domus-semper-palingenesis

External Drive Integration Guide

Current Setup

External Drive: /Volumes/4444-iivii Status: Currently unmounted Auto-Detection: ✅ Enabled in setup script

What Happens When You Connect the Drive

When you connect your external drive, the chezmoi setup script automatically:

1. Creates stable symlink: ~/External → /Volumes/4444-iivii
2. Links workspace: ~/Projects/ivi374 → ~/External/ivi374forivi3ivi3/workspace
3. Links toolchains: ~/.local/share/toolchains → ~/External/ivi374forivi3ivi3/toolchains

These symlinks make paths stable and portable.

Testing the Setup

# 1. Connect your external drive

# 2. Run chezmoi setup (if not auto-run)
chezmoi apply

# 3. Verify symlinks created
ls -la ~/External
ls -la ~/Projects/ivi374
ls -la ~/.local/share/toolchains

# 4. Check drive status
file-org check-external

# 5. Test PATH
echo $PATH | grep toolchains  # Should show toolchains in PATH

Manual Symlink Creation

If auto-detection doesn’t work or you need custom symlinks:

# Main drive symlink
ln -sf /Volumes/4444-iivii ~/External

# Workspace symlink
ln -sf ~/External/ivi374forivi3ivi3/workspace ~/Projects/ivi374

# Toolchains symlink
ln -sf ~/External/ivi374forivi3ivi3/toolchains ~/.local/share/toolchains

# Custom project symlink
ln -sf ~/External/some-project ~/Projects/Active/shortcut-name

PATH Configuration

Your .zshrc is already configured to handle the external drive gracefully:

# Conditional check - doesn't break if drive unmounted
if [ -d "/Volumes/4444-iivii/ivi374forivi3ivi3/toolchains/bin" ]; then
  export PATH="$PATH:/Volumes/4444-iivii/ivi374forivi3ivi3/toolchains/bin"
fi

Troubleshooting

Drive Not Auto-Detected

Problem: Symlinks not created automatically

Solutions:

# Check if drive is mounted
ls /Volumes/

# If mounted at different path, update symlink
rm ~/External
ln -sf /Volumes/ACTUAL-NAME ~/External

# Re-run setup
chezmoi apply

Broken Symlinks

Problem: ls ~/External shows “No such file or directory”

Cause: Drive unmounted (this is normal!)

Fix: Reconnect drive, symlinks will work again

Toolchains Not in PATH

Problem: Commands from toolchains not found

Check:

# 1. Is drive mounted?
file-org check-external

# 2. Does symlink exist?
ls -la ~/.local/share/toolchains

# 3. Is PATH configured?
echo $PATH | grep toolchains

# 4. Reload shell config
source ~/.zshrc

Best Practices

✅ DO:

• Use ~/External instead of /Volumes/4444-iivii in scripts
• Use ~/.local/share/toolchains instead of full external path
• Check if drive mounted before accessing: [ -d ~/External ]
• Document custom symlinks in project manifest

❌ DON’T:

• Hardcode /Volumes/4444-iivii paths
• Assume drive is always mounted
• Delete ~/External symlink (just a pointer, not the actual files)
• Store critical files ONLY on external drive (back up to cloud)

Multiple Machines

If you have multiple machines with the same external drive:

# Machine 1 (MacBook)
ln -sf /Volumes/4444-iivii ~/External

# Machine 2 (iMac) - might mount at different name
ln -sf /Volumes/4444-iivii ~/External  # Same!

# Machine 3 (Linux) - different mount point entirely
ln -sf /media/4444-iivii ~/External    # But ~/External still works!

The symlink approach means your scripts and configs can use ~/External everywhere, regardless of the actual mount point.

Archive Strategy

When archiving projects to external drive:

# 1. Move completed project to external archive
mv ~/Projects/Active/old-project ~/External/Archive/Projects/2024/

# 2. Update project manifest
# Edit: ~/.local/share/file-context/manifests/projects.yaml
# Change status to "archived" and update path

# 3. Optional: Create reference symlink
ln -sf ~/External/Archive/Projects/2024/old-project ~/Projects/Archive/old-project-ref

# 4. Remove from active workspace
# Already done in step 1!

Current External Drive Contents

Based on your .gitconfig and .zshrc:

/Volumes/4444-iivii/
├── ivi374forivi3ivi3/
│   ├── workspace/          → ~/Projects/ivi374 (symlink)
│   └── toolchains/         → ~/.local/share/toolchains (symlink)
│       └── bin/           → Added to PATH
└── (other folders)

Safe directories configured in git:

• /Volumes/4444-iivii
• /Volumes/4444-iivii/ivi374forivi3ivi3/workspace
• /Volumes/4444-iivii/ivi374forivi3ivi3

Next Steps

1. Connect your drive - Symlinks will auto-create
2. Verify with: file-org check-external
3. Test PATH: echo $PATH | grep toolchains
4. Document custom links - Add to project manifest if you create more

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