Reinstalling OS to fix h/w and s/w issues

Question

Hello all,
I understand the general consensus is to reinstall the OS to fix the popping noises in iMovie transitions (which my iMovies suffer from). I also understand the general consensus is to reinstall the OS to fix pausing/skipping in movies burned on my superdrive (which DVDs burned on my Mini suffer from). My Mac Mini is only 7 months old and perhaps its burned 20 or 30 DVDs.
If reinstalling the OS is the fix then I’ll hold my breath and cross my fingers and do it. I asked the guys at my local Mac store "which files (other than data) I should back up before I reinstall?" Their response was rather vague until I suggested such files as network config files. Their reply: "uh, oh yeah, better find those". Me: “and the bookmark file”. Them: "oh yeah, good idea". After those brilliant answers I left the store.
Surely there must be a definitive list of config and other files that need to be backed up to save me hours of reconfiguration after reinstallation.
So two questions: Is anyone confident that reinstalling the OS will fix my Mac’s problems, or are there some less drastic measures I could try first? And if reinstallation of the OS is the only solution, does anyone have such a list of files to backup, or know of such a list they can point me to?
Thanks
Howard
Mac Mini   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

Answer 1

Howard, I would have zero confidence in the suggestion that a reinstall of the OS is the only way to resolve the issue - that sounds like a rather typically large sledgehammer to crack a rather smallish walnut sort of approach. I DO have confidence it would work, but only because in the process you'd delete any damaged file and replace it with a good one. Even so, it seems a bit drastic!
I've had my share of iMovie and iDVD issues (though interestingly, not on my mini but mostly on the G5), and the general conclusion I've come to is that many of the issues are caused by cache files. Macs rely rather heavily on these for reasonable performance, and it's not at all unusual for the system to pull up a lump of data from the cache rather than the actual file. In iMovie for example, it has been known to cause a clip to play even though it's been removed from the system, also causes odd transitions and noises, has made editing titles problematic in some iMovie versions, and caused issues with DVD projects.
There are useful tricks in iMovie that can help reduce some issues - things like using a blank title of the correct length instead of dragging a blank in the timeline, which helps prevent clicks/pops and noises as the next clip starts, but I've found that many issues can be fixed by cleaning cache files using a utility like YASU (downloadable from www.versiontracker.com). It's probably worth trying that first, before taking any more significant steps!