Can I restore just my apps from Time Machine?

[Tronic]

Hello, I'm relatively new to macs, about a year in, but I've never gotten around to using Time Machine. Mainly because its not my primary machine so I'm not using it for anything serious at the moment. That being said, I somehow managed to corrupt OSX to the point where it needs to be re-installed. Basically what happened is I tried to resize my Bootcamp partition and either Disk Utility crashed or I did something wrong that caused it to during the resize. Now whenever I click anywhere on the menu bar, the current app crashes.

So what I want to know is, If I create a Time Machine backup today and then reinstall OSX. Can I then access my backup but only reinstall the apps? Or will the new version of OSX be overwritten with my corrupted one?

Thanks

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Yes. If you run a Time Machine backup now, then reinstall your system you will be able to then access your backup and reinstall your apps. But beware, if you have apps like Adobe CS, Office, MatLab, or other large Suite of software the backup restore will likely not be a smooth one (nor will your preferences be restored).

 

[spinnerlys]

You can do that.
Either during installation or after with the help of Migration Assistant, which give you the option just to restore the applications.

 

[Tronic]

I do have Photoshop CS4 as well as MS Office 2008 installed. What do you mean that it will not be smooth? I don't care if it takes a long time, I just don't want to have to deal with registering/activating all my apps again.

 

[BlueRevolution]

I don't know about Office, but CS4 gets everywhere. Simply copying the files in /Applications won't work.

 

[newdeal]

...

I think your best bet is to reinstall all your current software after you reinstall the OS, since those apps are spread about the whole drive you wont get them working properly without a reinstall. Too bad you dont have a time machine backup from before your system went crazy

 

[surflordca]

Too bad you dont have a time machine backup from before your system went crazy

Some people learn the hard way but than again a year is not long enough to find time to do it. Hard to feel sorry for some...