Trashing Previous System Folder??? Question

Did a archive/install of OS about a week ago.. It was successful.]
Fixed my corrupt issue/Everything is working great.
I've reinstalled applications that I need to...
I've checked to see that everything I want to be here now--is here.
(Music, Photos, Documents, Bookmarks, etc.)---It's all here.
My question is: Is it safe to trash the "Previous Systems" Folder?????
It's presently sitting on my HD. It's (understandably) a big file---I'd like to toss it.
Can I? Safely?
Thanks for your help.

jonnylovemac,
Apple Says:
You might wonder "What do I do with the Previous System folder?" It may contain items that you need. To determine this, once you've finished configuring, installing, and updating your applications, you can compare the Previous System to the new System. If there are things in the Previous System folder that aren't in the new System folder, copy them over or reinstall. If you're not sure what some items are (and don't seem to need them), leave them in the Previous System folder. Once you're comfortable that you've got everything you need out of it, you can delete the Previous System folder (or leave it around if you have enough free disk space).
Based upon what you listed in your post, you can safely trash the Previous System folder.
;~)

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Trashing "previous systems" folder - applications in use by current system

Hi, Ive made a total mess of reinstalling tiger (probably cos I didnt do a clean install).
everything is working fine, but now ive got a "previous systems" folder on my hardrive that weighs something like 40GB. I was advised it was okay to trash this folder as so long as i'd got any user prefernces out of application support and copied them to the new system. I did this, but next time I went to open my email I was told I couldnt because the application was located in the trash. i tried opening text edit also, and the same problem. so the new system is clearly running applications out of the previous system folder. why?
can someone please tell me how to sort this out? my harddisk is now overflowing due to this folder, and I dont know what i can and cant delete from it (or even where to put the stuff I DONT delete). Help!

There may be a way to get the previous Home Directory files from
the old Previous System folder; and under certain conditions, this
is possible. The error in your current situation appears to be due
to not selecting to save old user accounts & settings in the new one.
"How to get files from previous home directory - after Archive & Install"
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107297
"About installation options - Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5..."
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1545
"Peachpit: Installing, upgrading, Backing Up, and Restoring..."
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=454796&seqNum=3
Some ideas, not all valid, as found in a search of these terms:
{ restoring previous system Mac OS X } - Google Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=restoringprevious+system+Mac+OS+X&btnG=GoogleSearch
There are times where it is preventative to have a backup clone on
some external bootable hard disk drive; and test it before proceeding
in an upgrade or update, then you could revert back by bringing the
clone back into the computer's hard disk drive, if needed. Without a
cloned system, or ideally a complete hard drive clone, this is harder.
Good luck & happy computing!

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Hi DrAndy;
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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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Hello,
I have searched the forums and have not found an answer to my question, so I shall post it.
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Unless you made a separate backup, playlists are referenced in the iTunes Library file and the iTunes Library .XML file: iTunes: How to backup and restore playlists
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Hi all!
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Sounds like your Mail index is corrupted. To create a new one, do this:
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Mulder

Can I trash "Previous Systems" after Archive and Install?

For details leading up to this question, please see my previous post entitled "Not recognizing password after OS install". Basically I want to know if I can throw out the "Previous Systems" folder that was created when I did an "Archive and Install" re-install of my OS.
Thanks.

For more information about the previous system folder and what is saved, you can check out Mac OS X: About the Archive and Install feature. Probably the most important piece of information is that the Previous System Folder contains a copy of the /Users folder. If you thought that something was missing from your home folder in the new system after the upgrade, you could copy it from the /Users folder. But, if you selected the option "Preserve User and Network Settings" when you did the Archive and Install, this should not be necessary.
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EMAC G4 1.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Previous System folder vs. system folder after archive and install

Hi there - I am very new to mac but love the products and am excited to be a part of the culture.
Because I am having battery-type problems I was told to do an archive and install to see if it was a software problem.
My question is, I followed the instructions apple gave for doing the archive and install. And it says that you can delete the previous system folder if everything is the same or you can move stuff over.
The problem is I want to delete the previous systems folder but it is very different than the new one and I don't even know what I would copy.
Briefly, the new system folder just has one folder inside called library with a bunch of folders inside of that.
The previous system folder called previous system 1 has folders entitled application, library, mach.sym, private, system, and users. Why are they different and what can I do?

The previous system, in most cases can be safely deleted. You can't revert to it anyway, so there's no fall back option to worry about. If you've saved everything in your user folder (or home folder - same thing) your data is safe. The previous system may have some preference files for apps you run, perhaps even registration data for apps that require serial #'s when you install them. If everything runs fine, and your data is where it's supposed to be, you can safely delete the previous system. I'd suggest making sure everything runs OK for a week or so, make sure all your apps work and all your data is there, then delete the previous system.
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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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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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Thank you
Phil

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:
/Library/Application Support/
/Library/Preferences/
/Library/StartupItems/
/Library/InputManagers/
/Library/PreferencePanes/
These may contain items installed by third-party software that you will have to move manually from the PSF.
If you have Palm software installed there will also be one or two Palm related folders that you will need to transfer.
Once you are satisfied that you have everything then drag the PSF to the Trash and empty. If you get any warnings then simply restart the computer and then empty the Trash.

Moving Previous systems folder

I have just upgraded my OS to Tiger on a G3 Tower that only has 12 Gig. I did an archive and install, which I now regret, but I did it. Now I am out of disk space. The "previous system" folder is 2.75 gig and I have been trying to move it to my external drive. It takes forever to "prepare to move" roughly 33,000 files. Then, when it actually starts to move them, I get a "permissions" error and a choice of skipping them. I choose to skip them and the "move" terminates. How can I move this folder to my external drive?"
Thank you.
G3 Tower Mac OS X (10.3.9) Turqoise

It is not necessary to move the entire Previous System. First delete the Apple apps and utilities from the Previous System, this will give you some space. The other Third Party apps and utilities have already been moved. Those found in the Previous System are not compatible.
The entire old System folder can be trashed. Drivers for your hardware have been upgraded or moved to a current location.
What you are most interested in are located in your Home folder. The Preferences for the Third Party applications can be moved from User/Preferences (previous) to User/Preferences (new).
Do the same for the Preferences located in Library/Preferences
Be sure to Fix Disk Permissions along the way.

Do I need "Previous System" folder?

About a month and a half ago, had internet issues and upon consulting with an Apple rep, one of the things he had me do was reinstall OSX from the disk. Of course we used the "save previous system" option or whatever it's called. At this point, everything still appears to be fine on my system.
My question is now the "previous system" folder remains on my Mac HD, and as it's taking up about 10gb of memory, I'd like to delete it. With everything running fine, is there any reason to keep it?
Derek P

In a word, no.
As long as all your files are in the right places after the reinstall, I would see no reason to keep this any longer.

No Previous System folder?

OK this gonna sound a little weird. I just upgraded to Leopard from Tiger three days ago. With Superduper now Leopard-able it seemed like a good time. After studying this forum I decided to do an Archive and Install. It all went well and after letting spotlight catch up, I installed the updates to 10.5.2 using the Combo Updater method (I really do read these forums!).
Here's the question: I search for a Previous System folder using spotlight and nothing shows up. With Archive and Install, that should be there, right? It's not. What happened? Did I get a standard upgrade instead? Even though I carefully set up the Archive and Install?
ps I'm had 3-4 kernel panics so far so I'm not a totally happy Leopard-er. I'm considering another Archive and Install or even an Erase and migrate.

Spotlight actually does not index/search many of the top-level folders, including System, Library, and Previous Systems (although it does search some of their subfolders).
See this Knowledge Base article (applies to Tiger, but I don't believe the specifics have changed in 10.5).
Matt

Previous systems folder -- what can i delete?

i had to archive my old system and now, in my hard drive, is the "previous systems" folder with the old library and whatnot.
i have moved my personal files (desktop, itunes, word files) into my new system and i'm wondering if i can just delete the entire "previous systems" folder -- or if there are things in there that i should be sure to transfer (like any program or application files), or if deleting that folder might cause any problems.
also, should i just delete the inner "previous system 1" folder (the only folder inside "previous systems") or can i delete the whole folder, prev systems? i don't think it was there before the archive so i assume i can delete it but i wasn't positive.
help! thanks.
Mac OS X (10.4.7)

emillie
There are some things that might need moving: printer software that you added and so on. I suggest that you use the machine for a week or two and if you're content that all is working normally then you can trash it. That's what I did.
Regards
TD

Trashing Previous System Folder??? Question

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