Clean install of Lion*– issues to be expected?

[tobbenos]

As of now, I've got 10.6.8 installed, and when upgrading to Lion, I plan to do a clean install. I'm trying to foresee any issues I might run in to.

- Can I restore what I want from a Time Machine backup (using Migration Assistant)? Documents, photos, music, applications – and still gaining from having a clean install rather than just upgrading?
- I've got iWork'08, and iLife'08. They came preinstalled, and I don't think I have got any install DVD's. The only of these I have bought from app store, is the new iPhoto. Can I restore these from my Time Machine backup, or is there some place on Apple's web pages I can download them? They are at the least registered in my name.
- If I DO NOT use Migration assistant to access the backup, is there then any way to access things like Key chain access? Also, I have heard some complaints about problems with the rights to iPhoto library when doing this manually.

Thankyou in advance..!

 

[gumblecosby]

As of now, I've got 10.6.8 installed, and when upgrading to Lion, I plan to do a clean install. I'm trying to foresee any issues I might run in to.

- Can I restore what I want from a Time Machine backup (using Migration Assistant)? Documents, photos, music, applications – and still gaining from having a clean install rather than just upgrading?
- I've got iWork'08, and iLife'08. They came preinstalled, and I don't think I have got any install DVD's. The only of these I have bought from app store, is the new iPhoto. Can I restore these from my Time Machine backup, or is there some place on Apple's web pages I can download them? They are at the least registered in my name.
- If I DO NOT use Migration assistant to access the backup, is there then any way to access things like Key chain access? Also, I have heard some complaints about problems with the rights to iPhoto library when doing this manually.

Thankyou in advance..!

Your facing an uphill struggle by manually installing iLife and iWork manually.
Heres a list what iwork 09 installs to your mac:

/library/application support/iwork 09

/library/application support/ResearchSoft/EndNote/Plugins/PagesEndNote.bundle

/library/Documentation/"some docs"
/library/fonts/"some fonts"
/library/preferences/"some installer plist"
/library/Quicklook/"some plugin"
/library/Spotlight/"some spotlight plugin"

/system/library/privateFrameworks/iLifeMediaBrowser.framework
/system/library/privateFrameworks/graphicsAppSupport.framework


/Applications/iwork 09/Keynote.app
/Applications/iwork 09/Numbers.app
/Applications/iwork 09/Pages.app

....

I remember having to install iLife 08 without the DVD because I lost it. What I did was copy over the apps to the applications folder.
Then copy over anything to do with iLife in "/Library/Application Support" and in "~/Library/Application Support/" such as iweb,iPhoto etc.

When you launch an iLife app, eg iPhoto, it will probably crash. You need to open the "Console" app in utilities to find out why it crashed. It should tell you that some file was not found that was needed. You will need to copy this file over from your backup to the correct location.

Repeat this process until, finally, your iLife apps launch.


Or you could just torrent the installers for these apps.
Both ways work.



PS. Since you can re-download iPhoto from the App store, this may save you some trouble as it may install all the required frameworks,etc to make all your other iLife apps works. So then, it may just be a process of copying over iDVD,iWeb,iMovie and their application support files to get them to work.

I recommend downloading iWork 08 trial from apples website and open the installer in an app called "pacifist". Its shareware. This app will tell you what gets installed on the system and which folder it goes into. So, you could just copy files from your backup to your main system in accordance with this info

 

[tobbenos]

Thanks for the reply. It seems pretty time-consuming – maybe I'll just have to drop it..

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If I use the migration assistant, will all these issues be avoided so that apps function normally (at least after running software update)? Or is the whole concept of clean installing then done in vain?

 

[gumblecosby]

Thanks for the reply. It seems pretty time-consuming – maybe I'll just have to drop it..

----------

If I use the migration assistant, will all these issues be avoided so that apps function normally (at least after running software update)? Or is the whole concept of clean installing then done in vain?

Ive never used migration assistant but this apple support document suggests that you may run into problems:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1042

I did get iLife working before without the install DVD. I remember copy over most of the files needed, then running software update to fill in the cracks.

 

[r0k]

When upgrading my HDD, I started by making a full backup of my old HDD to a fresh Time Machine backup on a firewire external drive. I then popped in the new HDD and inserted the Snow Leopard DVD, created an HFS+ Journaled partition in Disk Utility from the DVD and installed the OS. When it came time to migrate, I told it to migrate from a Time Machine backup and picked the backup I had made earlier to the firewire drive. Everything came back. Ilife, Iwork, LibreOffice. Everything. The only thing I had to reinstall or re-setup was mail.app which kept crashing saying it was trying to import 120,000 messages. I found mail.app's data directory, wiped it along with any mail.app plists and started over. No big deal. All my email was still sitting on gmail and mobileme just like I left it.

You really should not have to worry about any app installs when you use migration assistant. Then there was my wife's machine. I attempted to restore her machine from a TM backup to the network. It was corrupted and I wound up bringing back her documents folder from crashplan. This meant reinstalling all (3 or 4) of her apps. Again no big deal.

The best way to hold on to your apps is to make a bootable clone of your HDD using CCC or super duper. I've used CCC and it was a lot easier and faster than reinstalling the OS and migrating from a TM backup. The second best way to hold on to your apps is to use migration assistant. The third (allegedly) best way is to restore from Time Machine (this has never actually worked for me so I list it third and refer to it as alleged). Anything else involves manually copying files around. OS X is a lot better than windows when it comes to having libraries (dlls) scattered around the system and plist files (registry entries) all over the place but iWork and iLife tend to be more difficult than the average app without using the installer they came with.

 

[tobbenos]

That sounds good, but is there any point in doing a clean install, then? Recall that I may just head for the easy way out of this and upgrading to Lion, but I hoped to sort out some clutter by wiping the disc and installing a fresh Lion.