How can I move my google docs storage?

September 29, 2009 5:38 AM

Is there a way to move Google Docs' offline cache storage to an external card?

I'm using Linux (ubuntu) on a netbook, and I'm conscious that I only have so much space. Thanks!

posted by Sch01ar to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

I don't have a complete answer, but this says where the offline data is stored based on your browser and OS

http://gears.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=79850&topic=13192
posted by abdulf at 5:43 AM on September 29, 2009

Close firefox (I'm assuming that's what you're using)
Pop open a terminal, run the following:
cp -r .mozilla .mozilla-backup (just to be safe)
mv -r .mozilla /media/disk/.mozilla
ln -s /media/disk/.mozilla ~/.mozilla
Reopen firefox

(If your sdcard is named something else, swap that out for disk)

This copies your entire Firefox profile (incl. any Gears data such as your offline storage) to your sdcard, and creates a symbolic link (reference to a file/directory located elsewhere) to it where the original was located.
posted by ConstantineXVI at 6:28 AM on September 29, 2009

I would imagine you could just create a symlink from the appropriate location above to your external card, and it would find it without problems, assuming the card is formatted the same filesystem, supports same permissions, etc.

1) Copy appropriate cache folder to your card, ie /Card/docs-cache
2) remove/rename temporarily your original cache directory
3) ln -s /Card/docs-cache /path/to/original/cache
4) Cross your fingers and try it out
posted by CharlesV42 at 6:29 AM on September 29, 2009

I haven't tried this, but you could probably do either of the following:

1-
move the directory ~/.mozilla/firefox/{YOURPROFILE} to your external storage.
edit the file ~/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini so that the line starting "path=" in the section relating to your profile now points to the correct place.

2-
move the directory ~/.mozilla/ to your external storage.
in a terminal window run the command "ln -s /newlocation/.mozilla ~/"

If you're going to try either of these make sure no mozilla components (firefox, thunderbird etc) are running while you do it.

There is probably a "supported" way do do this via the firefox UI, but I've never looked. If you've already checked all the menu options then type "about: config" into the address bar and look at those settings. But beware, there be dragons there.
posted by samworm at 6:40 AM on September 29, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks! In the end, actually getting the right syntax for the card proved impossible :( What I did was this:

1. created a new user via firefox -ProfileManager, making sure that the new user flies were located on the sd card
2. started firefox, and closed it again (it opened up a 'clean' install)
3. deleted the new profile files and transfered my old, original ones.
4. Re opened firefox; and there was my 'old' install running from the card, saving me 99mb of space!

Thanks all - obviously remember to back up at every stage. I lost one directory of old work files by mistake, and the card locked up on me totally at one point and I had to reformat it in another machine. I kept incremental backups on an external HDD throughout, after I lost that directory.
cheers all!
posted by Sch01ar at 5:35 AM on October 6, 2009