Can I move Mail databases to free up space on my boot drive?

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Level 1

8 points

Can I move Mail databases to free up space on my boot drive?

Hi All,

I'm using an M1 Mac mini with a 256GB internal drive, and it's getting uncomfortably full (only 15GB space remaining, at the moment).

Mail is the chief space filler, at 25GB. I keep all my mail and attachments, as it's not unusual for me to search even as far back as 1999 for mails and attachments. Can I move any parts of the Mail ecosystem to another drive, to free up space on my internal drive? (such that Mail still sees the moved elements as normal: I can still read them in Mail, and search on them).

I figure symlinks are the way to go, but before I do that, I'd like to see if there is an official way to do this (surely I'm not the only one with this problem!).

Many thanks in advance for any help,

Chas

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Jul 6, 2022 8:00 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MartinR

Level 7

24,330 points

Jul 8, 2022 10:46 AM in response to Barney-15E

Barney-15E wrote:

"The only way to move Mail data storage is to move your entire home directory."

Sorry, but that's not correct.

You can move the Mail folder (~Library/Mail) to another drive with a symlink ... but beginning with Catalina you also have to give Mail "Full Disk Access" or it won't work. I can confirm success with this on multiple Macs on multiple versions of macOS, although I haven't yet tried it on Monterey.

Basic procedure:

Close Mail
Back up your existing Mail folder (~Library/Mail) to an offline disk for safe keeping
In System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Full Disk Access add Mail
Copy your existing Mail folder (~Library/Mail) to another drive. Do not rename it.
Delete the original Mail folder in ~Library. Empty trash.
Create a symlink named Mail in ~Library, pointing to the Mail folder that you copied to the other drive

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,216 points

Jul 6, 2022 6:46 PM in response to chasg

The only way to move Mail data storage is to move your entire home directory.

They eventually added the ability to move your Photos Library and Music Library, so maybe if you send feedback, they'll allow you to move your Mail "library."

Feedback - Mail - Apple

People have tried symlinks in the past and they didn't work.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,216 points

Jul 8, 2022 11:20 AM in response to MartinR

I've seen many report it as failing. It doesn't seem it's worth the problems.

I would more trust moving the home folder, myself.

Moving the Home folder is simple enough, but you have to take some precautions like keeping an admin user account on the startup drive, and making sure the drive is always available.

That second part would apply to the symlink idea, also.

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Answer 4

Ronasara

Level 6

15,519 points

Jul 7, 2022 10:28 AM in response to chasg

I will add that if a HD gets too full the computer can freeze up and stop functioning. You need to get an external drive and move files onto it to clear up the needed space so they can be erased from the HD

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