The immense hassle of archive and install

I had to do an archive and install the other day; and while it solved my main problem, I happen to have hundreds of plug ins and add ons and sounds etc.
So when I create my previous system folder, with its 3 'Libraries' I inevitably put things in the wrong places.
So its all day reinstalling loads and loads of software.
An entire day.
What am I doing wrong; is there a simpler way to put important things back where they belong from previous to new system folder, or will I be vexed with always having to reinstall tons of important software and plugins.
thanks

Hi newmacG5,will I be vexed with always having to reinstall tons of important software and plugins.It sounds like you plan to do this often If your Libraries were messed up, you are betting off installing the software and plug-ins.
In the future, you can back up your Users to DVD which would be helpful. But an external hard drive is your best backup solution. Make sure it is firewire and that it is "bootable". Two good brands are the LaCie d2 and OtherWorldComputing's Mercury Elite drive.
You can use SuperDuper(Free for cloning) to clone your entire drive to an external firewire drive.
I keep mine with a complete clone of my internal, that way it is easy to boot from the external and run utilities like Disk Utility, TechToolPro, DiskWarrior, etc. on the internal and vice versa.
This way, if diaster ever strikes, you can even just start up from your external and keep right on working. Then, clone back to the internal when you have time.
Good luck.
-mj
[email protected]

Similar Messages

Error at the end of Archive and Install; Need Quicktime reinstall quickly!

I got all the way through an Archive and Install and at the very end it said there was an error in the process. Everytime I do it, same thing.
I'm trying to reinstall Quicktime 6 because I've read Final Cut Pro 4 doesn't work well with QT 7—I downloaded it recently. FPC performance has been horrible ever since!
I followed the easy step by step process Apple provides for Archive and Install but it doesn't work in the end. I'm trying to reinstall Quicktime 6. Currently working with 10.3.9. My original disks are 10.3.
I'm running off the original disks; don't know why it won't do it.
Need Quicktime reinstall quickly!

I already had, the problem is not covered on that page.
I'd had no response within a few hours so I had to force the Powerbook to shut down. On rebooting, it only got as far as the Apple logo and the progress wheel. I left it for half an hour and it got no further. I reset the PRAM again (I'd already done it before the actions detailed in the original post). Nothing. I tried again to Safe Boot. Nothing - not even the login screen.
I then tried to re-install OS X 10.5 - this time the option to 'update' was available which I did. It automatically restarted but still would not proceed beyond the Apple logo and progress wheel.
That's how things stand now. I have given up for the day but I can't think of any other course of action apart from a complete erase and install but that would be far to drastic because unfortunately, despite my insistence last time there were problems, nothing has been backed up.
Incidentally, I tried to boot in target mode to recover their account folder - the disk mounted on my MacBook Pro but when I tried to open it, my Finder crashed.

Archive and Install

I installed 10.4 and followed the directions to select 'archive and install' but now everything is gone. Well, not gone, just not where I can find them. ITunes is wiped clean. All of my Safari settings. Mail. Gone. Any ideas on how I can restore these items? According to the space available on my disk, everything is still here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Drag them back from the Previous Systems folder on the hard disk; once you've retrieved everything you want from it, that folder can be deleted if desired.
(50703)

Printer issues after archive and install

So I recently took my iMac into the Apple store and they did an archive and install.
Now I can't get either of my printers to work. I have a Samsung ML2010 and an Epson 1400. They both show up in Printers in the system prefs printer pane, with green lights saying they are idle.
When I go to print with the Samsung, it even goes to far as to sound like its starting up, it says printing when I click on the printer in the dock, then quickly switches to stopped.
From there when I press resume, it pops up an error message saying "Operation Could Not Be Completed. client-error-not-possible"
If I'm not mistaken pretty much the same thing happens when I try to print from the Epson as well.
What's wrong and how can I fix it?
I've tried deleting the printers from the printer prefs page and reinstalling the drivers to no avail.

Did you make a backup before your archive and install?
If not, you may be forced to clone everything at least twice*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
Erase and install.
Test the drivers on a simply erase and installed system updated to the operating system it was at before (down to the free download)*:
http://www.macmaps.com/upgradefaq.html
And restore just the data that is known to work with that operating system from your backup. The other consideration you'll see in my FAQ is if you migrated from PowerPC to Intel, you might have mixed drivers that don't work well together.
are all Intel iMacs, and are not G5s.
are sometimes G5, sometimes Intel. If the Mac can boot, go to Apple menu -> About This Mac to tell the difference. If it won't boot, put the machine on its back, and read the under side of the foot of the stand. The EMC# on the foot of the stand will tell you the difference. EMC#s of 2104, 2105, 2110, 2114, 2118, 2111, 2133, 2134 are Intel. All others are G5.
An archive and install may fail if the system you are archive and installing from is older than what is already installed.
- * Links to my page give me compensation.

Archive and Install misses-Some-applications ( ? )

Amidst two efforts of Archiving and reinstalling I have been amazed at two consistencies . One is that the routinely running iTunes , i.e. working like a Swiss Clock , disappears and the Address Book remains among the missing .
The missing Address Book is the reason for the flurry of Archiving and Installing , so I am inclined to accept that as less surprising that it remains unusable . However , thanks to a stand alone down load , I can recover my iTunes application from Apple Computer .
This somehow strikes me as odd that an other wise happy Operating System will Ostracise first an Address Book then Strike another application after being "Restored" .
What gremlins pursue in my Address Book remains a secret , but by piling Mount Ossa on top of Olympus , then Mount Pelion on top of Ossa , so to speak , What can the meaning of my Archive and install twice removing iTunes be ?
Having purchased Pacifist I had entertained high hopes that this parsing of the install Disc would provide a substantive fix in replacing the "Missing" applications . I say "Missing" because they are right there according to my lying eyes and Get Info .
All ideas entertained until the cows come home , Frederick

In the interest of saving space, can I trash the app folder from my previous system?
Yes.
What else can I safely trash from the previous system without compromising my data?
Anything which was reinstalled. That folder is left there partially so that any files you may have added to the previous system can be restored.
(40368)

Can you archive and install mac os lion

so can you?

Not exactly. If you want a fresh version of OSX, you can just install one. It will take a while on Lion, since it must be downloaded, but won't disturb anything else. See Using the Recovery HD.
Archive and Install was dropped after Leopard.

Restore "Archive and Install"

I recently reinstalled Mac OS 10.5 from a retail disc (new iMac, lost the original install disc), and it worked just fine. I then used the same disc to "archive and install" a different computer (iMac G4) to 10.5 from 10.4 (the original intent of getting the disc), and decided to skip the disc check, since it had just been performed successfully not long ago. However, halfway through, the installer said that it could not validate the Essentials package, and evidently, the disc is damaged.
The computer does not start up, and I don't have another disc available. It is very important that I have this computer working soon, even if it is 10.4 (the Archive). Is there any way that the archive can be safely restored?
EDIT: I have already tried cleaning the disc, to no avail.
Message was edited by: nneonneo

nneonneo wrote:
I recently reinstalled Mac OS 10.5 from a retail disc (new iMac, lost the original install disc), and it worked just fine. I then used the same disc to "archive and install" a different computer to 10.5 from 10.4 (the original intent of getting the disc), and decided to skip the disc check, since it had just been performed successfully not long ago.
Welcome to the Apple boards:
The disk check is not just for the DVD but also for the optical reader.
There is an old saying that if you are in a hurry, don't take any shortcuts
However, halfway through, the installer said that it could not validate the Essentials package, and evidently, the disc is damaged.
Or the optical reader or the harddrive.
You don't say what kind of computer this is so it's hard to give you accurate information as to how to proceed.
The computer does not start up, and I don't have another disc available. It is very important that I have this computer working soon, even if it is 10.4 (the Archive). Is there any way that the archive can be safely restored?
Since it is a very important computer, did you perform a backup first?
You have have hosed the HD.
The archive is created from the original system during the install. If your install died, the archive may not be available.
See if you can boot from the Tiger disk diagnostics (hold down "D" key with disk inserted) and if so, run the diagnostics. You should also verify the HD and permissions, which should have been done prior to the install but it's still worth trying.

Archive and Install: "Previous Systems" Folder?

I had to do an archive and install a few days ago on my iMac. Thankfully it hasn't ever been necessary before on any of my systems in the many years I've been using Macs.
Firstly: what would be the consequences — if indeed there are any at all — of deleting the "Previous Systems" folder? I desperately need to free up some disk space to install some rather large apps that I need for work; however, owing to my unfamiliarity with how OSX organises the system after an archive and install, I'm averse to just deleting the folder if doing so might possibly result in system instability.
Secondly: The archive and install seems to have gone well; the user accounts seem to work fine and I have just finished updating without any significant issues (other than sometimes not being able to hide apps/finder — but this is only a minor irritation). Also, I tried to move some of my plugins from the archived system folder to the new one; however, it doesn't appear to have been any use — the plugins are either not recognised or simply don't work. Again, this is only a minor issue as I can always download and re-install all of my codecs as and when...
Thanks.

although I verify the internal HD that computer boots from roughly once every one to two months and it never seems to indicate that there are any problem.
Oh, that fine then if it Verifies OK.
It might be prudent to mention at this point that I haven't been able to make a full system back-up of the main/boot HD either. Mainly because I don't have a third party app to do it...
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
Or the most expensive one & my favorite, Tri-Backup...
http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html
PS, it can be done with the OS, but a real pain, even more to restore it.

Can I partition my HD when I Archive and Install the OS?

I may need to perform an Archive and Install of OS X 10.6 due to some glitches, and this was recommended by an Apple tech support. If I do go through with this (hassle), does anyone know whether it is possible, to choose at that time to create a 2nd partition on my HD? I have a new MacBook Pro and during the installation/migration process of retrieving my data and transferring it from a backup HD to the new computer, I did not have an opportunity to create a 2nd (or more) partition. Anyone know if this is possible when doing an Archive & Install without a lot of hassle?
Thanks!

Tara Hollander wrote:
I may need to perform an Archive and Install of OS X 10.6 due to some glitches, and this was recommended by an Apple tech support.
If you understood Apple's support people correctly, they seem to be a bit confused. Snow Leopard doesn't have an "Archive and Install" option. It has an upgrade install method. You can also launch Disk Utility early in the installation process to do the equivalent of an "Erase and Install" method.
If I do go through with this (hassle), does anyone know whether it is possible, to choose at that time to create a 2nd partition on my HD?
As soon as the installation process shows you a "Utility" menu, open Disk Utility and use it to partition the computer's disk. After the installation, copy your data from the backup drive.

"The application Safari has unexpectedly quit." / "Archive and Install"

...The system and other applications have not been affected.
Would you like to submit a bug report to Apple?
I was working on my eMac last night when all of a sudden Safari shut down. I tried to open it again and I kept getting the above error message.
At first, I thought this was no big deal, as I just downloaded Mozilla Firefox. However, it seems that whatever error caused this corruption in Safari has also affected my MSN Messenger, and a few other internet related Apps.
I don't know if any of you have come across this problem before, but it would be greatly appreciated if you could email me your suggestions to fixing this problem.
I called Apple support, and the lady suggest looking for a way to "archive and install preserving" so that I don't lose any of my important files. I'm sure that this might fix my problem as well.
Please let me know if you have a solution for me!!
Eric.

Eric Jackson Wood,
Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
Doing an Archive and Install because Safari unexpectedly quit is roughly akin to using several sticks of dynamite to take out a housefly in the kitchen. How much RAM does your Mac have, and how long had Safari been running continuously before the quit? Safari does have a known memory leak problem (the Safari 3 beta may have fixed that; too soon to tell for sure); if you have a minimal amount of RAM (256 MB or less), run multiple applications simultaneously, and leave Safari running for several hours, you can expect Safari to bog down. If you then try to load some types of web page constructs, the unexpectedly quit message isn't quite so unexpected. (Quitting and relaunching Safari every few hours is a viable workaround; in sever cases you may need to restart the computer as well.)
How were other Internet apps affected? Slowdowns, unable to connect, unable to find sites, or what? What version of MSN Messenger are you using? (MSN Messenger isn't known for being overly robust in the first place.) If a number of online utilities all begin to act strange at the same time, my first suspect would be the local network and the ISP. Is the problem still persistent after restarting the computer and after several hours (to allow the ISP to fix any glitches on their end)?
If Safari continues to misbehave, launch Safari and before going to any website, try going to the Safari menu and select the commands to reset Safari and clear cache, then restart Safari and see it that helps. If you have Safari set to open going to a homepage rather than opening a blank page, first move /Users/ [your_username]/ Library/ Preferences/ com.apple.Safari.plist to the Desktop before launching Safari to reset it and clear its caches. If Safari then works, you can quit it and try moving you previous preferences back; if Safari begins acting up again, trash the old preferences and re-enter your desired settings in a newly-created preferences file.

I'm a Pro Tools user, who just did an "Archive and Install" installation of 10.5.8 over my 10.4.11 on my 2 Ghz G5, now Pro Tools won't launch. I checked the extensions folder and sure enough, the digidesign extensions were left behind. Can I revert back

I'm a Pro Tools user, who just did an "Archive and Install" installation of 10.5.8 over my 10.4.11 on my 2 Ghz G5, now Pro Tools won't launch. I checked the extensions folder and sure enough, the digidesign extensions were left behind. Can I revert back to the "Archive" of my 10.4.11 System from the "Previous Systems" folder? If not, what's the point of creating the "archive"?

Did you select "Preserve User Settings"?
Archive and Install installation automatically moves existing system files to a folder named Previous System, then installs Mac OS X again. (See tip 3.) You cannot start up your computer using a Previous System folder, nor can you "re-bless" the Previous System folder. (See tip 1.)
You can choose to preserve your user and network settings before installing. This option automatically moves existing users, Home directories, and network settings. This also skips the Setup Assistant after installation.
Note: Because the "Preserve user and network settings" option moves, not copies, existing users, Home directories, and network settings, from the Previous Systems folder to the newly installed System, these items will not exist in the Previous Systems folder after the Archive and Install is complete.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1710
Read this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2196
BTW, it is never recommended to do a major OS change without having a full, bootable backup.

TS1394 Can't re-install Leopard. Trying to reinstall the OS because computer locks up. It is a 2008 iMac that came with Leopard. Upgraded to Snow Leopard. Tried to archive and install from original DVD that came with iMac. Installation failed, so tri

Computer locks up, so I want to reinstall the OS. I had upgraded to Snow Leopard.
Tried to do an archive and install from the DVD that came with the computer, but that failed.
Tried to do an erase and install, but the install stops somewhere near the end, 13 minutes to go. Tried several times, same result.
Can't reboot from the install disk, it just ejects the disk and I get the flashing question mark.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.

I think my hard drive is toast. When I boot in single user mode, I get the following text:
CSRHID Transition Driver: start booting in single user... will wait for window server
Then the following text appears, repeating itself over and over, except that the numbers (indicated by "xxxxxxx")
SAM Multimedia: READ or WRITE failed, SENSE_KEY = 0x03, ASC = 0x02, ASCQ = 0x00
SAM Multimedia: READ or WRITE failed, SENSE_KEY = 0x03, ASC = 0x02, ASCQ = 0x00
disk1s3: I/O error.
0[level 3] [READUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [ErrType IO] [Err No 51] [IDType READ] [PB1kNum xxxxxxxxx] [LB1kNum 0] [FSLogMsgID xxxxxxx] [FSLogMsgOrder First]
0[Level 3] [READUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [FSLogMsgID xxxxxxxxxx] [FSLogMsgOrder Last]
These messages keep repeating with the numbers (xxxxxxxxx) changing with each iteration.
Does this indicate a bad hard drive?
Thanks.

Archive and Install, Does it format the whole disk

If I ran an archive and install on my macbook, would it give me the option to reformat and repartition the entire hard disk, or only the volume where Leopard is currently installed. So if i have three partitions on my hard drive right now, one Leopard, one Ubuntu and one swap, and I did an archive and install, would it wipe out all three of those partitions and just make one big Mac partition again?

podsorcerer wrote:
If I ran an archive and install on my macbook, would it give me the option to reformat and repartition the entire hard disk, or only the volume where Leopard is currently installed. So if i have three partitions on my hard drive right now, one Leopard, one Ubuntu and one swap, and I did an archive and install, would it wipe out all three of those partitions and just make one big Mac partition again?
no. archive and install is done on one partition only and that partition has to have os x installed. in any event it won't touch any other partitions. that's true for any kind of install you do. there is disk utility on the leopard install dvd and you can use it to reformat and repartition the entire drive if you want but the installer itself doesn't do that.

Where is the "Archive" file from "Archive and install"?

I did an Archive and install when I upgraded to 10.5. I also made a bootable clone (external HD) of my Tiger.
Now, I'd like to know where the Archive file is? And is it ok to delete?
Need to free space on my internal HD.
Thanks

Open the folder Previous Systems on your hard disk, go through the highest numbered or most recent folder for items you want to keep; once done, throw it away and empty the Trash.
(25395)

Does "Archive and Install" really exists on the Snow Leopard install DVD ?

Well, Mr Magoo really needs your help.
I have an iMac late 2009 edition and the Snow Leopard DVD installer discs.
Reading the little baby paper book manual that came with the discs and the iMac it says on page 54 that i can re-install Snow Leopard by choosing "Archive and Install" or "Erase and Install".
Mr Magoo just can't find that "Archive and Install" choice and have concluded that this is a very bad reprint of a manual from years long ago when it was possible to archive and install or it some joke by Apple.
Unfortunately my 90 days of phone talk to Apple has expired albeit the two year warranty under apple sometimes care program i purchased is still valid.
Help/suggestions on how i can get to do an Archive and Install with the Snow Leopard installer DVD that came with this iMac ?

Dave Sawyer wrote:
You misunderstand what Carolyn wrote. In Snow Leopard, Apple engineered the installer so that any reinstallation over an existing copy is in essence an "archival" install in the sense that it replaces all the OS files while automatically preserving the applications and user settings, just as the old "archive and install" option did, though no longer with the option to not preserve the user settings. So all installations over an existing OS are in essence "archive and install", so Apple removed the extra, now-redundant option.
They also removed the "Erase and Install" option. The only way you get a "complete fresh" installation is if you use Disk Utility to erase the drive. Otherwise the 10.6 installer will install a new set of OS files but not remove your apps and user settings.
If you want to reinstall Mac OS X 10.6 and keep your applications and user settings and data, just do a normal installation over the existing one. If you want to do a completely fresh installation, either starting completely new or restoring user data from a backup, first run Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and erase the drive.
Well, have you tried an Snow Leopard installation on top of a previously installed Snow Leopard.
I must really be an idiot in using the snow leopard installer.
I loaded the optical slot with the Snow Leopard DVD installer and after it opened up on the desk top i double clicked the install icon. That restarted my iMac.
When I launched the installer after selecting my "Language" and then going thru the customization ( for example I don't need all those foreign languages ) and then selecting the drive to carry out the installation the installation starts.
Upon completion all my third party applications were zapped and i only had the Apple applications. There was no "previous" system folder as there used to be in previous operating system installers.
So, honestly, I have no idea how you folks manage to make an Snow Leopard installation over a previously installed Snow Leopard whereby all the third party applications are still there.
Please tell me the steps i should take to make an "archival" install over top of a previously installed Snow Leopard that retains all third party applications.
After my install of Snow Leopard I had to re-install all my third party software applications which in my case are mainly midi/audio programs.

The immense hassle of archive and install

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