Tim's Technology Gauntlet Wiki

sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
Snapshots for disk /:
com.apple.TimeMachine.2025-12-08-192342.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2025-12-08-202601.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2025-12-08-212950.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2025-12-08-223025.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2025-12-08-233034.local

sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots /
Deleted 23 Time Machine local snapshots for disk '/'

1. Configure Soundflower
   1. Audio MIDI Setup
      1. Add a Multi-Output Device
         1. Add Soundflower (2ch)
         2. Add HDMI
   2. Change speakers to Multi-Output Device
   3. Change Quicktime to Soundflower (2ch) as the input

1. Open Terminal, don't change to root

   1. mkdir -p $HOME/Library/KeyBindings
      echo '{
      /* Remap Home / End keys to be correct */
      "\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfLine:"; /* Home */
      "\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfLine:"; /* End */
      "$\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:"; /* Shift + Home */
      "$\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:"; /* Shift + End */
      "^\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfDocument:"; /* Ctrl + Home */
      "^\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfDocument:"; /* Ctrl + End */
      "$^\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfDocumentAndModifySelection:"; /* Shift + Ctrl + Home */
      "$^\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfDocumentAndModifySelection:"; /* Shift + Ctrl + End */
      }' > $HOME/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict

   2. No need to reboot

Creating a symbolic links (sym link) makes the operating system, or application, think that the file or folder is in a location is it not.
In this example, I am creating sym link to store my email (Thunderbird) files on an external drive. This frees up internal disk space.

1. Backup directory or file to a safe location.
2. Copy the directory or file to an external drive.
3. Double-check the backup is correct.
4. Triple-check the backup is correct, because the next step cannot be undone.
5. Delete the original file or directory.
6. Empty the Recycle Bin.
7. The following example is the exact code I used.

   • sudo ln -s /Volumes/4k-ext/tim/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/bblzz0wg.default-release/ /Users/tim/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/

     • /Volumes/4k-ext is the external drive.
     • /Users/tim/Library is the internal drive.
8. Test.
9. Done.

I have successfully done this for Documents, Pictures, Downloads, Music, and many others. For the folders in my /usr/tim directly, I had to create sub-folders. For example, /usr/tim/Documents is now /usr/tim/Documents/Documents. Where, the latter is a sym link that points to the external drive. I chose not to modify anything in my profile hierachy in case my external drive is not available. I also backup my external drive to a NAS. Finally, my external drive is a 2TB NVMe drive connected to a 10 GB/s USB-C port.