Resolved ~Delete Thread~

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

Could a mod delete my thread? thanks.

 

[monaarts]

And why would one not backup their personal files? Seems like that almost defeats the purpose of doing the backup, no?

 

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

And why would one not backup their personal files? Seems like that almost defeats the purpose of doing the backup, no?

Somebody didn't read the entire thing.

'But, as a general statement, only backup your home folder, developer folder (if you develop apps), Applications you want, and exclude everything else from the backup.'

All your personal things are in your home folder.

 

[baryon]

Good idea, but there are easier ways to do this.

First of all, there is no need to reinstall Snow Leopard if you're already running on it. Just simply download Lion when it's out, and make a bootable USB out of it (you can find how to do this on the forums).

Boot from the Lion USB and erase your drive from there to do a clean install, if you want.

OS X cannot back up all of your Apps if you exclude the Library folders. That's where all the info is stored. For example, if you simply copy and paste the Photoshop folder in Applications from your old system to the new one, it won't run. It will be missing a ton of things in the user Library. Some apps don't rely on the Library, but those that come with an installer mostly do.

But if you're going to back up your Library folder, then there's not point in doing a clean install anyway, as that's where all the clutter is.

I would also not recommend excluding anything from the Time Machine backup. Who knows where some important stuff might be? Maybe you'll remember that you should have backed up System as that's where some of your fonts are, etc...

Just back up everything, and restore what you need. You can always not restore something, but once it's lost, it's gone forever!

I suggest installing Lion as an upgrade first, and then doing a clean install if necessary.

 

[maflynn]

This a way, not necessarily the right way.

There are many alternatives to preparing for Lion and to be honest, less work then what you propose

 

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

Good idea, but there are easier ways to do this.

First of all, there is no need to reinstall Snow Leopard if you're already running on it. Just simply download Lion when it's out, and make a bootable USB out of it (you can find how to do this on the forums).

Boot from the Lion USB and erase your drive from there to do a clean install, if you want.

OS X cannot back up all of your Apps if you exclude the Library folders. That's where all the info is stored. For example, if you simply copy and paste the Photoshop folder in Applications from your old system to the new one, it won't run. It will be missing a ton of things in the user Library. Some apps don't rely on the Library, but those that come with an installer mostly do.

But if you're going to back up your Library folder, then there's not point in doing a clean install anyway, as that's where all the clutter is.

I would also not recommend excluding anything from the Time Machine backup. Who knows where some important stuff might be? Maybe you'll remember that you should have backed up System as that's where some of your fonts are, etc...

Just back up everything, and restore what you need. You can always not restore something, but once it's lost, it's gone forever!

I suggest installing Lion as an upgrade first, and then doing a clean install if necessary.

Well, I just reinstalled SL, didn't backup the system or my library, and all my apps, which alot have junk in the library, work fine, all my data was retained, and everything. If you guys don't like my post, just send it to a mod, and have them nuke it,

 

[brijazz]

If you guys don't like my post, just send it to a mod, and have them nuke it,

Don't take the other users' comments so personally. When you make a bold statement such as:

this is going to tell you how to do it, the right way

...you're bound to get some retorts.

Also, not backing up ~/Library will cause the user to lose any scripts, PDF services, iMovie plugins, saved Finder search criteria and bunch of other stuff. Personal data is more than music and spreadsheets

 

[Ygn]

Cheers for the guide. I have a late 2009 mac mini with 2gb ram.. I was just looking on Crucial at their ram and it's £28 for 4gb, so I'll see how it runs then probably upgrade to 4gb.