Archive/install questions

right now i am running mac os x leopard on my macbook pro. i upgraded from leopard, and have been having small difficulties such as the long blue screen the Admin account going to Standard, and a minor slowness in performance. rather than pitch patch up my system, i'd feel a lot better if i could just start with a fresh copy of leopard. so i want to reinstall leopard using the archive/install method. i have two questions about this method of installation.
1) do i need an external hard drive for this method?
2) what documents will be saved?-what will happen to my music in itunes and my pictures in iphoto(these two are the two most important things to me!)
thanks for any help.
DCM

1. No
2. All of them.
Go read about it: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

Similar Messages

  • Archive/Install question.

    right now i am currentyl running mac os x leopard on my macbook pro. i upgraded from leopard, and have been having small difficulties such as the long blue screen the Admin account going to Standard, and a minor slowness in performance. rather than pitch patch up my system, i'd feel a lot better if i could just start with a fresh copy of leopard. so i want to reinstall leopard using the archive/install method. i have two questions about this method of installation.
    1) do i need an external hard drive for this method?
    2) what documents will be saved?-what will happen to my music in itunes and my pictures in iphoto(these two are the two most important things to me!)
    thanks for any help.
    DCM

    I tried the upgrade with the install disc first. The install program wasn't able to recognize the MacBook hard drive. No go. Then I tried archive and install and the install program froze while transferring settings and graphic files (iPhoto and iTunes). Because I had to quit the install program due to its freezing, my disc was no longer recognizable as bootable. So i had to start in target mode, connect to my iMac, and do a clean install. Shall we say, "Pain in the ***?"
    Now I'm having quirky problems like finding that during a restart command, the application do NOT quit unless I manually make the command. And there are some wi-fi stations that are NOT recognized unless I restart the laptop. And finally, there are some other Finder problems, like trying to open a folder within a window sometimes causes the window to scroll to the top of the file/folder list, which means that I lose, temporary, the sight of the folder that I'm trying to open. Weird **** like that.
    Spaces is kind of weird, too. If I'm using Spaces and trying to toggle between two applications, like drag and drop, I'm finding it difficult to follow the switching windows in the course of the operation.
    Maybe this means that 10.5.1 is the real OS, and the one I have on my machine is the beta. When Apple announced that they were delaying the final development of Leopard because they were concentrating on the iPhone, they weren't kidding. While Leopard has a great face and is polished in many areas, it's unrefined in others. I would have been wise to wait.

  • IBook G4 slowing down -- Archive & Install question

    Hello,
    I have an iBook G4, that I bought I believe back in late 2004. It's been slowing down quite a bit and I'm thinking about performing an Archive & Install, which a guy at the Genius Bar recommended would make my performance much quicker and less spinning beachballs.
    I have an Airport, through which I access my internet wirelessly, and printer wirelessly. After performing an Archive & Install, will I need to re-setup my wireless internet and ability to print wirelessly? It's been a long time since I set these up the first time, and kind of dread relearning the process.
    Thanks,
    Ben

    You could try booting into Safe Mode. This will take quite awhile longer than a normal startup because it does a file check and repair of the hard disk.
    You will see your normal desktop. Once completely started up in Safe Mode, restart normally, and go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Click on the top hard drive icon in the left sidebar and note the S.M.A.R.T. status at the bottom right of the pane. What does it say?
    Select the named boot volume in the left sidebar ("Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it). What is the hard drive capacity and how much space remains available on it? Repair permissions on it.
    See if a little hard drive maintenance helps things out.
    (In the future, you may want to post in the iBook G4 Forum. You have posted in the iBook G3 (Dual USB) Forum.)

  • Flash Archive Install Question

    Recently I flashed a box to create a flash archive. That archive was served out via NFS and "seen" by the client server I built. Used image to sucessfully build the client server, but the disk is not sliced up like my source box. Is there something I missed in doing this? Any info on this will be greatly appreciated.
    - Charles

    You specify the partitions in your profies.

  • Archive and Install Question

    I have an old version of Photoshop (7.0). If I upgrade from OS 10.2 to 10.4.6, Adobe tells me I also need to upgrade Photoshop. But if I do an "Archive and Install" Mac upgrade, can I still use the old photoshop on the old system. Thanks - I am not exactly clear about this.

    There is not an old system available when doing an Archive & Install.
    The Tiger install options are as follows:
    Simple Upgrade
    Archive & Install (with an option to select preserve user and network settings)
    Erase & Install
    The Archive & Install method installs the Tiger OS new and archives the previous system as a previous system folder. When selecting preserve user and network settings, it does as indicated. All user and network settings, data and most 3rd party applications from 10.2 are preserved and transferred to the new system.
    You cannot boot from or use the archived previous system folder. The archived previous system folder can be used to transfer data or any user and network settings that were not successfully transferred to the new system only.
    After confirming all user and network settings and data was successfully transferred to the new system, you can (and should) safely delete the archived previous system folder since it cannot be used for anything else and takes up hard drive space only.
    The old version of Photoshop you are currently using must not be compatible with Tiger (10.4) so if you want to upgrade from 10.2 to 10.4 and need to continue using Photoshop, you need to upgrade Photoshop to the version that is compatible with Tiger (10.4).

  • Archive & Install.. i have a question

    Hi guys,
    I had to perform an archive & install on my macbook pro as it was not booting (getting stuck on that grey screen with apple logo)...
    It looks fine now as I am able to use it again... but the thing is... as it is called "archive"... and install... does that mean that somewhere in my HD there is a copy of my previous data etc...
    Cause now I have only 93 GB remaining and I thought I had more. Is there a way I can see what applications/files are using my HD?
    Thanks a lot

    does that mean that somewhere in my HD there is a copy of my previous data etc...
    Your files were moved to the newly installed operating system. The old OS was moved to a folder called Previous Systems which you can delete.

  • Archive and install question with boot camp

    Hi I have 10.5 and boot camp running right now on my mac. I would love to go back to 10.4 because everything that I use my computer for runs like we all know better. Do all I need to do is do an archive & install? will boot camp still work afterwards if I leave the boot camp partition alone? Could I then delete the (Previous System folder) it makes once everything is A O K ?

    SamMill wrote:
    Hi I have 10.5 and boot camp running right now on my mac. I would love to go back to 10.4 because everything that I use my computer for runs like we all know better.
    We all do not know this. All three of my Mac run better with Leopard.
    Do all I need to do is do an archive & install? will boot camp still work afterwards if I leave the boot camp partition alone? Could I then delete the (Previous System folder) it makes once everything is A O K ?
    You are in uncharted waters with BootCamp. I suggest making a complete block-by-block clone of your HD before degrading to Tiger. Most times, to install Tiger you have to do an erase and install. And you may need to use the Leopard DVD to erase the HD since Tiger may not understand the Leopard OS on the HD.
    I have Tiger running on the bottom of my TM harddrive, in its own partition as a dual-boot system. Works OK, but it's nowhere near Leopard in performance. I rarely use it.
    Message was edited by: nerowolfe

  • Error in Archive & Install and PB not booting now.

    I have a PB G4 with OSX Tiger 10.4.11.
    After doing an auto-update of QT, there was a "shared library error" that prevented me from opening word, excel....I decided to perform Archive & Install.
    The installation process was going well until a message appeared saying "Please try installing again".
    I restarted my computer and got to "Select a destination volume to install the Mac OS X software" screen only to find that there was no destination listed to select. Earlier there was "Macintosh HD" but now there was nothing.
    On opening Disk Utility I got to a window that had four discs listed in the left-hand column of the window. These were:
    a)74.5 GB TOSHIBA MK8026GAX
    b)Macintosh HD (in light grey colour which shows that it is inactive)
    c)4.0 GB MATSHITA DVD-R Uj-845E Media
    d)Mac OS X Install Disc 1
    Under the "First Aid" tab in the main column I selected 74.5 GB TOSHIBA MK8026GAX and clicked "verify". It gave an error message: "Invalid node structure. The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired. The underlying task reported failure on exit. 1 HFS Checked Volume needs repair."
    Then I selected Macintosh HD & selected "repair" & got the following error message:
    Invaild node structure. Rebuilding Catalogue B-tree. The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired. Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit. 1 HFS volume checked. 1 volume could not be repaired because of an error. Repair attempted on 1 volume. 1 volume could not be repaired.
    The other two tabs, "Verify disk permissios" & "Repair disk permissions" were inactive all the time.
    I even clicked on "Mount" when the "Macintosh HD" was selected. That gave the following message: "The disk Macintosh HD could not be mounted. Try running First Aid on the disk and then retry mounting."
    Now when I switch on my PB:
    a)If I DON'T have the installation disc1 inside the mac…it just gets to the grey screen with apple in the centre and after 2-3 minutes it switches off automatically.
    b)If I HAVE the installation disc1 inside the mac then it gets to the basic installation screen telling me to select language and continue which further leads to the select destination screen with no destination to select.
    Does anyone have any idea what’s going on with my mac? All I did was an auto-update of QT 7.2 to 7.3.1.
    Please help.

    unmo:
    Let's begin with HDD space. A too full HDD is an invitation to disaster. As I noted previously, you should have a mimimum of 5 GB free space for virtual memory, swap files and whatever you are working on for OS X to function efficiently. A too full HDD can lead to directory issues, as you learned, data loss and an eventual HDD crash. Dr. Smoke's FAQ Problems from insufficient RAM and free hard disk space gives more info on this. Dr. Smoke's FAQ Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk has excellent suggestions to clear some of the clutter. In addition, you may be well advised to consider a larger internal HDD, and, if you do not already have one, to initiate a backup strategy. Dr. Smoke's FAQ Backup and Recovery offers helpful suggestions. If you have questions about any of these please do post back.
    Mac OS X 10.3/10.4: System maintenance and Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance are excellent resources of OS maintenance. Look them over and post back with any questions that arise.
    Good luck.
    cornelius
    PS: Thank you for leaving feedback in Apple Discussions by marking "helpful" and "solved" posts.
    Message was edited by: cornelius

  • Deleting folder after Archive & Install...

    Hello.....A couple of months ago I did an archive and install and for some reason which is unclear to me now I never deleted the Previous Systems folder. The Previous Systems folder is on the HD.
    I'm trying to clear off my HD now and have also run across another Applications folder. When I click on the Hard Drive and then click on Applications there is another applications folder in the list and I click on it and it looks the same at the first Applications. .
    My question is this: Can I delete the PS folder and the "other" applications folder and not lose anything or do I need to some further checking? Would any new downloads since the Archive & Install show up in both 'Applications' folders?
    Thank you for your time.

    Hi Kappy......This is what I wrote previously:
    +I'm trying to clear off my HD now and have also run across another Applications folder. When I click on the Hard Drive and then click on Applications there is another applications folder in the list and I click on it and it looks the same as the first Applications. .+
    Sorry if this wasn't clear. The applications folder that is showing in the list (see above) appears to be a copy (it shows everything the same as the other one...of course, I haven't opened each item and looked to see if anything is different) of the APPLICATIONS first clicked on...if you can follow my directions above...LOL

  • Archive & Install Failure

    After installing the 10.5.7 my mac was hanging repeatedly so I decided to do an Archive & Install. This procedure also "froze" so I shut down the system before it completed and now I can no longer boot. Adding to my stupidity I do not have a backup.
    Using disk utility from the install DVD I can see that my original settings (docs, apps, etc.) are stored in a Previous Folder. So, I guess my question is what should be my next step:
    1. Can I restore everything back to the settings prior to the failed Archive & Install?
    2. Or can I create a Disk Image of the Previous Folder, do a full installation and then restore my settings from the disk image?
    Any ideas are welcome.
    Thanks

    Jberriz wrote:
    After installing the 10.5.7 my mac was hanging repeatedly so I decided to do an Archive & Install.
    (...) Adding to my stupidity I do not have a backup.
    Never do any kind of install without doing some basic diagnostics (repair the hard drive and permissions with Disk Utility), especially if you're reinstalling because you're having problems, and never start those diagnostics or the install without a good backup. By doing so, you have invited the problems you are having.
    1. Can I restore everything back to the settings prior to the failed Archive & Install?
    As already stated, no... but that would be a dumb thing to do anyway. You don't want to restore settings from a damaged system, and you undoubtedly had a damaged system before starting the install.
    2. Or can I create a Disk Image of the Previous Folder, do a full installation and then restore my settings from the disk image?
    As already stated, you'd need to copy to another drive. If you don't have another drive, you can get them pretty cheap these days, and a USB flash drive would work as well if you have one with sufficient capacity. If you find yourself needing to copy the files to another drive while booted from the install disk, and if you aren't comfortable on the command line, post back here and someone can help you.

  • Tiger won't reboot or archive install

    I have a Powerbook G4 and when I was using it as a firewire drive to a PC, it stopped booting. When I use my TIGER install DVD it says that all my files are there, that it doesn't need repair, and even allows me to choose it as my startup folder 10.4.7. However, when it actually restarts, it shows a folder with a flashing question mark on it and does not boot up. I have tried disk utils, and finally thought I would just archive&install but it says that my OS Tiger 10.4 disk is an older version and that I cannot do an archive & install.
    Does anyone have any suggestions how I can get back into my computer ASAP?
    Thanks
    John Dent

    Had you tried booting into safe mode you might have discovered the problem quickly. Safe mode disables third-party startupitems and login items (Tiger only for login items.)
    Booting into safe mode is one of the standard troubleshooting techniques for tracking down problems such as yours.
    Had you also read the installation FAQs and suggestions in the Tiger forum you would also have come across the recommendation to disable all third-party software and hardware before upgrading to Tiger. Also, the suggestion to repair the hard drive and permissions before upgrading.
    The forums are a great resource, but you have to use them.
    Want to learn more about troubleshooting OS X? Visit The XLab FAQs. Better yet purchase Dr. Smoke's excellent eBook, Troubleshooting Mac OS X. The current edition is for Tiger.

  • Trying to create bootable disc with time machine + archive & install

    Okay... to recap, have been having a bunch of buggy issues on my Mac Pro and I determined via a previous thread here (see below) that the best approach was to put in a fresh Leopard system via an archive-and-install.
    However, my current startup drive is only 80GB, with a mere 4GB currently free. Not enough for A&I, I am sure.
    My plan was to do this:
    * make a bootable clone copy of the current start up drive
    * then do an A&I on the clone, and try using that as the startup.
    so I tried - I used superduper to make a bootable clone, and it worked fine, I can start up from the clone.
    however, I couldn't do an A&I install on the clone because it didn't have the correct GUID permission.
    so, I reformatted the clone - I partitioned it using Disk Util -
    now I am running time machine to copy from the current startup to the clone -
    but I have a premature feeling that time machine will only create a backup thingie of the startup drive, unlike superDuper, it will not give me a bootable clone that I can then work with.
    any suggestions?
    if I partition the clone drive & put a GUID partition on it, then user superduper to copy everything on it, would the GUID partition still be there - and I can then archive & install to the clone?
    am open for any ideas!
    w
    Not sure if this is the correct way to reference a previous thread:
    <http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2041933&tstart=0>

    thank you - here's my question regarding that:
    1 - I partition a drive using the GUID scheme.
    2 - I then use superDuper to copy everything to this drive.
    3 - does the new drive STILL maintain the GUID partition scheme?
    Unless it still maintains the GUID partition scheme, then I can't do the archive & install on it - as I found out, the hard way!
    alternatively...
    if I
    1 - use the installer to put a clean copy of leopard on a blank drive
    2 - then plan to use the "migration" feature to copy from the original startup drive to the new drive with leopard newly-installed...
    3 - is it possible to use the migration feature once I have restarted from a hard drive? or can migration only be used in the actual install process, when I have booted from the install disc?
    (I ask this second question because when I boot from the install discs, my SATA drives do NOT show up anywhere, they only get mounted when I boot from a proper hard drive. Possibly a firewire drive would - but I don't seem to have anymore firewire 1394 externals, it's all USB and eSATA...)
    W

  • Help with Archive & Install - Office 2008 gone?

    I just performed an "Archive & Install" with "Preserve" checkmarked. When I rebooted, my dock had question marks where the Office 2008 icons were (Word, Entourage, etc). Office 2008 is not in the Applications folder anymore. I thought A&I only replaced the system files - and left others (Apps) intact? Could there be some other reason 2008 disappeared? Can I just Restore the Office Folder and Identities from Time Machine? Thanks in advance!

    Archive and Install is usually the safe way to go with OS upgrades (and the way I have mostly gone on all my Macs over the years).
    As Dimaxum suggests, fist looking for the Office applications on your hard drive.
    Personally, I would use either Spotlight (first) or EasyFind (free from DevonTechnologies) to search for "Word", "Entourage", "Office 2008" names. And if you find the main Office 2008 folder, drag it to the new Applications folder.
    As well, if you find the Preferences folder for Office and it is not yet in your (new) User/Library/Preferences, then drag that into there as well.
    As V.K. suggests, it is always possible to reinstall from your source disk, assuming that you have it.
    And the unspoken bit of knowledge here is that Microsoft allows people to initially install MS Office by EITHER drag and drop the folder from CD to your HD Applications folder, OR by running the MS Office installer from the CD. (And they do not tell you which or why to pick one method over the other!)
    I have used both ways in the past in different circumstances and personally have not found any noticeable difference in the resulting application.
    So if it turns out that you find the app folder and its preference folder, and put them into their new home of Applications and user/library/preferences and that does NOT give you a functioning Office suite, then just fall back to Plan B of either reinstall MS Office from the CD (which is usually fast, but then needs to have all the MS online update patches done) or give a try to your TimeMachine and see if it allows a full restore of JUST the Office apps into the new Leopard Mac.
    (re your TimeMachine option, I cannot say for certain, as i have yet no experience with running a TimeMachine restore.)
    Message was edited by: BruceTech

  • Archive & install

    I had a crash with my mcbook air 2010. When I put the usb key with the system to reinstal, Ii can't find any archive & instal option. Question : does it exist anymore on Snow leopard ? 2nd & more important Q : will the réinstallation erase all the files ? I dont care about the system buet a hace a fews docs pretty precious inside and i don't know how to recover it. Please help

    nikko03from38 wrote:
    I had a crash with my mcbook air 2010. When I put the usb key with the system to reinstal, Ii can't find any archive & instal option. Question : does it exist anymore on Snow leopard ?
    No. There's just Install.
    2nd & more important Q : will the réinstallation erase all the files ?
    No.  It will just install a fresh copy of OSX, without disturbing anything else.
    I dont care about the system buet a hace a fews docs pretty precious inside and i don't know how to recover it. 
    It sounds like you don't have backups.  That means your data is at risk of hardware failure, disk corruption, mistakenly changing or deleting a file, disk failure, loss or theft of your Mac, etc.  If that's a bit scary, you need backups.  You might want to review the Time Machine Tutorial, and perhaps browse Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

  • Leopard archive & install problem (10.5.8 - 10.5.2)

    hello all,
    part of the problem is stated in the subject header - i was initially running 10.5.8, but after a failed startup this morning, i had the apple store take a look at it. they archived/installed... leaving me with 10.5.2 instead. i believe this is ill-advised(?)
    the main issues im having now are:
    1) 20gb of space i want to reclaim - 14.5 is sitting in the 'Previous Systems' folder. the rest of it is a mystery. i notice that i now have garageband, iMovie & iPhoto - which i previously trashed. i'd like to remove those again (along with their baggage wherever it may dwell).
    2) iTunes no longer operates because the library was "created by a newer version"
    3) general concern over system version conflict.
    so the main questions are:
    1) what can i safely delete?
    2) what can i safely swap from the 'Previous System' folder? and when should i do - before or after re-upgrading to 10.5.8?
    3) how bad is it really?(archive/installing to a earlier build) are there other issues possibly lurking??
    I appreciate everyone's help in this matter, these forums are great. the apple store genius(no sarcasm) who gave me 10.5.2... coulda done better. but hey, at least i'm back up & running, so he still gets props.
    thankx again and happy holiday:)
    -af-

    See the following: How to get files from a previous home directory after Archive and Install. This article will help you move things from the Previous System Folder into the new system. However, before you do that you want to upgrade to the system your were previously running by opening Software Update and installing the needed updates. Do this before you start moving files/folders from the PSF.

Maybe you are looking for