[comp.sys.mac] Having more than one System Folder

seiler@chrpserv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Ed Seiler) (10/27/89)

I have always advised people that they should NEVER have more than one system
folder on their hard disk, lest mysterious evils befall them. There was a time
when someone would spend hours tracking down a system bug or crash, only to
have it disappear when an extra system folder was removed. My question is,
is it possible to have more than one system folder on a hard disk with 
absolutely no fear of any problems? In other words, is blessing one and only
one system folder sufficient to make it the TRUE system folder, and all others
just pretenders? This would provide the capability of trying out a number of
system configurations by simple reblessing and rebooting. If this can't work,
what good is the blessed Blesser anyway?

Ed Seiler
Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
seiler@chrpserv.gsfc.nasa.gov

d6maca@dtek.chalmers.se. (Martin Carlberg) (10/28/89)

In article <520@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> seiler@chrpserv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Ed Seiler) writes:
>I have always advised people that they should NEVER have more than one system
>folder on their hard disk, lest mysterious evils befall them. There was a time
>when someone would spend hours tracking down a system bug or crash, only to
>have it disappear when an extra system folder was removed. My question is,
>is it possible to have more than one system folder on a hard disk with 
>absolutely no fear of any problems?

I and some friends of mine have had several system folders on our hard disks
for some years now and we have never had any problem with it. Everybody says
that I should not have several system folders, but I think they do not know
what they are talking about.
To boot from another system folder I do the following:

1. I open the current system folder and drops the finder in a folder I call
   "finder folder". I can put it in any other folder too, but I have a special
   one for this. Now I have no current system folder (no system icon on any 
   system folder).
2. I open the system folder I want to boot from and drops the finder in my
   "finder folder". Observe that I have this "finder folder" in all system
   folders so it is not the same as the one in 1. Then I drag the finder back to
   the system folder again.

Now I have changed system folder! I usually keep the finders in the "finder
folder" except in the current system folder, but it works fine if I do not.
Any comments?

- Martin Carlberg
- Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden