save Changes" ?

Ok, I found a finder plugin that creates symlinks and I created symlinks to the two folders on my External Drive. My only problem is I have no idea how to get SAB to use those symlinks. I put them in my SAB Application Support folder and tried to give SAB the path but I am having no luck. When I give it the path to the symlink, it just recreates a folder by the same name.

So, if you need to use a symlinc, first input "sabdl" in Sab's "Completed Download Folder" field, then in Finder delete folder "sabdl" and replace it with a symlink of your "/Volumes/Media/Downloads" folder that you name "sabdl"

[sgmiller]

Ok...thanks for trying to help..I will give this a  try a bit later and let you know.

[sgmiller]

Stillnot working:

"If you don't need permissions on your external drive you can disable it with a checkbox at the bottom of the information window of your drive..."

Already was disabled so this is not the issue

"So, if you need to use a symlinc, first input "sabdl" in Sab's "Completed Download Folder" field, then in Finder delete folder "sabdl" and replace it with a symlink of your "/Volumes/Media/Downloads" folder that you name "sabdl""

Doesn't work....SAB still creates a folder by the same name in the same directory when you delete the original

[zito]

You’ve got to stop Sabnzbd while you delete the folder and put the symlink with the same name.
When you restart Sabnzbd it uses your symlink so it uses your exetrnal drive.
I did it and it works!

[sgmiller]

"You’ve got to stop Sabnzbd while you delete the folder and put the symlink with the same name."

I did that but when SAB restarts it is still creating its own folder even though the Symlink has the same name. The symlinke is marked and labeled as an alias....is this right? I have the feeling the whole problem is because the symlink that was created is not being treated as the same as the folder by the same name so SAB thinks there is no folder by that name.

[zito]

No more ideas, it tested it and it works!
If your symlink (the arrow like an alias is normal) is in the same place and have the same name than the folder originally created by Sab, the symlink is used. I've tested it, downloaded a file : no problem it's working !

As it's not normal that a full path to an external drive in Sab is failing. As it's either not normal at all that you can have in the same folder two elements with the same name (a folder and a symlink in your case), maybe you should fix your system first.
Repairing the authorizations in Disk utility can be a good start... Good luck...