Backup programs for fresh install

[Sepultura]

I am reformatting my Core Duo iMac which runs Snow Leopard. It's been in use since it was purchased and needs a proper reformat. There is so much dated stuff and junk on here it needs to be wiped.

I have reformatted Mac's before many times, but the difference here is I want to backup some programs.

This computer has Office 2011, Aperture, Photoshop CS3, as well as some programs. I also have iLife '08 I want to backup.

So am I able to just drag the folders onto my external HD and then drag them back on to the formatted Mac? I don't need the preferences or anything.

Thanks

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

Hi,

I went from Leopard to a new iMac with Snow Leopard 2 years ago. Before I moved things over I used SuperDuper! and made a clone of the Leopard HDD onto an external HDD (which also had a Leopard Time Machine partition). It was a safety thing if anything went wrong, but I ended up using that external HDD and Migration Assistant to move things over to the new iMac.

The very nice thing was the way it moved over my old CS2 suite, I didn't even have to re-enter the registration numbers.

While you can drag and drop some applications from one folder to another HDD folder, I believe Adobe programs were/are pretty scattershot with all the various folders they strew around and simply dragging over the suite from the Apps folder might not work as well.

If I were to do things differently today though, I'd have been more selective with Migration Assistant and moved less of the older stuff over, I thoughtlessly moved a bunch of HP printer drivers and some other similar stuff and it's sort of like playing whack-a-mole the last couple years. But Migration Assistant was great moving things like iTubes and iPhoto Libraries too.

Right now I'm moving apps and resource files from Snow Leopard to a Mountain Lion partition but doing it the drag & drop way like you're proposing to do. --Having the Mac App Store with Snow Leopard forward makes it a ton easier to move apps, so I don't have to worry that much about those, but it's a different proposition from Leopard.

 

[Sepultura]

Thanks for your post.

I will just be doing Snow Leopard to Snow Leopard. It's a Core Duo Mac so it cannot be upgraded beyond that version.

Most of these programs are not from the Mac App store. I can redownload things like Facetime, that's no big deal.

So Migration Assistant is better than Superduper?

I don't need to make a backup of the entire drive because the computer will be totally clean.