About reinstalling Leopard

I installed Leopard over Tiger; nor too bad, and neither too well, so I want to reinstall from zero. My doubts are: If I reinstall ,but I copy the preferences and the entire Library as they are now, is it good enough or should I start completly from zero?
Regards
Guillermo

Hello guiller:
I suggest that you archive and install:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
That will install a fresh OS X (updating necessary by using software update) while preserving your files, programs, and settings. I always recommend a good backup/restore strategy before any software changes.
Barry

Similar Messages

  • Question about reinstalling Leopard

    I just did an erase and install of Leopard... but I made the mistake of using Monolingual to remove every language but English... a mistake because now I cannot upgrade Office (and from what I've been reading also some Adobe apps).
    My question is this... can I just run the install of leopard again and not lose data, settings etc in all my apps? And what about the apps like Photoshop, iWork, and Office that had to be installed manually... will they still be in in working order after a re-install?
    thanks,
    tom

    No, reinstalling OS X won't help because it does not affect Office or Adobe products. You have to uninstall Office and all the Adobe applications. Then reinstall them from their respective installer discs. You will then be able to upgrade them.
    Uninstalling Software: The Basics
    Most OS X applications are completely self-contained "packages" that can be uninstalled by simply dragging the application to the Trash. Applications may create preference files that are stored in the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder. Although they do nothing once you delete the associated application, they do take up some disk space. If you want you can look for them in the above location and delete them, too.
    Some applications may install an uninstaller program that can be used to remove the application. In some cases the uninstaller may be part of the application's installer, and is invoked by clicking on a Customize button that will appear during the install process.
    Some applications may install components in the /Home/Library/Applications Support/ folder. You can also check there to see if the application has created a folder. You can also delete the folder that's in the Applications Support folder. Again, they don't do anything but take up disk space once the application is trashed.
    Some applications may install a startupitem or a Log In item. Startupitems are usually installed in the /Library/StartupItems/ folder and less often in the /Home/Library/StartupItems/ folder. Log In Items are set in the Accounts preferences. Open System Preferences, click on the Accounts icon, then click on the LogIn Items tab. Locate the item in the list for the application you want to remove and click on the "-" button to delete it from the list.
    Some software use startup daemons or agents that are a new feature of the OS. Look for them in /Library/LaunchAgents/ and /Library/LaunchDaemons/ or in /Home/Library/LaunchAgents/.
    If an application installs any other files the best way to track them down is to do a Finder search using the application name or the developer name as the search term. Unfortunately Spotlight will not look in certain folders by default. You can modify Spotlight's behavior or use a third-party search utility, Easy Find, instead. Download Easy Find at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
    Some applications install a receipt in the /Library/Receipts/ folder. Usually with the same name as the program or the developer. The item generally has a ".pkg" extension. Be sure you also delete this item as some programs use it to determine if it's already installed.
    There are also several shareware utilities that can uninstall applications:
    AppZapper
    CleanApp
    Yank
    SuperPop
    Uninstaller
    Spring Cleaning
    Look for them at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
    For more information visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on removing software.

  • Boot Camp wont Partition- Worried about reinstalling Leopard from backup

    Hello, I have been unable to create a partition through Boot Camp on my HD so that I can install Windows 7. I keep getting the error message: Cannot be partitioned because some of the files cannot be removed. I have ran Disk Utility and verified and repaired permissions, as well as verify and repair disk. I also ran disk utility via booting from the Leopard install disk. I have Onyx and ran all maintenance/cleaning options. So after researching it seems that the only solution is to backup with Time Machine, reinstall the OS and restore from the backup. If I do this, what is going to happen to all of my 3rd party applications/settings? Will the time machine backup save EVERYTHING and bring my MBP back to its identical state before the reinstallation, or will I have to reinstall all of my 3rd party applications (logic studio, Reason, Ableton Live, etc..)???
    Thanks for the help!

    Try iDefrag (www.coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag.php). I was having the same issue and before backing up and restoring I tried defragging the drive (first time ever). It comes with a utility to create a boot disk and after running its process I was able to create a new partition through Boot Camp.
    Back up your data first just in case anyway. I had no problems at all but you never know what might happen.
    Hope this helps.

  • Question about reinstalling leopard from a multi-user disc.

    I upgraded to leopard and my my pro tools recording setup ceases to work, so i need to downgrade to tiger for a while until Digidesign supports Leopard. My problem lies in the fact that me and my buddies bought the five user pack, now... if i try to install the disc again when it is supported, will I run into problems being able to install it, or will my computer somehow already be registered as having used the disc before? AND I lost my tiger disc, so is it possible to use someone else's tiger disc to downgrade, or can I do it without a disc?

    The Mac OS X client installation package does not contain any copyright protection mechanism, such as serial number verification or machine tracking.
    (27953)

  • Issues with Finder - reinstalling Leopard???

    Hi,
    I'm having some issues with Finder. Sometimes, when I restart the computer, it takes a long time to start Finder. Besides that, every time I want to eject my Time Machine external HD, I need to relaunch Finder. If I don't relaunch it, it never ejects the TM HD.
    Would you recommend reinstalling Leopard, but using the feature to erase everything? When I installed it, I didn't use that feature because I wanted my files/previous programs the way they were before. With a new installation (erasing everything), I'd have to install and configure so many things again and I didn't want that. But now, because of the issues with Finder, I'm thinking about reinstalling Leopard.
    Any suggestions?
    Cheers,
    Mike

    Before you do anything drastic, repost your question in the Finder/Dock forum.
    No, I am not being sarcastic - but you might find that it's a common problem and others over in that forum have a solution or else it might simply be an "issue" that a reinstall will not fix.
    It would be annoying if you reinstalled Leopard and it didn't install properly.
    Until you are sure about the Finder "issue" leave it alone for now.
    Here's the Finder/Dock forum location:
    http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1221
    And good luck.

  • Issues with Finder - reinstall Leopard???

    Hi,
    I'm having some issues with Finder. Sometimes, when I restart the computer, it takes a long time to start Finder. Besides that, every time I want to eject my Time Machine external HD, I need to relaunch Finder. If I don't relaunch it, it never ejects the TM HD.
    Would you recommend reinstalling Leopard, but using the feature to erase everything? When I installed it, I didn't use that feature because I wanted my files/previous programs the way they were before. With a new installation (erasing everything), I'd have to install and configure so many things again and I didn't want that. But now, because of the issues with Finder, I'm thinking about reinstalling Leopard.
    Any suggestions?
    Cheers,
    Mike

    Besides that, every time I want to eject my Time Machine external HD, I need to relaunch Finder.
    I haven't used Time Machine, but I wonder if you can temporarily turn it off so you can dismount your external hard drive. Note while your external hard drive that Time Machine is dependent on is not connected, anything you do will not appear on Time Machine, since it is reliant on that external hard drive for source information. The only question I would have, is if you remounted the hard drive is whether Time Machine would be able to recognize what it has backed up to it already?
    Reinstalling Leopard shouldn't be necessary. I would also try to see if you are running low on disk space. Tell us how much space you have free on both internal and external drive out of how much space total?

  • URGENT Trying to wipe and reinstall Leopard 10.5 on my 2008 imac8,1 from the disk but my hard drive doesn't show up

    So to give a little big of a background on my computer.  I got it January 2009 as a graduation gift, because I was going to get a degree in Graphic Design and Animation.  I only worked on it [mostly brousing the web, and itunes]  for about 6 months because I was taking all of my general courses for college.  I then met my boyfriend [late 2009] and moved in with him, my boyfriend has a macbook so I left my mac at my parents house.  I was only Using it every now and then and it would be idle/ or shut off the rest of the time. 
    Fast forward to fall 2011.  Me and my boyfriend live in a condo so I brought my computer over because I am now taking graphic design courses and need my computer.  I installed a free 30 day trial of adobe cs5.5.  It made my computer kind of slow and it froze alot even though I still have over 250gb's of memory in it.  After the trial ended I kind of stoped using my computer again,  rather installing the free trials of cs5.5 on my mom and my boyfriends macs until I had enought money saved up to buy it.
    Here's where it gets tricky.
    So now its March 2012 and I tried uninstalling the trial of cs5.5 on my computer since it was just taking up un needed space.  I had to uninstall all of the programs one at a time other wise it would freeze up.  I have had to hold the power button down to get it to turn off because i couldn't even move the mouse even after waiting a while.  Anyhow I get to the last program and it keeps freezing, I tried shutting down my computer via<apple< shut down. But when I start it up again I got a file with a question mark flashing on my screen.  So I looked up how to fix that and had to locate where to start up [I selected my hard drive] then I was able to get on to my computer.      
    So then I go to disk utilitys and do a repair on my internal hard drive to fix if there were any messed up files. After the files are repaired I figure I'll restart it and let everything get up to date.  When I do I get the gray screen with the apple and the spinning wheel.  This happens OVER and OVER.  I tried soft reseting it, manually turning off the computer, you name it.  But it still keeps happening.  So I figure I'll just wipe it clean and reinstall the whole thing. [I have it backed up on an external drive]
    I try to reinstall leopard 10.5 from the disk that came with my computer, all goes well until I gets to the 3rd screen where you select where to save it to, my hard drive doesn't show up.  But if I connect my external hard drive it shows up right away.  I try seeing if it pops up on disk utility, and it doesn't show up there either. 
    Is it possible that my hard drive is shot?  I haven't really used my computer that much.  Its pretty much sat at my parents house for 2 of the 3 years I've had it.  So its not like I used it a whole lot. 
    Help! I'm a college student who needs her mac now more than ever for my design classes!

    The battery alone is a $5 to $15 part.  Hard drives vary in cost, and depending on the iMac, they may or may not be able to install a third party hard drive, or one resold through Apple.    The resold through Apple drives tend to cost more.  This article discusses the varying successes of third party drives on iMacs:
    http://blog.macsales.com/10146-apple-further-restricts-upgrade-options-on-new-im acs 
    The labor costs depend on the store as well as the time to get the parts in stock.    Call around.

  • Time machine back-up and reinstalling Leopard

    Hi there,
    I love my mac but don't know the nitty gritty... I have backed up my files using time machine on my external hard drive but I want to reinstall Leopard going the "erase everything and start over" route. That being said, I don't want to lose all my pictures, music, etc.... If all of that is backed up in time machine and I reinstall Leopard, will I be able to access it all or will it not recognize the new install? Also, I just want my external hard drive to go back to how it was before it was formatted for time machine. How do I do that?

    Hi there jobe74,
    You may want to try resetting the SMC and PRAM on your computer as an initial troubleshooting step. Take a look at the articles below for more information.
    Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
    About NVRAM and PRAM
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
    -Griff W. 

  • Lost iTunes when reinstalling Leopard?

    I recently reinstalled Leopard. Before I erased my hard drive, I copied the folder Users/MyName/Music/iTunes to my external hard drive. Inside it were three folders named Album Artwork, iTunes Music and Previous iTunes Libraries, along with the files iTunes Music Library.xml and iTunes Library.
    On my current hard drive, that same folder contained the folders Album Artwork and iTunes Music, until I replaced them with the contents of the older installation.
    But when I try to open iTunes, I get this message:
    The file "iTunes Library" cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes.
    It seems like I'm constantly downloading iTunes software updates. So my hunch is that the iTunes program on the drive I just erased was actually a more recent version than the one on my current installation. Thus, I'm guessing I might fix the problem by simply updating iTunes.
    Does that sound like a good guess? If so, how do I go about finding and downloading the necessary iTunes upgrades?
    I should also mention that I cloned my entire hard drive a couple weeks ago. If necessary, I could access my clone and copy whatever I need to rebuild iTunes. The only catch is that I imported half a dozen songs AFTER I cloned my hard drive. However, I believe I saved those songs when I copied my Music/iTunes folder before erasing my hard drive.
    Thanks.

    The Software Update pane of System Preferences will show you the update, and you can get the current version of iTunes from here. Any version of iTunes can be directly updated to the current version on a compatible OS.
    (29226)

  • Can't REinstall leopard, and I'm losing my patience

    Here's the thing. My computer has been having kernel panics and has been running way too slow. So, what I wanted to do was to erase everything and reinstall Leopard. So, I tried doing it with a copy of the original Leopard DVD that I have. I selected delete and install on my Macintosh HD partition. I let the machine verify de DVD (took half an hour I think) and the process started. Not even One third through I got a message that the media source had an error or something like that. So, everything was erased from my Macintosh HD, but nothing installed. So, I tried again, same error. After about three tries, I gave up and went to my office and brought the original Leopard DVD I have. I tried reinstalling with it and I got the same error twice so I gave up with that.
    So, I partitioned an external USB Hard drive, and in a 10 GB partition I restored an image of the original Leopard DVD. To my surprise, I got the same error message, "media source error" etc. So, I restored to a time machine backup date from my external firewire HD. My plan was to partition my firewire HD and do the same thing I did with my usb HD, but only this time it will be a firewire drive and it may work. So, the restore went fine, and I partitioned my HD (all my time machine backups were erased in order to partition the HD), so I told time machine to make a back up now. When time machine was backing up my drive, I got an error, and the drive couldn't be backed up. So, I tried again, and the same error appeared. I don't remember if it said anything about the error (because it was very late last night), but I think it only said that time machine couldn't complete the backup because there was an internal error, something like that.
    So now, what should I do? I can't try to install leopard again because I have nothing to restore from, and I can't backup my drive because Time machine encounters errors when it tries. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

    Resolving kernel panics:
    http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html
    http://www.macmaps.com/kernelpanic.html
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106227

  • Backed up whole HD now I'd like to reinstall leopard

    Just installed a 500GB in my macbook pro. I used Carbon copy cloner to copy my hd to my new one before i installed it. I now would like to reintall Leopard and snow leopard on my new HD and start all over. I still want all my pictures, music, and movies. So I understand that all i have to do with that is move over those files. As far as applications I've downloaded, I know I can just move the apps over, but what about all the little files you can't find? What's the best way to reinstall leopard and start over. But keep all my apps? New to back ups.

    If you were going to start over why did you clone your old drive to the new one. I'm not sure I grasp what your goal is. If reinstalling was the purpose then you should not have restored your old drive's system to your new one. You should have prepped the new drive (did you do that, btw?) and installed a fresh copy of Snow Leopard on it, then used Migration Assistant to restore your Home folder and third-party applications. Now you will just need to start over.
    Extended Hard Drive Preparation
    1. Boot from your SL Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    Upon completion of formatting quit DU and return to the installer. Complete the Snow Leopard installation. When SL restarts to the Setup Assistant follow instructions until you get to the point where you set up your initial admin account. Be sure to choose a short name that is NOT the same as the one you were using for your old Leopard system. Upon completion of the Setup Assistant you will have an opportunity to use Migration Assistant to migrate files from another computer or attached hard drive. You can then migrate your Home and Applications folders, support files, and preferences from the clone on your old drive.

  • Lost Disk space after Reinstalling Leopard

    I upgraded my Mac OS v.10.4.9 to Leopard v.10.5.1 in May and after Leopard was installed I had about 13 GB HD space left. It was lightning quick too. The new OS was v.10.5.1
    Since then I've been downloading regular Security updates as they were prompted until the OS reached v.10.5.5 but the whole thing was gradually getting slower too so I figured I would reinstall Leopard and take it back to v.10.5.1 to see if it was back to the high speed it had when I originally installed Leopard v.10.5.1.
    After I re-installed Leopard last week and it was back to v.10.5.1 it went back to running superfast again, but yesterday I started getting a notice that said I was running low on Startup disk space and I needed to delete some stuff to gain space.
    When I checked available space I have less than 1 GB, about 300MB.
    It seems that by re-installing Leopard it has been written adjacent to the 10.5.5 instead of on top of it, which I thought it would do automatically.
    I found a file named 'Previous systems' on the HD and deleted that but it screwed it up so I had to restore that and now it's back to normal but I've still got less than 1 GB disk space.
    Can anyone tell me how to delete my old operating systems (both the 10.5.5 and the 10.4.9 that I presume is still on there, which I originally upgraded to Leopard.)
    I'm a conservative user of disk space and I deleted all my photos and only gained about 20 MB of new space so I'm pretty sure the problem is the OS's are written adjacent to each other instead of on top of each other.

    Barry,
    Thank you for your help.
    When I deleted the Previous Systems file it was about 7 months after the Leopard installation.
    You are right, I did do an Archive and Install in order to maintain all my info from v10.4.9.
    The problem I encountered after I deleted the Previous Systems file was I then did a Secure Empty Trash and as it was emptying it was showing over 200,000 items and still upticking and that worried me that I had done the wrong thing by deleting the Previous Systems file.
    So I stopped the Emptying process, and did a restart, thinking my HD space may be restored if the file was indeed possible to be deleted.
    When it restarted that time, instead of the usual boot up process, there was a small flashing square box in the centre of a grey background, the small box had a blue earth in it and that went on flashing for maybe 20 minutes.
    It eventually booted up and so I went to the trash, where the now presumably slightly diminished Previous Systems file was, and I dragged that file back into the HD and re-started the machine.
    The world sign again flashed on, but this time for maybe only 10 minutes before it booted OK.
    I checked and I was back to v.10.5.1 bit still with only about 300MB Disk space.
    That's when I deleted all my photos but that only gave me about 20MB so now I'm up to about 320 MB - but as you say that is nowhere near enough.
    But I do notice a definite increase in speed using 10.5.1 compared to 10.5.5. Those Security Updates have dragged it down badly.
    Now that you have explained that the Previous Systems file may be safely deleted then I will try that again and let it run its course this time.
    I'll let you know what happens.
    Thanks again,
    ann

  • Strange Permissions lead to having to reinstall Leopard...

    Hey there, I've been having some interesting issues with my new iMac Intel Core 2 Duo with Leopard 10.5.1. The following has happened twice so far:
    • Everything appears to be fine when I sleep my computer.
    • The next time I go to wake it, the dock is clear. Weird.
    • I repair my permissions using Disk Utility, which takes about 20 minutes, and finds quite a few errors (see movie).
    • When I try to restart my computer, it won't get past the light blue screen (just before the desktop loads).
    •I have to restart using the install disc and holding the "C" key to run Disk Utility (to fix permissions) reinstall Leopard (with an Archive & Install).
    • Everything is fine when the install finishes.
    Anyone have any idea of what's happening? It's really quite frustrating when I have to reinstall Leopard.
    Here's a link to a video of what happened:
    http://www.divshare.com/download/2877647-b2e
    Sorry, but you'll have to download the video. Thanks for your time.

    GrooveMachine,
    You have a couple icons in the dock I don't recognize, the blue and white globe next to Word, and the black and white icon to the right of the Word icon. Do you have any third-party enhancement software? Any non-Apple login items? See here:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306857
    Repair permissions only on the volume from which you're started up, not when booted from a different volume.
    Restart in Safe Mode. Shut down, then immediately after pressing power button to start up press and hold the Shift key and keep holding it until login screen appears. Log in and finish startup.
    Remove any non-Apple login items or enhancement software.
    If there was any non-Apple software removed or disabled, restart normally and see if it works.
    If not, reboot from Leopard DVD (with Leopard DVD in the drive hold down Option key on restart and keep holding, choose to start from Leopard DVD). Run Disk Utility and select Macintosh HD but do NOT repair permissions. Instead Repair Disk and if any errors are encountered, Repair Disk again until no errors reported.
    Do you have admin privileges for yourself as user? If not, you should. If not, see here:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306876
    If you are an admin user after you Repair Disk set startup disk to Macintosh HD and give it another try.
    Let us know how it goes.

  • Reinstalling Leopard - Restoring questions

    I'm planning on giving my MacBook Pro (Early 2008) a fresh start by reinstalling Leopard. I have my computer backed up on Time Machine. I know I can just either "Restore with Time Machine" during the install process, or use Migration Assistant to restore my stuff. But I don't want to restore everything. So my questions are:
    1. Using either of those processes, can I choose which applications to restore and which applications to forget about?
    2. My latest backups are from the latest Leopard update (10.5.6), so I assume I should download all software updates before restoring?
    3. Will this cause issues with the more "heavy" programs like the Adobe CS4 suite, Microsoft Office 2008, or Final Cut Studio 2? I'll reinstall them from the disks if I need to, but if I can just restore them, that'd be so much better.
    4. Is it easy to restore my iWeb data? iPhoto data? What about the wide selection of albums I have in MobileMe through iPhoto? Will those still be listed in iPhoto?
    That's all I can think of, thanks in advance!

    requieminadream wrote:
    3. Will this cause issues with the more "heavy" programs like the Adobe CS4 suite, Microsoft Office 2008, or Final Cut Studio 2? I'll reinstall them from the disks if I need to, but if I can just restore them, that'd be so much better.
    The biggest potential problem is if they use activation or a limited number of installations. Things like Apple iTunes (to play any iTunes Store purchases) and Adobe CS suite use activation and this is tracked by system configuration. Restoration may cause the application to think it is on a different or new computer, and might trigger a reactivation request or a loss of one of your allocated activations. The best practice here is to make sure you make a list of all apps that require activation and deactivate them before any type of migration or "restoration."

  • After I reinstalled Leopard, iMovie is nowhere to be found...

    I needed to clean up my macbook because I'll need the space for work so I did a complete system reinstall using the discs that came with my mac. I selected the option to completely erase the hard drive and reinstall leopard.
    Everything is great, but iMovie is nowhere to be found. I did all my updates, I've done searches through the applications window, the search bar and still no luck.
    I did a "movie" search in the search bar and nothing about iMovie comes up. It's like it just disappeared.

    You should be able to boot up with the Mac system disk in the drive.
    When you do, instead of installing OSX, click on the upper drop down menu where it says Utilities (or something similar, it's been a while), and one option should be to install software like iMovie.

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