Difference between re-installing all apps on new SSD vs time machine app transfer?

[rockandroll556]

I'm doing a fresh install of osx on my new SSD because my old drive has permissions errors and I feel restoring from a clone would therefore be a bad call.

That being said, should I also manually reinstall all applications or just transfer them over with time machine/migration assistant in the startup screen? It would be a major PITA to manually reinstall all my apps, but worth it to me if it would be less likely to cause problems with my computer than transferring my apps over via time machine or migration assistant in the osx start-up welcome screen thing would.

 

[maflynn]

I could be wrong but If you just restore the applications folder, you're basically just doing a copy.

Some apps like MS Office, or photoshop install components in other areas and if you don't restore /Library or ~/Library you may need to reinstall the app.

Personally I prefer reinstall as that ensure I have a clean system. I then manually restore the ~/Library/Mail folders and a few other application support folders in the ~/Library

 

[xfs]

As a rule for imagine in a school environment, we just move or restore from backup all the apps/programs whose installers are in DMG. Most installers for Mac are under this category.

If it is a *.PKG file, it is best to install. The list for PKG from the top of my head:
MS Office
Adobe Suite
Symantec
Perian


Hope it helps

 

[rockandroll556]

Thanks for the replies... I'm actually not really worried about programs like ms office or photoshop.. I have a LOT of audio programs though - ProTools, Ableton, Logic, about 15 VSTs and hundreds of plugins (maybe they're similar in regards to how they install with photoshop? Not sure..)

I'm not looking forward to reinstalling because installing, for example, logic alone took me I believe 7 hours or so (50gb across multiple dual layer DVDs). A VST I have, omnisphere, is also 50gb, as is NI Komolete, and those are just three of the apps i need to reinstall - albeit probably the largest ones - but nonetheless it would be a lengthy process.

But the consensus seems to be its worth it? Anybody else with an opinion on the matter (especially in regards to the type of applications I'm going to be installing or restoring)?

 

[throttlemeister]

I would just restore. The way OSX is set up, applications don't do anything to the system and vice versa. They have their own separate location, far away from any system functions. If you were experiencing system issues, you can easily restore your apps.

However, if you were experiencing application issues, you might be better off installing.