Install on SSD

Larry Good said:

I am going to purchase an SSD for my Mac Pro Server for the purpose of Logos 4 Databases.

How do I direct Logos 4 to intall and update my resources and programs on a particular drive?

It's easy, if you approach it a different way and think outside the box.

I am running my Logos 4 with the whole database (not the application at this time) on an SSD on a Mac Pro.

Instead of trying to do all manner of fiddly things to try and get Logos to install into an alternate folder from the default which is this,

[code] ~/Libary/Application Support/Logos4 [/code]

On the Mac (which is at heart a Unix machine) simply use a soft symbolic link 

[code] lrwxr-xr-x   1 Patrick  staff     20 Dec 29 17:15 Logos4 -> /Volumes/SSD/Logos4/ [/code]

I have had it running that way since Christmas (when I got the SSD drive [Y])

How to do:

1. Install the SSD drive of course
2. Make sure NO Logos programs (main or indexer) are running
3. If you have existing Logos install rename the ~/Libary/Application Support/Logos4 folder to something else. Being cautious I did not delete it because if everything fails you can simply go back to the original (data) installation
4. Make a folder called 'Logos4' on the SSD drive. I put mine in the root
5. In terminal (you need to be reasonably comfortable using terminal and Unix command prompt) go to folder ~/Libary/Application Support. The " ~"  means your home folder.
6. Make a soft symbolic link to the folder on SSD.

To make a symbolic link use the 'ln' command (you can search for details on the command), it will have this syntax

[code] ln -s /existing/directory /sym/link/to/that/dir [/code]

For my case, from the ~/Libary/Application Support folder, I executed this command

[code] ln -s Logos4 /Volumes/SSD/Logos4 [/code]

It is "/Volumes/SSD/" because that is how OS X refers to the mount points of storage devices, they are all listed in the folder "/Volumes".

It's not hard.

I didn't do it from initial installation so can't comment on that, it should work that if you create the folder on the SSD drive and the symbolic link that Logos installer will see the existing folder (and not create it again) and install the data files onto the SSD drive, but again don't have direct experience.

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

For technically inclined, discussion can include link (soft vis hard)

This technically inclined advises that... hard links are not supported.

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

For technically inclined... Wiki page Mac Troubleshooting

Who maintains this Wiki, can anyone add content?

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

Caution: example symbolic link can be broken by accidently renaming SSD volume (i.e. link path is not updated if volume renamed).

Yarrr - Prov. 22:13. How often do you go renaming volumes [:P] Also if someone has done something at this level they're going to know what they are doing.

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

Patrick S. said:

This technically inclined advises that... hard links are not supported.

Time Machine (Mac OS X Leopard) uses hard links => http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/road_to_mac_os_x_leopard_time_machine.html&page=3

Yarrr - nice piece of information, but not relevant as we are talking about folders, and hard links are not supported for folders, only files.

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

Patrick S. said:

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

Patrick S. said:

This technically inclined advises that... hard links are not supported.

Time Machine (Mac OS X Leopard) uses hard links => http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/road_to_mac_os_x_leopard_time_machine.html&page=3

Yarrr - nice piece of information, but not relevant as we are talking about folders, and hard links are not supported for folders, only files.

Living and learning (can hard link folders in Mac OS X) => http://stackoverflow.com/questions/80875/what-is-the-bash-command-to-create-a-hardlink-to-a-directory-in-os-x

Yarrr - living and learning the hard way when the C program necessary to do it (and wrongly typed by someone who doesn't know better) fries your HDD. 

Or, as the article you linked to, said about hard links to folders:

[quote]

Yes it's supported by the kernel and the filesystem, but since it's not intended for general usage it's not exposed to the shell.

You could probably work out which APIs Time Machine uses and wrap them in a commandline tool, but it'd be better to take the hint and steer well-clear.

Which basically says... in this case Prov. 22:13 is wrong, and there really is a lion outside the door.

Apple might have gurus smart enough to go above the Unix core - but I don't think you or I fit into that category. And I'm sure Mr Larry don't wanna go there.

Trust me Larry, "ln -s" is your friend.

p.s. Hey this exchange is bumping up my post count. Soon I'll have one of them purty little stars under my name [;)]

p.p.s. But KSFJ knows I'm only joshing.

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

Logos public relations sends email MVP invitations to selected users...

Well drat,  that sinks me, especially if certain Logos staff are on the approvals committee [:S] I ask too many 'uncomfortable' questions.

But I'm still buying Logos titles and am ever hopeful.

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

Having an optional Logos 4 Mac installer that would allow customized placement of Logos 4 folder could be useful. 

I agree

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

...diagnostic logging enabler and disabler apple scripts.

Now where did I read that...

p.s. Into beautiful ancient Christian music? http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hildegard-von-bingen-canticles/id258630580

Hi - you'll have to forgive KSFJ, he and I have good hearted dueling forums postings from time to time.

You're absolutely right (in both our opinions) I think — it would be nice if Logos built this into the application. We can just trust they see the request.

In the meantime — if you haven't done it and are interested — I can confirm that the way I described works seamlessly and I get about a 10-20% improvement in speed for Logos 4 Mac on my older Mac Pro having the database be on an SSD drive.

Good luck

Larry Good said:

I am still somewhat dumbfounded as to why Logos 4 does not support alternate install locations in OSX. 

One to take up with Logos [;)]

Larry Good said:

The alias will still work. Magical, isn't it? If you try that in Windows, it won't. Make a shortcut to a file on a Windows computer. Move the original. The shortcut is now broken.

This magic works because on an HFS disk, there are two ways to find a file. You can find it by its path or you can find it by its unique number. Either way will work. When you click on an alias, the computer tries to find the file by its path. If it can't, it finds the file by its unique number. Other operating systems resolve links by the file's path only. If you move the file, the path changes and the link breaks.

Yep, the inode (or index) number of the file. Functionality which has been in Unix/Linux (and OS X) filesystems since day dot. Just another proof that, even after all this time, Unix/Linux has a better fundamental design and structure than Windows.

Patrick,

Forgive me if this is a dumb question. But do you copy the /Library/Application Support/Logos4 folder to the SSD? Or is this automated with the command in terminal? I just got an SSD 24gig Expresscard34 and want to move Logos database files there at an attempt to speed up access. I am thinking about using it for my Photoshop scratch disk. Thanks.

Patrick S. said:

Larry Good said:

I am going to purchase an SSD for my Mac Pro Server for the purpose of Logos 4 Databases.

How do I direct Logos 4 to intall and update my resources and programs on a particular drive?

It's easy, if you approach it a different way and think outside the box.

I am running my Logos 4 with the whole database (not the application at this time) on an SSD on a Mac Pro.

Instead of trying to do all manner of fiddly things to try and get Logos to install into an alternate folder from the default which is this,

 

 ~/Libary/Application Support/Logos4 

On the Mac (which is at heart a Unix machine) simply use a soft symbolic link 

 lrwxr-xr-x   1 Patrick  staff     20 Dec 29 17:15 Logos4 -> /Volumes/SSD/Logos4/ 

I have had it running that way since Christmas (when I got the SSD drive )

How to do:

1. Install the SSD drive of course
2. Make sure NO Logos programs (main or indexer) are running
3. If you have existing Logos install rename the ~/Libary/Application Support/Logos4 folder to something else. Being cautious I did not delete it because if everything fails you can simply go back to the original (data) installation
4. Make a folder called 'Logos4' on the SSD drive. I put mine in the root
5. In terminal (you need to be reasonably comfortable using terminal and Unix command prompt) go to folder ~/Libary/Application Support. The " ~"  means your home folder.
6. Make a soft symbolic link to the folder on SSD.

To make a symbolic link use the 'ln' command (you can search for details on the command), it will have this syntax

 ln -s /existing/directory /sym/link/to/that/dir 

For my case, from the ~/Libary/Application Support folder, I executed this command

 ln -s Logos4 /Volumes/SSD/Logos4 

It is "/Volumes/SSD/" because that is how OS X refers to the mount points of storage devices, they are all listed in the folder "/Volumes".

It's not hard.

I didn't do it from initial installation so can't comment on that, it should work that if you create the folder on the SSD drive and the symbolic link that Logos installer will see the existing folder (and not create it again) and install the data files onto the SSD drive, but again don't have direct experience.

" rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus said:

Dewayne Davis said:

Forgive me if this is a dumb question. But do you copy the /Library/Application Support/Logos4 folder to the SSD?

Patrick S. said:

How to do:

1. Install the SSD drive of course
2. Make sure NO Logos programs (main or indexer) are running
3. If you have existing Logos install rename the ~/Libary/Application Support/Logos4 folder to something else. Being cautious I did not delete it because if everything fails you can simply go back to the original (data) installation
4. Make a folder called 'Logos4' on the SSD drive. I put mine in the root
5. In terminal (you need to be reasonably comfortable using terminal and Unix command prompt) go to folder ~/Libary/Application Support. The " ~"  means your home folder.
6. Make a soft symbolic link to the folder on SSD.

Step 4a could be added to copy from renamed Logos4 folder (in ~/Libary/Application Support) to SSD drive.

Dewayne Davis said:

Or is this automated with the command in terminal?

The link (ln) command does not copy anything (ln -s creates a symbolic file path redirection; takes longer to type command than to run it).

Keep Smiling

One more thing. If I rename the Logos folder in the ~/Library/Application Support/Logos4 folder, how is the In -s Logos4 command going to work, since the folder is no longer there? Or does this even matter since it is only a link?

And, how do I remove the soft link and go back if I so choose?

Hi

I see that my command example in my first post was back to front - sorry my bad.

Here's the logic of what you are going to do:

1. Rename the existing Logos4 folder in ~/Libary/Application Support/ to something else using the mv command.
2. Go to the root of your SSD drive and mkdir a 'physical' folder called Logos4 - so now you have empty folder there.
3. Go back to ~/Libary/Application Support/ and you are going to make a soft (symbolic) link to the physical folder (remember we have already renamed the original.
   
   Command is ln -s /existing/directory /sym/link/to/that/dir so in your case
   
   ln -s /Volumes/Filemate/Logos4 Logos4  
4. From ~/Libary/Application Support/ folder do a ls -la you should see output Logos4 -> /Volumes/Filemate/Logos4/
5. Once you confirmed that in folder ~/Libary/Application Support/ you have a soft link folder Logos4 pointing to the folder on SSD drive then you can copy (or move if you are brave) all the folders and files from the old (renamed) Logos4 folder to the new one on the SSD drive.

Again sorry for getting command example back to front, was a while since I did it.

Let me know how you go.

Dewayne Davis said:

Patrick S. said:

Hi

I see that my command example in my first post was back to front - sorry my bad.

Here's the logic of what you are going to do:

1. Rename the existing Logos4 folder in ~/Libary/Application Support/ to something else using the mv command.
2. Go to the root of your SSD drive and mkdir a 'physical' folder called Logos4 - so now you have empty folder there.
3. Go back to ~/Libary/Application Support/ and you are going to make a soft (symbolic) link to the physical folder (remember we have already renamed the original.
   
   Command is ln -s /existing/directory /sym/link/to/that/dir so in your case
   
   ln -s /Volumes/Filemate/Logos4 Logos4  
4. From ~/Libary/Application Support/ folder do a ls -la you should see output Logos4 -> /Volumes/Filemate/Logos4/
5. Once you confirmed that in folder ~/Libary/Application Support/ you have a soft link folder Logos4 pointing to the folder on SSD drive then you can copy (or move if you are brave) all the folders and files from the old (renamed) Logos4 folder to the new one on the SSD drive.

Again sorry for getting command example back to front, was a while since I did it.

Let me know how you go.

Before I do this, can I simply delete the link I made in the finder? Or do I need to use terminal commands?

Upon further reading, I see that you are doing all this in terminal. Is doing these things in the finder a no-no?

Patrick,

Now that it is reversed, it actually makes sense. It all went perfect. Thank you so much.

Patrick S. said:

Dewayne Davis said:

Before I do this, can I simply delete the link I made in the finder? Or do I need to use terminal commands?

To be honest I would do in the terminal

Here is page with info on removing soft links 

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-remove-delete-symbolic-softlink-command/

There are two key things you need to remember!

• Where are you in the folder structure
• What are you creating or deleting

If you are not a regular user of the terminal pls follow the philosophy - measure twice, cut once. Meaning you can do a lot of damage in the terminal, Unix will do what you tell it to - be sure of what you are saying. Always know what folder you are in.

OK 

1. Go to your SSD drive (you called the SSD drive volume 'Filemate' yes? Command is
   cd /Volumes/Filemate/
2. Do a file listing
   ls -la 
3. You should see something like the Logos4 symbolic folder pointing to the actual folder
4. FROM THE FOLDER /Volumes/Filemate (you can check with the 'pwd' command) remove the symbolic link
   rm Logos4
5. Create a physical folder
   mkdir Logos4
6. Do a list to check
   ls -la
7. Navigate back to the Logos 4 folder on your HDD
   cd           (this by itself should take you back to your user home folder)
   cd Library/Application\ Support/      (a tip! type cd then space then Lib and press [Tab] it will fill out to Library/ then type Applic then [Tab] again
8. Do listing!
   ls -la      (you should see - depending on what you have already done - the Logos4 folder or the renamed Logos4 folder). 
9. LET'S ASSUME you have renamed the installed Logos4 folder to z_Logos4, you will see listing for z_Logos4 but nothing for Logos4. (if you haven't renamed original install folder you can do so in Finder and return here). 
10. Now we will create symbolic link
    ln -s /Volumes/Filemate/Logos4 Logos4
11. Do listing, ls -la, you should see like this...
     Logos4 -> /Volumes/Filemate/Logos4/

That will mean that you have a symbolic link for Logos4 in the ~/Library/Application Support/ folder (~ means your home folder) which points to the physical folder on your SSD.

Then you can copy across all folders & files from the old Logos4 folder to the new one on the SSD.

p.s.

This command executed from the OLD Logos4 folder should copy all the files and folders to the new folder on the SSD drive. Info link for copy command

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/copy-command/

 

 cp -pR * /Volumes/Filemate/Logos4

it means, copy all files & folders (*) recursively (R) preserving file permissions (p) to the named folder.

Please carefully check command before executing!

Well, I installed to the SSD, but found out that 24 gigs isn't big enough. The first time I had a book update, it had to index. But the indexer kept crashing due to insufficient disk space. So I put it back as it was. It is really already more than acceptable anyway. It was a fun adventure. And I learned a little.

Larry Good said:

All I can say is Logos  should take to heart the motto "It Just Works" when it comes to installing the application where ever the user wishes.

I did successfully install Logos 4 on an SSD today, but I sympathize with any  end user who has to take  all the steps that are detailed on the various posts on this topic.

Really, it's just not acceptable in the current motif that modern computing environments enable

I agree — point is though there are two topics really:

• Logos enhancing the product so that users can choose during (and after) installation where they wish to store data files. If you want that then the thing to do is to put it officially on the Logos wish list.
• In the meantime helping each other out so that we can use facilities in OS X (Unix) to work around the limitation and hopefully achieve better performance.

The second option does require some usage of the OS X (Unix) command line but with detailed instructions it's doable.

Dewayne Davis said:

Another update. I decided to create (3) soft links for index folders and resource folder. I will see what happens next time it needs to index. So far so good. I think I can tell a difference while scrolling in chapter to chapter transitions. They seem to be almost without hesitation.

Well the time came to index, and sure enough, still not enough room. However, I found a rather quick workaround. I drug the two softlinks to the desktop and renamed the two index folders. Then I started Logos and let it index. It reads the books from the SSD and creates the index internally. Once complete, I just drug the two index folders to the SSD, replacing the outdated ones. Then I renamed the folders "old" again, drug the softlinks back in place and done! Not a bad workaround.