Moving mods and Sims 4 to external hard drive MAC

[Bluebellflora]

@annakristineb97

Let us know how you get on. It should be easy because you don't have to apply the workaround

[annakristineb97]

I'm not familiar with the term "workaround", so please explain to me what it means

I also didn't quite understand if I should skip all the remaining steps of the instructions and simply change the folder to my external hard drive (the yellow icon)? I was confused about step 5 "Directory" as well. 

Sorry for asking a lot of questions. I really appreciate your help

[Bluebellflora]

@annakristineb97

A workaround is a fix to work around a problem.

You don't need to use the workaround because your external drive is showing right there in the image you posted. Just click on the yellow drive named Toshiba NY and you're done. Or, if you want to install the game in a folder on the external, click on the yellow drive then the folder.

I don't recommend that you create a symlink to store your Sims 4 folder on the external drive. It is a complicated procedure and, if not properly executed, could have unintended consequences that would be hard to reverse.

[annakristineb97]

Thank you for explaining! I managed to successfully move the Electronic Arts folder to my hard drive, but I'm now facing a new problem. When creating the symlink for the Electronic Arts folder, it doesn't say "alias" in my local documents folder as described in the tutorial. 

[annakristineb97]

Sorry, it got changed to "alias" now, so I think it will be working.

[annakristineb97]

I managed to do all the steps, but I'm getting a message when I try to start the game. I get this  message with a different mod every time I try to open the Sims game. Do you know what I can do about this without having to delete all of my mods?

[Bluebellflora]

@annakristineb97

Which instructions did you follow to create the symlink? If it was mine this is covered in the guide, Step 3, point 3. You will need to reformat the drive and start again https://bluebellflora.com/saving-your-sims-4-folder-to-an-external-drive/

[annakristineb97]

I followed yours Yes, I'm aware, but I don't know how to reformat the hard drive? 

Again, thank you for taking the time to respond to all of my newbie questions

[Bluebellflora]

@annakristineb97

Apple has a ton of support articles for how to do stuff in macOS. Formatting drives - https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/disk-utility/dskutl14079/mac

[annakristineb97]

Thank you! I have a lot of important files on my hard drive, and it seems risky to format the drive. I will not take the risk of losing all of my files. Does this mean I won't be able to launch the game at all?