Using Symbolic Links You can move databases or tables from the database directory to other locations and replace them with symbolic links to the new locations. You might want to do this, for example, to move a database to a file system with more free space or increase the speed of your system by spreading your tables to different disks. For  InnoDB  tables, use the  DATA DIRECTORY  clause of the  CREATE TABLE  statement instead of symbolic links, as explained in Section 15.6.1.2, “Creating Tables Externally” . This new feature is a supported, cross-platform technique. The recommended way to do this is to symlink entire database directories to a different disk. Symlink MyISAM  tables only as a last resort. To determine the location of your data directory, use this statement: On Unix, symlink a database using this procedure: Using  CREATE DATABASE  creates the database in the MySQL data directory and permits the server to update the data dictionary with information about the database directory. The command creates a symlink named  mydb1  in the data directory. Symbolic link support as described here, along with the  --symbolic-links option that controls it, and is deprecated; expect these to be be removed in a future version of MySQL. In addition, the option is disabled by default. Symlinks are fully supported only for  MyISAM  tables. For files used by tables for other storage engines, you may get strange problems if you try to use symbolic links. For  InnoDB  tables, use the alternative technique explained in Section 15.6.1.2, “Creating Tables Externally”  instead. Do not symlink tables on systems that do not have a fully operational  realpath()  call. (Linux and Solaris support  realpath() ). To determine whether your system supports symbolic links, check the value of the have_symlink  system variable using this statement: 1833 1. Create the database using  CREATE DATABASE : 2. Stop the server to ensure that no activity occurs in the new database while it is being moved. 3. Move the database directory to some disk where you have free space. For example, use  tar  or  mv . If you use a method that copies rather than moves the database directory, remove the original database directory after copying it. 4. Create a soft link in the data directory to the moved database directory: 5. Restart the server. 8.12.2.2 Using Symbolic Links for MyISAM Tables on Unix Note 8.12.2.1 Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Unix SHOW VARIABLES LIKE ’datadir’; mysql>  CREATE DATABASE mydb1; shell>  ln -s  /path/to/mydb1 /path/to/datadir SHOW VARIABLES LIKE ’have_symlink’;