Changing default download folder

[Whizzbizz]

Hello everybody!

There is one thing in Transmission that annoys me every time it comes up again, although this is not Transmission’s fault:
My default download folder for torrents is located on an external firewire disk. Since I can’t keep my computer running at night, Transmission is one of my startup applications.
Now it often happens that Transmission seemingly starts up earlier than the disk is mounted and recognized by the system (?), so Transmission starts asking for a different download location - and not only once, but repeatedly for every active torrent - and this can be a real annoyance, not only because you have to do the assigning for every single torrent, but also because every single torrent has to be re-checked before it’s announced again.

I could write a simple AppleScript delaying Transmission’s startup, but I imagine a workaround that could be arranged by Transmission’s programmers:

Just ask for a change of Transmission’s default download folder and change all torrents’ download location to the new one provided it was their previous download folder.
All torrents not downloading to this location could then be asked for the same way as they are now.

(There’s one thing I also don’t understand: I tried to force quit Transmission when the problem came up again, waited for the disk to mount and then started Transmission again: no change in T's behaviour. Somehing in Transmission’s prefs file? It could perhaps be a MacOS X permission issue, too: when changing the folder it first appeared as locked. Only when I assigned it again starting from the disk’s root, it was accepted by Transmission.)

[Whizzbizz]

Writing my own reply:

Apparently MacOS X often doesn't recignize external Firewire volumes the way it should.

Instead of waiting until the device is mounted properly, it installs a folder with the volume's name PLUS a number in the invisible folder "Volumes" at the root level of your startup disk, (e.g. "MyVolume1" instead of "MyVolume" (which already exists, but is treated like this was a different volume).

Thus, every program trying to access the original volume will try to access it via the "old" folder. But the "old" volume is treated as if it wasn't mounted, thus doesn't exist...

I wrote the following AppleScript to work around the problem:

-------------------
list disks
repeat with i in every item of result
if i contains "YourVolumesName" then
i as string
end if
end repeat
if result is "YourVolumesName" then --has to be the exact name, not only
tell application "Transmission" to activate
else
display dialog "Error finding disk “ YourVolumesName”"
end if
-----------------------
Copy this into Apple's ScriptEditor, replace "YourVolumesName" by the name of your external volume and save the script as an application. You may then replace "Transmission" (or any other torrent client) in your startup items (System Prefs -> Users -> Startup Items) by this little script application.

Easier:
Just use a download folder on your internal disk.

[stephenr]

There is a hidden setting you can change that will make OS X mount external disks at startup, not login.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php? ... 3155828117

Code: Select all

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/autodiskmount AutomountDisksWithoutUserLogin -bool true

[Whizzbizz]

Thank you, I'll try that!

[Whizzbizz]

Seems like it works fine. Thanks again!