Previous System -- What can I delete?

I recently had to perform an Archive and Install on my system, which results in the creation of a Previous System folder. This thing is taking up about 6 Gigs of hard drive space, which is an awful lot for something that appears to do nothing for me. It was more efficient just to reinstall all my software than to try to find all the hidden files that caused problems after re-installing the system.
My question is, what can I safely delete at this point? Things have been apparently running fine for a couple of weeks, and even if they weren't, it seems that it would be a bad idea to copy anything from the corrupted old system, rather than just re-installing again from disk. I'm afraid to just delete anything out of the Previous Library or System folders without knowing what I'm doing. What sort of things might cause problems that I'd actually need the OLD files for? And what is the "Private" folder? Can that be safely deleted now?
[I have to say, up to OS 9 I knew what almost everything in the System Folder did, and what could be deleted, or turned off, and how to fix it if I deleted the wrong file. But I can't begin to fathom the depths of OS X. It's like the Directory in a PC. I don't know any more what anything is there for, and I'm afraid to touch anything.]

So if my applications all launch, that's enough to satisfy myself that the Previous System folder is no longer necessary? That is, (a) none of those files will affect anything other than my ability to run applications? and (b) none of those files will affect how an application runs, but will by its absence prevent it from even launching? I'm hoping that's so, since that would be relatively easy to verify.
I'd just archive this previous system off disk, but even that seems like a waste of space if it does nothing for me any more.
Also, how does a FWHD preclude the need for doing an A&I? Sure, I could boot from that other OS, but if the one on the main internal drive goes corrupt, wouldn't I still need to re-install either as A&I or as a clean installation?

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Once you are satisfied that the system is running correctly and you no longer need anything from the Previous System folder then you can delete it without have any impact on the system.
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