Complete Re-Install of OSX Question

[Brendan Del]

Quick way to put it, my macbook has been acting up lately, freezing, fans are being pushed to their full potential even when running simply applications etc. I want to re-install OSX entirely but this may cause an issue:

- I have a lot of paid applications on my macbook and I'm worried that if re-install OSX I would have to pay for these applications again.

Solution? - Would it work if I copy all of my data onto an external HDD (The applications that are paid for) and then after the OSX install I copy them back over to the macbook? Or would I get error messages and so forth?

NOTE: I'm not sure if a Time Machine restore would be wise after a reinstall of OSX because this issue could every possibly be because of something I downloaded off the internet.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Fed]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I imagine if you were to copy all of your applications directly to an external hard drive and re-install, they'll go straight back on. Simply re-installing and downloading all of the apps again seems a bit of a waste but if you did ever lose your apps, you can freely download them via iTunes for free (given you've already paid for them).

Prior to them introducing the feature (can't remember the name) I e-mailed Apple and they gave me a link to download them all again. Very good service.

Also, what generation is your MacBook? If it's relatively new and shows the same symptoms after a re-install, take it to your nearest Apple store and they'll run some diagnostics for you if needed.

 

[Brendan Del]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I imagine if you were to copy all of your applications directly to an external hard drive and re-install, they'll go straight back on. Simply re-installing and downloading all of the apps again seems a bit of a waste but if you did ever lose your apps, you can freely download them via iTunes for free (given you've already paid for them).

Prior to them introducing the feature (can't remember the name) I e-mailed Apple and they gave me a link to download them all again. Very good service.

Also, what generation is your MacBook? If it's relatively new and shows the same symptoms after a re-install, take it to your nearest Apple store and they'll run some diagnostics for you if needed.

Thanks for you're reply but the applications I'm talking about aren't from Apple's App store. They are purchased programs from 3rd party companies. That's why I'm worried :/

You might see it was a waste of time but in the past 45min, my macbook (Early or Late 2011) has frozen twice... So I'll attempt to do a clean install first and then take it to the Mac Store is all else fails.

 

[Fed]

Thanks for you're reply but the applications I'm talking about aren't from Apple's App store. They are purchased programs from 3rd party companies. That's why I'm worried :/

You might see it was a waste of time but in the past 45min, my macbook (Early or Late 2011) has frozen twice... So I'll attempt to do a clean install first and then take it to the Mac Store is all else fails.

Oh, my apologies. Did these applications require activation keys when you first purchased and installed them? If so, it may be a case of just reentering it when it's re-installed. If you're worried, I'd send the developer or company an e-mail explaining it to them.

Hmm. It may be worth taking it into Apple regardless then.

 

[Brendan Del]

Oh, my apologies. Did these applications require activation keys when you first purchased and installed them? If so, it may be a case of just reentering it when it's re-installed. If you're worried, I'd send the developer or company an e-mail explaining it to them.

Hmm. It may be worth taking it into Apple regardless then.

Yes they did and sometimes re-entering the key will provide a message saying that the key is already in use and sometimes they will allow it. So I guess it's a matter of 'we'll see' :/.

I think I'm going to re-install everything regardless and then after that's done take it to apple before my warranty runs out.

Thanks for your help