Question Regarding A Full System Restore...

My MacBook is just over a year old and I'm noticing some odd behaviors of late. More beach balls and jumping cursors when typing emails etc. ( The cursor issue is irritating... I'll be typing and suddenly the entire message will delete, or the cursor will jump to another area within the email and I don't realize it... as I'm typing it's inserted in the middle of something I've already typed.)
I was wondering if I should do a full system restore? This is my first Mac, so my only experience doing a system restore back to the factory settings has been with a Microsoft PC and THAT is a pain. I do regular SuperDuper and Time Machine backups on my MacBook, but if I do a system restore and THEN do a restore from my SuperDuper or Time Machine won't that just put back onto my MacBook whatever is causing the beach balls and cursor issues? I would prefer to not have to do a full system restore and then reinstall individually all of my current applications as well as reconfigure my Airport Extreme/ Express and Apple TV etc.
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks !
Chuck

Hi - there's a few things i would do first if you haven;t done them already of i were you. Firstly, check your disk permissions in disk utility - go to spotlight and type in disk utility - click on the application and then in the right hand pane select you macintosh hd - once you've selected that go to the bottom middle of the whole pane where it says repair disk permissions - this can sometimes help rectify any cranky issues you have.
You can also fix your preferences - this site tells you how along with some other useful tips on sorting out system problems:
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
Another thing to try is to run your routine maintenance scripts - your machine will run these automatically but only if your machine is on in the early hours of the morning! I've heard that under Leopard if your machine is not on the scripts will run as soon as they can after missing the scheduled time but i've no evidence of this in my Console logs. Anyway, manually running them is easy - there are daily, weekly and monthly scripts. To run them all at once:
open the terminal application from spotlight
at the command prompt type:
sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
press return and it may ask you for your system password. type that in and press return
it will take a few minutes to run these scripts.
you may also need to clean out your caches as per the detail in the article listed above. you can get software that performs these tasks for you e.g. macjanitor, onyx, maccleanse etc
and if you do have to reinstall, i'd go for the fresh install - yes it is a bit time consuming but it loads and loads quicker than windows! make sure you back up your important data first.
all the best!

Similar Messages

  • Questions before a full system restore...

    I just want a fresh start after 4 or 5 or 6 years? I've backed up everything I care about. But I've never done it on a mac before and not sure how it compares to a pc restore.
    If I have two drives (160GB original + 300GB I added last year) how does it work? I think I read sometime ago on this forum that things should be installed on the largest HD?
    That's what I'm not sure about. Do I remove the original and swap places with it then start the restore and add the smaller one later? Or do I just leave them where they are and it asks me which drive I want it on?
    Do I use the grey disks that came with it or the Leopard disc? Thanks

    You can install OS X on any drive you choose. Many prefer to use the fastest rather than the largest drive.
    If you wish to reinstall Leopard then use the Leopard DVD (must be the retail disc, not the upgrade disc.) If you plan to really start from scratch then be sure you've first backed up all your personal data files. This would essentially be your Home folder's Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites folders. I would also plan to backup the following:
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    Calendars
    Mail
    Safari
    Preferences
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    AddressBook
    iCal (if present)
    You may even prefer to backup the entire Applications Support folder in case you need anything from it for your third-party software.
    Then do the following:
    Booting From An OS X Installer Disc
    1. Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
    2. Restart the computer.
    3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
    4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo appears.
    5. Wait for installer to finish loading.
    Erase the Hard Drive
    1. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
    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. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel 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.
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  • Time Machine question re: full system restore

    OK I am pretty sure this in the FAQ but the answer still isn't overly clear to me so I'm going to ask anyway...apologies in advance.
    I recently found out that my iMac hard drive is failing, I have an appointment with the Genius Bar in two days to see what is wrong and get it fixed.
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    LSC wrote:
    OK I am pretty sure this in the FAQ but the answer still isn't overly clear to me so I'm going to ask anyway...apologies in advance.
    I recently found out that my iMac hard drive is failing, I have an appointment with the Genius Bar in two days to see what is wrong and get it fixed.
    In the meantime, I am currently backing up my hard drive using Time Machine but I am hearing conflicting reports as to whether or not I can do a full restore from Time Machine should my iMac have it's hard drive or other components replaced.
    So...question: Can I directly restore my iMac (with a possible new hard drive or other components) from Time Machine?
    yes, you can. you can do it using full system restore utility on the leopard install DVD. there are no ifs or buts about it. where is that "conflicting info" coming from?
    If not, how can I do it.
    I am most worried about my photos in iPhoto as my wife will murder me if I lose our wedding and honeymoon photos.

  • Can I do a full system restore of a 10.5 system by booting on a 10.6 CD?

    Dear all,
    I am trying to support my parents whos MacBook just failed (harddisk dead). They have now gotten a new harddisk installed and wants to restore the setup from their TimeCapsule.
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    2. They ran a Mac OS 10.5.x system, but cannot find their installation CD. Can I lend them my Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) CD to boot, while still restoring their 10.5.x system? (I don't want them to have 10.6 as I am not sure about compability with all their 3rd party software/drivers etc.)
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    Magnus Olsson wrote:
    2. They ran a Mac OS 10.5.x system, but cannot find their installation CD. Can I lend them my Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) CD to boot, while still restoring their 10.5.x system?
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    Yes. See #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum, for detailed instructions. Note the caution there, under the green box, about turning TM off immediately after the restore.

  • After Full System Restore

    I just did a full system restore using time machine, and I have a question. After this is done, I noticed that I had to set up my external hard drive, which I used to do the system restore, once again to work with time machine. Because of this, time machine starts over from the very beginning and the previous backups seem to be lost. However, when I drill down on my external hard drive, I see two folders "mynameImac1" and "mynameImac2". Imac 2 is my newest backup. So what about my old backups? Apparently they're still on my external hard drive under Imac 1. Can I access these time machine backups or should I just delete this folder?
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  • Full System Restore with Snow Leopard Upgrade DVD

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  • Cannot run Disk Manager in Full System Restore

    Hi,
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  • Photosmart Premium C309a series: full system restore fails to result in HP Scan functioning

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    This question was solved.
    View Solution.

    Hi @MJM_archiver,
    I see by your post that you had to replace the hardrive and after doing a full system restore from the Time Machine back-up, you are unable to scan. I can help you with this.
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    Click Verify and then Repair Disk Permissions.
    Restart the computer.
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    Click Printers & Scanners.
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    Click OK to confirm the reset.
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    Uninstalling the Printer Software.
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    If you need further assistance, just let me know.
    Have a nice day!
    Thank You.
    Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
    Click the “Kudos Thumbs Up" on the right to say “Thanks” for helping!
    Gemini02
    I work on behalf of HP

  • Hey I'm a novice on computers, but i've just done a full system restore on my laptop after backing it up on an external hard-drive long story short in the back up process all my itunes converted to mpeg4 files and now i can't get them back into my my libr

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    robsta_1980 wrote:
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  • How can one do a full system restore from Time Machine to a Macbook Air

    I recently had a major crash on my two internal disc DualG5. The system internal disk failed completely and I used Time Machine to do a full system restore to the second internal disc. It worked PERFECTLY!! I followed the instructions in support
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    Richard,
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    [http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1131]
    [http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1777]
    Let us know if this was helpful.
    Cheers!

  • Ho do i restore my files from time machine after a full system restore?

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    See Here  >  How do I restore my entire system?
    From Here  >  http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
    More Info Here  >  http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

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  • Unable to boot after Time Machine full system restore!!

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  • Unable to boot up after full system restore

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    Did you sort it? Same thing happened to me and I am having to do another 8 hour restore!

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