Best backup strategy before clean install of Panther?

[Lyle]

OK, I think I have reached a good time in my work schedule to upgrade to Panther, possibly over the weekend. I have also decided, based on various postings in these forums, that a clean install (versus an "upgrade" install) is probably the best choice.

So my question is: for the least disruption of work, which directories do I need to back up? Should I back up my entire home directory, or is that overkill? And are there other (system) directories that I might need to backup as well? Any advice from more experience Mac OS X users is welcome.

 

[Horrortaxi]

It depends what you want to keep. If you only want to keep documents, pictures, music, etc then you can back up the appropriate directories. If you want to keep all your bookmarks, cookies, settings, etc then back up the whole home directory. That's what I did. I didn't copy my whole Jag home directory over the Panther one, but I don't know why I couldn't have. I just used it to get the few files I needed.

I wouldn't worry about anything outside your home folder apart from any apps you don't have an install disk for.