Can "Users" be set up on External HD? (Mac Mini)?

This summer, I got a deal on a PowerPC mini (80gb) and have been happily using it in my home theater for music. Because its convenient, I've also been using it to sync my iPod (64gb... You can see what's going to happen here.

Well, I upgraded to OS5, my Mac Mini is completely filled and I'm dead in the water until my new firewire HD arrives.

I know I can set the new external drive to be the boot drive, but is it possible to set it up so the external only has the "Users" file on it. I'd rather let the Mini do the booting, keeping all the related system stuff separate from the part I'm changing and messing up (all backed up via Time MAchine, of course).

What are the steps to do this, if possible?

Thanx

You might find these directions helpful; OtherWorldComputing.com. You might also want to check out this thread for a discussion of some potential issues Moving whole Users folder to second drive - MacNN Forums

Thank you Sylvester... My HD arrived today and I got it set up without a hitch. At the moment, it's contentedly syncing 14gb of songs with a gazillion gigabytes left over for future who knows what.

Christopher Stevens' article was so clear and concise, I actually managed to do it correctly in one attempt... That's never happened before... Kudos to him... Thanks again... Now bring on the cloud

Glad to know that worked so well. I have not tried it yet but if I ever talk myself into an SSD i'll give it a shot. I thought I might try it with my network drive to have the same user accounts across all machines but I don't think it would mount fast enough when needed.

I put an 80gb SSD into an early Macbook Pro that had been boosted to its limit, hoping the speed increase could stave off the necessity of buying yet another computer (it has). It's been running beautifully for nearly a year, using the SSD for work-in-process and an older non-firewire iBook HD for storage. Alias folder links connect the two without too much difficulty... Now I'm thinking of upgrading to a newer HD and porting the entire users drive over via firewire as per the mini. I haven't used the mini setup long enough to get a handle on all the issues, if any, but so far, its been running everything my home theater needs without any glitches. The internet can be slow, with the wheel of death popping up once in a while for a second or two, but the mini has always had that issue. It would be interesting to see if the firewire can keep up with the SSD. Maybe I'll try it if I can get permission (from the wife).