Unable to Create SymLinks

Question

Created Jul ’19

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In previous version of OS X I created symlinks to move ios backups in iTunes to an external harddrive. It appears that the installation of Catalina is having problems with this approach.

I tried to create the symlink in Catalina but am getting the following

─➤ sudo ln -s /Volumes/Data HD/ios_backups ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup 1 ↵

Password:

ln: /Users/kobrien/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/Data: Operation not permitted

I tried changing the permissions of the MobileSync directory but it won't allow that either.

─➤ sudo chmod 777 MobileSync 1 ↵

chmod: Unable to change file mode on MobileSync: Operation not permitted

Current permission on the directory.

rwxr-xr-x 2 user1 staff 64 Jul 7 13:13 MobileSync

Interestingly it won't even let me do a

╰─➤ ls -la MobileSync 1 ↵

ls: MobileSync: Operation not permitted

I was able to do a ls -la on the parent dir.

Does this have something to do with SIP? Has anyone been able to move their iTunes backup folder under Catalina??

Thanks in advance.

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Answer 1

sebeck OP

Jul ’19

Ok I think I understand the problem. It appears that Catalina has creates two APFS containers on the main hard drive. It moves the System related files to a protected container and has a separate container for Data. Is there a way to build a symlink from inside a container to an external drive?

Bottom line is that I am trying to move the ios backup files from the main HD to an external drive. Building a symlink used to work in previous version but doesn't seem to work in Catalina.

Does anyone have a possible solution or workaround?

0

Answer 2

z3n0 OP

Jul ’20

I solide like this:

Open Terminal
Go to your Desktop path
create sym link from external disk path to your desktop
Open Finder of your desktop path
Open another Finder windows and go to: ~/Libreria/Application Support/MobileSync/
Drag your symbolik link from Desktop to MobileSync
Done :)

0

Answer 3

Cyril-onMacOS OP

Oct ’20

Hello,
You just need to allow Terminal app to perform such modifications.

I've tried the following and it worked like a charm 😇:

Pull down the  Apple menu and choose ‘System Preferences’
Choose “Security & Privacy” control panel
Now select the “Privacy” tab, then from the left-side menu select “Full Disk Access”
Click the lock icon in the lower left corner of the preference panel and authenticate with an admin level login
Now click the [+] plus button to add Terminal application with full disk access,(App to fetch from Application folder).
Enjoy a break

2