Have you tried the command "useradd" or "adduser", using the option -d

Here is an example

   useradd -d /mybigdisk/user1 user1

It will put that users home area in that area.
It will also copy everything over and setup permissions correctly.

As for the /home directory being there even though you didn't tell it to 
  make one, that is one of the basic directories that get's created 
every time you do an install.  It's been that way for at least 10 years 
that I know of.

Troy

Larry Linder wrote:
> There is a problem with installing new users in a directory other than /home
> Most of us work from our home directory some use a meg and some use many G.
> 
> In our scheme to isolate users from OS's we have a number of large disk set up 
> as  engr1, engr2, engrnn.   A number of users have their login directory in 
> something other than /home.
> 
> Red Hat some how got this messed up.
> 
> If you install it, login as root, make a new user account that is like the old 
> account.   /engr10/users/llinder.  you will not be able to login as linder.
> Not only that if you use the new user GUI and remove a user it will remove the 
> users directory that it couldn't find for a login !!!!
> 
> The message you get is totally bogus.
> 
> " Your home directory is listed as 
> '/engr/users/llinder'  
> but it does not appear to exist.  Do you want to 
> login with /root directory?
> It unlikely anything will work . . .
> unless you use a failsafe
> 					no 	yes
> 
> "
> To prove the point I added a new user "bogus" and it a / home/bogus  directory 
> was created.  Interesting because there was never a /home directory set up 
> during an install.  So where is this magic /home directory.
> 
> It looks like to use SL you have to assign a Tera byte drives to /home and let 
> the garbage pile up, Without much hope of doing an intelligent back up
> 
> What we are planning to do till we can get this sorted out is to install Open 
> Suse 9.3   as 10.3  screwed up with LVM trash.
> 
> Larry Linder


-- 
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Troy Dawson  [log in to unmask]  (630)840-6468
Fermilab  ComputingDivision/LSCS/CSI/USS Group
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