Can't trash folder "Previous Systems"

Does anyone know the trick to trash the folder "Previous Systems" after an archive and install? I've dragged it to the trash and emptied it a couple of times but the folder and files never disappear from the root level of my hard drive. All suggestions welcome. Thanks!

I would guess that it's a permissions thing. Have you repaired permissions?
I once had an old Fink installation on a MBP that I trashed when installing a new one.
Fink creates a folder, "sw" into which go all the files.
Well, same thing happened to me - - I attempted to trash the folder and I got the strange message that I had insuffient permission - - me? The Admin!!
I had to remove it in a terminal. It was the simplest way.
If permissions do not fix it, it might be that your new login is different from our old one, and that's the problem.
If you are famiar with using the terminal, check the permissions directly on the file and see who owns it.

Similar Messages

Can i trash the previous system in the hard drive?

i noticed that i have a folder that says previous system and system
it has 10.4 GB acc to info.
can i trash this and if not why not?

Glenn Losack wrote:
i noticed that i have a folder that says previous system and system
it has 10.4 GB acc to info.
can i trash this and if not why not?
Sure, and if you ever do need anything from it, it will be in your TM backup.

Can I delete the "Previous System" folder ?

Hi all experts,
My system has been having problem after i installed the Adobe software but still useable. All software remains okay except to startup Adobe, it takes unusually long.
Then one unfortunate day while watching YouTube it hanged & doing a force quit won't help as the beach ball keeps on rotating endlessly. So I turn off the power. After that it cannot start-up anymore.
The salesman asked me to start up using the disc I originally have and do an "Archieved Re-installation" and select saved all the settings. He said I have to do that so that all my installed software remains.
Because my installation disc in Ver OS 10.5.4 after installation, it is still very slow. After updating it to 10.5.8, it now becomes back to original but the following problem remains:
a) starting Adobe programs remains slow, how do I overcome this problem ?
b) how come I still have Adobe under the application ? Can I move it to trash & reinstall again ?
c) can I delete the folder "Previous Systems" ? (because it eats up a lot of my HD space)
Thanks

Mac Engineer since 84 wrote:
a) I have to admit that I don't use Adobe Creative Suite 4 very much because I spend most of my time using developer tools. When you say it takes a long time to start up the applications is CS4 is it all of them? You know, they do take longer than most application to launch even in the best of circumstances. What model and speed of Mac are you using and how long does it take to launch each of the CS4 applications?
Mine is a 24" iMac with 4GB RAM, 2.8GHz & 256MB of dedicated VRAM. When I say it takes a long time, I was referring to something like 3 to 5 mins to start up each of the applications.
But the funny thing is once it started up & I quit the application and then launched it again, it will take only 15 to 30 seconds. This applies to all the applications in the CS4 Suite.
But if I shut down the whole system, it again took about 3 to 5 mins to launch the application again on the first time after shutting down the whole Mac. Again if I quit & re-launch, it only take 15 to 30 secs. This applies to all application in the CS4 Suite.
For your info, other application like Final Cut, iMovie, iPhoto ... etc remained okay & unaffected.
b) You can move the CS4 applications to the trash but you'll never find all the other installed pieces. I would just install fresh over them.
Can you please elaborate. I don't understand what you meant by "other installed pieces" and "install fresh over them". Thanks
c) The Previous System does not contain your files or preferences so you will not lose bookmarks or songs.
Thanks for the info & confirmation
d) I don't have songs with DRM from iTunes so I know nothing about the authorization mechanism. I'm sure that has been gone over ad nauseam on these forums and you'll be able to find something on a search.
Okay, I shall try to post on the iTunes section.
Thanks

Can I restore a previous system? Need 10.4 back running

Please help me in my conundrum.
I have been running 10.4 on my iMac and someone (accidentally) installed 10.2 on it (explanation below). Is there any way I can bring 10.4 back since my Mac Repair Shop had installed it for me. My Mac is old and it may be one of those that needs an internal DVD which I don't have. I have an external DVD connected with firewire but when I put the Tiger disc in it will show, but after restart it won't restart (eternal startup wheel), much less start the install process.
Will I have to go back to my repair guy to reinstall 10.4 for me, or what can I do?
If you want to read on: I was poised to change my startup disk with the 10.2 disk so I could repair my hard drive. Someone else made a few wrong clicks in my absence, wanting to help.
Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Had to get away from it for a little while...very frustrated!
Not it's not a black OS. It has 3Y073212008 on the upper left over the UPC, then on the right 10433-01, lower left 2Z607-3120-A. The disk itself says Mac OS version 10.5.2, AHT version 3A140, Disc version 1.1, 2Z691-6208-A. It was part of a hardware bundle
Sadly, it does not say 10.4 anymore. 10.2 has taken over, by the time I was told what was going on, the second install disk was already running. Nevertheless, the build # is 6C115. Additionally, this is all I can get for the hardware info:
Machine Speed: 700 MHz
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Number of Processors: 1
L2 Cache Size: 256K
Machine Model: iMac (version = 33.11)
Boot ROM info: 4.1.9f1
(told you, it's an oldie)
Interestingly enough, it does not recognize anything in the firewire port, but it shows me "PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-117D 1.07] Mass Storage Device" on my USB Hub. Hmmm, why would the external DVD be connected both ways? And I checked the wires, it really is connected both ways. Wouldn't it be great if there is just something screwed up in the connection of the ext. DVD to the iMac? I know that if I could just update to 10.5 I'd be in the clear. What do you think?
May not get to see your answer until tomorrow morning. A thousand thanks for taking up this messy fluke with me.

Trashing Previous System Folder??? Question

Did a archive/install of OS about a week ago.. It was successful.]
Fixed my corrupt issue/Everything is working great.
I've reinstalled applications that I need to...
I've checked to see that everything I want to be here now--is here.
(Music, Photos, Documents, Bookmarks, etc.)---It's all here.
My question is: Is it safe to trash the "Previous Systems" Folder?????
It's presently sitting on my HD. It's (understandably) a big file---I'd like to toss it.
Can I? Safely?
Thanks for your help.

jonnylovemac,
Apple Says:
You might wonder "What do I do with the Previous System folder?" It may contain items that you need. To determine this, once you've finished configuring, installing, and updating your applications, you can compare the Previous System to the new System. If there are things in the Previous System folder that aren't in the new System folder, copy them over or reinstall. If you're not sure what some items are (and don't seem to need them), leave them in the Previous System folder. Once you're comfortable that you've got everything you need out of it, you can delete the Previous System folder (or leave it around if you have enough free disk space).
Based upon what you listed in your post, you can safely trash the Previous System folder.
;~)

Can I trash "Previous Systems" after Archive and Install?

For details leading up to this question, please see my previous post entitled "Not recognizing password after OS install". Basically I want to know if I can throw out the "Previous Systems" folder that was created when I did an "Archive and Install" re-install of my OS.
Thanks.

For more information about the previous system folder and what is saved, you can check out Mac OS X: About the Archive and Install feature. Probably the most important piece of information is that the Previous System Folder contains a copy of the /Users folder. If you thought that something was missing from your home folder in the new system after the upgrade, you could copy it from the /Users folder. But, if you selected the option "Preserve User and Network Settings" when you did the Archive and Install, this should not be necessary.
Personally, what I would do is to leave the Previous System Folder be for a couple of weeks. If you don't find anything missing, then it should be okay to delete it.
EMAC G4 1.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Deleting Previous System Folder

Hello again,
I'm upgrading from Panther to Tiger on my Power Book G4. After I finish making a clone of my current hard drive, I plan to upgrade to Tiger by doing a Clean Archive Reinstall, preserve all network and system preferences settings. What I want to know is can I delete my Previous System Folder once I have upgraded to Tiger 10.4.11?
Can someone let me know?
Thank you
Phil

Yes. However, you may find that some information in the /Library/ folder may not be moved automatically during the Archive and Install. In particular you want to check these:
/Library/Application Support/
/Library/Preferences/
/Library/StartupItems/
/Library/InputManagers/
/Library/PreferencePanes/
These may contain items installed by third-party software that you will have to move manually from the PSF.
If you have Palm software installed there will also be one or two Palm related folders that you will need to transfer.
Once you are satisfied that you have everything then drag the PSF to the Trash and empty. If you get any warnings then simply restart the computer and then empty the Trash.

Where did my Previous System folder go?

I upgraded my G5 yesterday from 10.3.9 to 10.5. Everything works fine after the upgrade. But I can't find the Previous System folder that should be on my hard drive.
When I upgraded, I planned to do an Archive and Install and preserve user settings, but I never saw that menu in the installer (I missed the "Options" button, duh). After the upgrade all my user accounts and data were still on the G5, so I'm assuming the installer did an "Archive and Install -- Preserve User Settings" by default.
But I don't have a Previous System folder anywhere on my hard drive. Any ideas what happened?
BTW, I have a clone of my 10.3.9 system on an external hard drive. I am considering doing an Erase and Install on the 10.5.7 internal G5 volume and using Migration Assistant to pull my user accounts from the clone to the internal hard drive. But my 10.5.7 system isn't broken, so maybe I shouldn't try to fix it. :-D

But I don't have a Previous System folder anywhere on my hard drive. Any ideas what happened?
The default installation method preserves your user accounts, data, and applications, but deletes and/or overwrites the previous system files.
(45924)

Previous System folder vs. system folder after archive and install

Hi there - I am very new to mac but love the products and am excited to be a part of the culture.
Because I am having battery-type problems I was told to do an archive and install to see if it was a software problem.
My question is, I followed the instructions apple gave for doing the archive and install. And it says that you can delete the previous system folder if everything is the same or you can move stuff over.
The problem is I want to delete the previous systems folder but it is very different than the new one and I don't even know what I would copy.
Briefly, the new system folder just has one folder inside called library with a bunch of folders inside of that.
The previous system folder called previous system 1 has folders entitled application, library, mach.sym, private, system, and users. Why are they different and what can I do?

The previous system, in most cases can be safely deleted. You can't revert to it anyway, so there's no fall back option to worry about. If you've saved everything in your user folder (or home folder - same thing) your data is safe. The previous system may have some preference files for apps you run, perhaps even registration data for apps that require serial #'s when you install them. If everything runs fine, and your data is where it's supposed to be, you can safely delete the previous system. I'd suggest making sure everything runs OK for a week or so, make sure all your apps work and all your data is there, then delete the previous system.
Jeff

Previous Systems-can you delete?

I had so many problems with Leopard on my Dual 867, that I reinstalled Tiger. Can I delete the previous system, which is leopard or will that cause major problems?

Yes, you can delete it. It's just there so you can grab stuff out of it if it wasn't properly migrated; that folder is never used by the system itself.

What is "Previous Systems"? Should I keep it?

Along with "Applications," "Library," "Users," etc, there's another large folder on my iMac called "Previous Systems." It's apparently a large folder consisting of my entire HD - or at last, an earlier version.
What is the point of this folder? Can I delete it without any ill effect? I back up regularly and already have a clone of my current hard drive. Why do I want, or need, the previous system on my HD?
Thanks!

Hi.
Most of what is in the Previous System Folder is indeed just duplicates (but later versions of your installed operating system and standard applications) and indeed can be safely trashed.
However...
Before you dump everything, go through the "Library" folder and compare contents of the folders - in particular, Audio, *Application Support*, Contextual Menu Items, Internet Plug-ins, Dictionaries, Documentation, Mozilla & Thunderbird (if you use Firefox - or the specific support folder for your browser), PDF Services, Preferance Panes, Preferences, Printers (if you added new printing software), Quicktime, Receipts (just copy the ones for software you installed separately), StartupItems, and Widgets. These are the Library folders most likely to have been changed by your own program usage preferences and software that you had added yourself.
If you trash the previous system without checking these, you might find yourself having to re-enter software serial numbers and re-doing all the preference choices you've created through using the computer.
Note: Be careful when replacing things in folders that contain data created by the version of the operating system you re-installed - updated packages in the "Receipts" folder for example. When you do a clean install, you've in effect gone back to an earlier version of the operating system (the one on the install disk), which has not yet gone through all of the downloaded Software Updates. If you replace items that have not yet been updated with a newer OS versions, then the apple os updater could get confused and you wouldn't be able to automatically update to the latest versions of your software. If you're not sure, I'd recommend you go through all the downloaded updates before you start comparing the contents of the Library Folder. Software you yourself have installed (ie photoshop, firefox, toast, word office, and such...) won't be affected by the auto apple updates - whether you installed it by cd or downloaded it yourself from the internet.

"Previous Systems" Installed - may I delete?

I had a problem with StuffIt crashing every time I opened it. So, I reinstalled OSX, but kept the previous version. During installation, it told me that the older system would be filed in the "Previous Systems" folder on my HD. Thankfully, verything works post-reinstallation. My question: can I delete the previous system without messing up the entire computer? How do I delete it (it takes up about 10GB of space on my harddrive!)?

Hi Willowmoor,
Yes, you can safely trash that folder anytime you want. The only reason to keep it around is that sometimes files that applications you installed need get moved to the "Previous Systems" folder, breaking the application. You then have the option of moving the missing file(s) back to the new System folder if you know which one it is. But if everything appears to be working, then go ahead and delete it.

Ical data from Previous System

I recently had to 'Install and Archive' my G4 10.2.8, in doing so it archived most of my data in the new folder 'Previous System'. I now open my Ical and can't seem to get any of my previous data. Does anyone know where the past Ical data is stored once the system has been archived, and where should I put it once I have found it.
Thanks for any help you can give.

There should be no need to sync the files. A previous system folder happens when you do an archive and install, so what's in that folder is identical to what your Mac was when you last did one. Presumably you've changed a lot of things since then and wouldn't want to go back.
Unless there are a few files you deleted and want back, then just copy them over. Then delete the entire thing, it's using up disk space.
Kevin

Using spotlight to find previous system

When using spotlight, why can it not find "previous system" folder? I am trying to find it so i can delete it. I found it via finder easily enough, but im curious why spotlight could not locate it. I typed the name of the folder exactly like it is.

The only way to change where Spotlight searches permanently, is to modify its _rules.plist. See my posts in http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5195994 for the details. FWIW, mine looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>EXCLUDE</key>
<array/>
<key>INCLUDE</key>
<array>
<string>/System</string>
<string>/Library</string>
<string>/etc</string>
<string>/private</string>
<string>/usr</string>
<string>/bin</string>
<string>/sbin</string>
</array>
<key>NOTE</key>
<string>Specify paths to include or exclude, preceeding rules which target user-homes with ~/</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Delete Previous System Settings?

Ok, I posed this question in another Mac forum and they didn't seem to have an answer. Below are both of my posts, I clarified myself in the second one just in case the first one was a little confusing.
Ok, here's my situation. After I updated to OSX 10.4.8, my MBP started making the whine again, it has always done it even after getting the logic board replaced twice, albeit it's much softer than it was. Nevertheless, I'd taken care of the issue by using the PhotoBooth trick, but since all the the updates, I keep having to reinstall the IOUSB Family to keep the trick working. Anyway, after I updated OSX and the noise came back, I went to reinstall the old IOUSB and I installed the wrong one, so then my keyboard, trackpad, and mouse would not work anymore. I used the install disc and installed 10.4.6 but it kept my previous system and said that it would revert back to all previous settings when I updated the latest version of OSX. My question is, when I update to 10.4.8, will I my keyboard, trackpad, and mouse stop working because of my mistake with IOUSB, and if that's the case, can I just delete the "Previous Systems" folder before I update OSX?
I'm not sure that I fully explained myself in the first post. My computer is working fine right now, but when I did a restore to 10.4.6, it kept my previous system settings so that, when I update to 10.4.8, it will restore the settings I had the last time I had 10.4.8 installed. I'm concerned that it saved the USB information that wouldn't allow my keyboard, trackpad, and mouse to work.
There is a folder under "Macintosh HD" that say's "Previous Systems," if I were to delete that folder, would I eliminate a problematic update to 10.4.8, or would I create more problems for myself?

IL_Dem87:
If you elected to "Preserve User and Network Settings" when you did Archive and Install your Preferences will be saved along with your data, third party apps in the Applications folder and others (see linked article). If you do not care about your data you don't have to migrate it and can just delete the Previous Systems folder. You can then restore from your backup of your data.
Good luck.
cornelius

Can't trash folder "Previous Systems"

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