can you install panther over panther?

[blue&whiteman]

it seems I am unable to boot from my main boot hd even after volume structure tests which passed and optimize which failed.

bottom line here is I would have to back up about 40GB onto cdr before I could wipe the drive and reinstall as there are many things I need on it.

is there a way to reinstall it over itself like you used to be able to in os 8 and 9? if its far better to do a reformat I will but only if I really need to. let me know.

[janey]

archive and install's your best bet.

[TEG]

To answer your question, yes, you can reinstall over the existing System folder. But as Ubergeek said, Archive and install would be your best bet. It renames your current System folder and installs a new System folder in its place.

TEG

[virividox]

now would be also a good time to get an external hard drive if you have the mulah, makes backing up easier

i third the idea for the archive install