Deleting Previous Systems Items

Hello everyone -
I have a Previous Systems folder in my 10.5.8. I believe its the result of reinstalling System 10.5 when a Software Update of Java wound up blocking my access to a site I visit daily and I ( following instructions from Apple Support) reinstalled System 10.5
I have carefully reviewed all of the Applications In the Previous Systems folder-->Applications and trashed all but one item after verifying that all were equal to or older than what is in my current Applications folder. (The one item is Java Preferences.app, with a newer version number than what is in my normal Applications-->Utilities folder.)
I still have Previous Systems-->System-->Library and Previous Systems-->Library with a very large number of items. It will take many many hours to manually review and compare all of these. Is there a way to more quickly and efficiently determine if all of these items are present in my regular folder (equal to or greater than)?
These items are increasing the size of my internal hard dirve use just enough to make backup to an older 80GB external firewire drive impractical. Thanks.

Randy Knowles wrote:
Previous Systems folder
scan the folder for files (documents, music, etc.) you want to keep and move those to your new installation, then delete the folder.

Similar Messages

  • 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?
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    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:
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  • Can I delete 'Previous Systems' folder?

    I have re-installed Max OS X twice, first time 2 years ago, the last time was yesterday. This last time I noticed at some point a message that the previous system could not be used anymore for starting up (I hope I recollect this correctly).
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    Some people keep them for a little while in case there is a plugin or settings file that they had in their old system that they want to put in their new one. Once you have decided you don't need any of those you can just trash them.

  • Deleted previous system folder, now I'm a-havin' problems.

    Hi all!
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    Sounds like your Mail index is corrupted. To create a new one, do this:
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  • 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.
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    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.
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    cornelius

  • OK to delete "Previous Systems" file?

    I noticed that after installing 10.5 (or maybe 10.5.1, because of the date), I have a folder called "Previous Systems" with a folder inside that called 2008-01-27_1835. Is it okay to delete this? It's taking 15 GB of space on my disk. Everything is working fine.

    Hi J Micael;
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  • Can't delete Previous System File

    Hi,
    I did an archive and install and was left with a Previous System folder that is about 13G. I used "whatsize" app to move it to the trash where I then did a Secure empty trash. Trash can is empty, but when I run Whatsize again, the same previous system folder is still there, taking up 13G's of hard drive space. Any idea how to get rid of this file?
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    How To Fix Stubborn Trash and Why it Won't Delete
    http://www.osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCenter/HowTo/Trash/index.ws
    Solving Trash Problems
    http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
     Cheers, Tom

  • Deleting "Previous System" & Old Versions of iTunes

    Two questions:
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  • Problem Deleting Previous System after Archive and Install

    Earlier in my time with this wonderful iMac, I did an Archive and Install to try and resolve a slight problem. I read all the docs beforehand and knew it would save the previous system in its own folder and saw that I could likely delete that folder afterwards.
    I have waited months since then, (almost forgotten about this folder) but have never had reason to want anything there, so today decided to delete it.
    I dragged the entire previous system folder to trash and tried to empty trash. It deleted most of the stuff, but kept one package DownloadReader7.pkg complaining of locked files.
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    1. Is it safe to delete this package (if I knew how)?
    2. If it is safe to delete it, HOW do I, when it appears to have locked elements when I try to empty trash?

    It's safe to delete any files in the PSF.
    Usually all you need do is press the OPTION key before selecting Empty Trash. If that doesn't work the next thing to try is restart the computer after you've dragged the file to the Trash. If neither works then visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on resolving Trash problems.
    Why reward points?(Quoted from Discussions Terms of Use.)
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    Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

  • Missing disk space and deleting "previous systems"

    Hmm.... I have an 80G hard disk on a 2006 Macbook intel core duo and cannot load any more updates / applications because MAC OS tells me the disk is nearly full (2G spare). However, I can only find 40G of stuff on there including all the big ones such as music, movies, photos, docs, apps, system, previous systems and library.
    1 - is there anything I need to do (other than delete stuff) to find or free up the space?
    2 - my previous systems folder is 10G - can I delete this without causing damage?
    Any thoughts appreciated!
    Andrew.
    Message was edited by: Andrewjohnstalker

    Hi Andrew;
    The Previous System folder was created when you did an Archive & Install some time in the past. If everything is working correctly since the A&I then you can delete the Previous System folder.
    Running your system with only 2 GB of free space greatly increases the chances for file corruption. I would suggest that you boot form the install media and repair the the system disk with disk Utility.
    Allan

  • Deleted Previous System Folder, No 10.5 Restart

    Apparently I've done a bad, bad thing. I installed 10.5 with the the archive and install option which created the "previous system" folder. Later I recovered what I wanted from that folder and deleted it. Now when I attempt to start in Mac OS I get a folder icon with a "?" and it starts up in Boot Camp. I tried starting up using the Install DVD for 10.5, but the computer will not recognize the DVD either in start up or while running XP through boot camp.
    Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

    The library alias is just a bug that all of us are experiencing. It has been around for a while and no one knows if or when it will be fixed. It does no harm and if you remove it it will come back so just ignore it. You had it in there before but probably just didn't notice it.

  • Ok to delete "previous system" ?

    I recently had my 'system' reinstalled at the genius bar, a file called 'previous system' was created on my HD of about 6.5 gigs, can I delete it? thanks

    Often the easiest thing to do is reinstall the software from the original installation discs. A really complex application may store files in all kinds of places, including some hidden ones with cryptic names. In order to provide assistance, Cary Magnum, we would have to know what specific problems you were having with the programs. You could also get much better assistance on the software issuer's own support site since it would also require some familiarity with the applications themselves. Since they are not Apple applications you can' be guaranteed that familiarity here.
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  • Can't Delete Previous Systems Folder

    I did an archive and reinstall some time ago, and got what I needed from the Previous Systems folder. So I tried to delete it (Secure Delete), and got most of it gone. What is left is a "Previous Systems" folder, with an "Previous System 1" folder inside, which shows up in the window as empty. When I try and delete it, I get a message that I can't because "html" is in use. I went in via Terminal, and found a series of directories under my "empty" Previous System 1:
    usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/html, with a ton of ".html" files in the "html" folder. I got rid of all those files, then tried to get rid of "html", but it tells me that it isn't empty. I used sudo rmdir, and sudo rm -rf, and I get the same message. What gives, and what can I do about it?

    Just to follow up on my problem, I finally had to backup my drive onto another drive, reformat the disk, and copy everything back. The unempty-able Trash was then empty. I still have one other problem that I hoped all that would fix, but I'll post it as a separate question. Just in case someone's curious, the problem (which I had before) is that sometimes upon waking from sleep, I get no response from the machine in that:
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    2.) Once I try and click the cursor on anything on the screen (Locations, a window, the Airport menu bar), I get a spinning beachball that goes on for minutes. When it goes away, I try clicking again, and back it comes. Eventually, the machine "catches up" and works, but it's very inconvenient. Usually, this happens after the machine has slept over night. It could be a network issue (i.e., it's looking for the network it saw the night before), but it doesn't happen everytime. It's enough to make me wonder why I bought a Mac.

  • Can I delete previous system?

    Hey all.... I've tried to look up the answer, but haven't completely understood posts. So:
    I upgraded to Leopard (not Snow Leopard) about a year ago.
    I am trying to clear up some space on my hard drive. What issues might I face if I delete the previous systems folder on my hard drive? I have everything backed up on an external. I am running some CS2 programs (soon to upgrade to CS4).
    Thank you!

    If you are referring to a folder called Previous System then yes you can delete it. It is a dysfunctional appendage of an Archive & Install installation. Other than that please be more specific with titles of folders.

  • Is deleting previous systems folder save when looking for more HD space?

    Could I copy it to an external HD just in case?

    Your current running system isn't using any part of the Previous Systems folder. All of that folder's contents are just sitting there. If there were no old components you want to keep (most likely command line software you may have installed yourself) it is completely safe to trash that folder.

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