How I Solved My "Can't Import My Home Folder" Problem While Staying Sane

This may be a well-known work-around for Time Machine and Migration Assistant, but I didn't find any reference to it in searching in Google (which included some threads here), so I thought I'd post it in case anyone else is experiencing similar problems.
I was having problems with some program install permissions and tried fixing them in more traditional ways without success, so I decided it was a good day for an Erase and Reinstall of Leopard.
I didn't want to copy my entire Home directory's contents and I have 6 HDs (four internal and two external) totaling about 1.5TBs. So, to prepare for the reinstall, rather than use Backup, I copied all important files to my other drives and then I copied my Home directory to another drive in the machine. Satisfied that everything was backed-up, I reinstalled Leopard using the Erase and Install option and soon had a good system, fully updated.
However, when I went to copy the Home Directory I kept getting errors saying that I can't alter these files and folders, even when I drilled down into the subdirectories. I didn't try copying individual files, but then I had no desire to do so given the amount of time that would take.
I looked around but could find no good solution. However, I did come up with a workaround and this is what I did:
First, I moved my Home Folder designation to the one on the backup hard drive by:
1) Go to System Preferences
2) Click the lock to make changes and enter your user password
3) Right-Click on your User Account and select "Advanced Options"
4) From the drop-down window, to the right of the "Home Directory" box select "Choose..."
5) Navigate to the backup User Account home folder and select it and click "OK
6) Relock the Accounts pane
7) Now you can delete the "old" Home Folder under your OS drive: Users/user account
8) Now just copy the backed-up Home Folder (that is now your real Home Folder) to the OS drive: Users/user account
9) Repeat steps2, 3 and 4, this time selecting your now moved Home Folder in the OS drive: Users/user account
10) Now you can delete the backup or keep it AS a backup.
I know this is a kludgey, wrong way to do backup and that Backup is the way to go, but for those out there who don't do it or have some problem restoring it, this is a possible way around so that you don't end up having to restore everything by hand.
This workaround may have already been discussed and well-known, but I had not seen it and am posting this in the hopes that it will help someone in trouble.
JoeL

joeldm,
There is a "proper" way to do what you have done. First, one must create an account within the new installation using the exact same username and short name that was used in the old installation. Then, one enables the "root" account and logs in as root.
Within the root account, the local HOME folder that was created for the user is placed in the trash, then replaced with a (same-named) copy from the backup. THat HOME folder copy will be onwed by root, so this command must be run in Terminal:
<pre style="overflow:auto; font-family: 'Monaco'; font-size: 10px">chown -R username:staff /Users/username</pre>
In the above command, all instances of "username" are replaced with the user's short name. For example, if the user's name is "fred," the command would be typed exactly like this:
<pre style="overflow:auto; font-family: 'Monaco'; font-size: 10px">chown -R fred:staff /Users/fred</pre>
The command is executed when <RETURN> is pressed. NOTE: The specific command listed above applies only to 10.5.
One would then log out of the "root" account, and into the account in question. If all seems well, one would log back into the root account, empty the trash, then log out of and disable the root account.
Alternatively, if there is a Time Machine backup that can be used, the Time Machine interface can be used in the root account to replace the trashed HOME folder, instead of copying manually in the Finder. This would generally be a better method to use, if possible.
Scott
EDIT: If one wishes to replace/restore only certain portions of a HOME folder, this is possible. The same methods would apply to only limited segments within a HOME folder. -s

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Message was edited by: Daniel Worley

Daniel Worley wrote:
How can I create an alias of the Home Folder (User Folder) to put on the desktop?
select that folder in finder and commandoptiondrag it to the desktop.
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Message was edited by: Daniel Worley

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