Best way to reinstall MAC OS X?

Neo87

Member
Yes, hello. I'm more of a newbie when it comes to reinstalling the MAC OS operating system on the MAC. Is it similar to the PC.
Any steps on h ow to do this, would really appreciate it. Backing up all my stuff that' s on my MAC. Any suggestions on how to go about please feel free to post. Thanks a lot.
 
Re: Best way to reinstall MAC OS X?

You can use SuperDuper! to clone your first (startup) hard drive on your Mac to a second hard drive (internal or external).

Then detach the firewire drive if the second/backup is on an external drive.

Then put in the Mac OS X install CD/DVD and boot from that, and choose a method of install. The cleanest would be to do a fresh install, and re-install vital apps or use Migration Assistant in /Utilities folder on hard drive. Some have tried to upgrade previous installs with varying success. Some are successful with no problems, some have problems and have to go back and try a different install method (Clean Install, Archive & Install, or Upgrade).

Don
 
Re: Best way to reinstall MAC OS X?

Thanks for that last posts Don. If I decide to do a clean install; obviously I'll lose my files that are stored on my hard drive or desktop, right?
 
Re: Best way to reinstall MAC OS X?

Not if you back them up first. Clone drive 1 to drive 2 with SuperDuper (I actually use PSyncX, but whichever you use, make sure you can boot from the clone which is on the 2nd hard drive. Go to System Preferences > Startup Disk, choose OS on drive 2, and reboot. If it boots up fine and the apps work fine, then you got a good clone and you can now go to System Preferences > Startup Disk, choose OS on drive 1, and reboot into drive 1 to do the clean install).

Then clean install drive 1 using the OS X Install CD's or DVD. Then either manually drag stuff from drive 2's desktop (to get to desktop on drive 2, double-cick on drive 2, click on Users, click on Username, click on Desktop, and drive 2's desktop files will be seen. Try it before you wipe drive 1 and install new OS on drive 1, just to make sure you know where it is), or use Migration Assistant.app in /Utilities to move stuff from the old OS on drive 2 to the new OS on drive 1

Note: The slash stands for the root of the drive. In other words, what you see when you double-click on a drive icon on your desktop and it gives you a new window showing what is on the drive, it's showing you the folders on the root of your drive, or /. So Applications folder would be shown to be at /Applications, or Applications at the root level. There is also Applications at the User level, or /User/Username/Applications. Applications installed at the user level are only available to be used by that user. Applications installed at the root level can be used by every user of the machine.

Don
 
Re: Best way to reinstall MAC OS X?

No problem here so far. Leopard runs smooth on Intel White iMac 20" with all CS3 and Quark 7.3 installed.
All Adobe stuff is fine with L except Acrobat 8 and Video/Audio apps, which are NOT compatible.
 

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