Going to sell my Mac - a couple of questions..

[Poff]

A fella will be picking up my G4 iMac on wednesday, but I'm not 100% sure on all the preparations, so I thought I'd ask here.

• First of all, he probably wants to format the machine and do a fresh OS install, so how do I go about formatting my HD and reinstalling the stuff. Will it be enough to just start it up w/cd insertet after I've formatted? (I'm used to the old Windows-days where you needed a boot-disk)
  
• Second, how do I do a backup of all my mails? User > Library > Mail just seems too small in size compared to all my mails.
  
• Third, where is my keychain stored?
  
• Can't think of anything more.

All help appreciated.

 

[john1123]

you don't have to reformat the drive before installing the OS it does it automatically for you if you choose the 'Erase and Install' option during the installation.

you can either insert the cd when the computer is on and it will guide you through the install process or you can boot off the cd by holding down 'C' just after the start-up chime.

I'm not sure about 2. and 3. though.

 

[MacsRgr8]

If I sell a Mac, and want to assure myself I have a complete backup of everything, I make an image of the HD.
I usually use an external FW Disk (or other Mac capable of booting in FW Target Disk mode), and boot the "to sell Mac" of that disk.
Then open Disk Utility and create an image from the "to sell Mac" HD.

Otherwise, a backup of your Home directory should be sufficient. Only a couple of "classic" apps and prefs are not in your home directory.

So, instead of trying to find out where each individual pref, store, or setting is stored, backup the whole Home directory.
Creating an image of the HD is even better. That way, even all your apps, Classic System etc. are safe

 

[peterj1967]

Carbon Copy Cloner...

and a really easy way to make a backup of your mac is to use Carbon Copy Cloner. It is free-ware (may be shareware) you can download from Version tracker. Great piece of software I use for backing up my system. But, as said, you will need an extra hard-rive to back things up to.

If you don't have an extra drive, it's a good thing to own because it gives you a really easy quick way to always have an up-to-date backup of your system.

 

[Maedus]

User > Library > Mail does indeed contain all your emails, and be sure to grab com.apple.mail.plist out of the User > Library > Preference folder also. You can just replace factory originals of each with your old ones and it should work fine if its the same OS X version. I recommend starting Mail offline for the first time after this to let it get everything in order before trying to fetch mail online.

Also, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but if you have a new mac, or a mac you're using primarily now, already, couldn't you use Setup Assistant and a firewire cable to transfer everything you need from the old computer? Even if you've already have set up your Mac and have been using it for a while? I'd still back everything up off the old iMac, but it would seem Setup Assistant would be the easiest way to store all the critical information off your old iMac onto your current Mac and make place it in all the correct spots and make it useful to boot.

 

[JzzTrump22]

You don't have to reformat the hard drive. All you do is reiinstall the OS.

 

[Poff]

Hey again,

thanks for all replies.

I won't have the new mac for a while, so I can't transfer all files via FW, as I would have done in a "normal situation".

The reason I don't want to just back up my home-folder, is that my library has become a mess after installing a lot of programs I don't use. I want them out of there..

I found the keychain, so I guess all my questions are answered.

I'll just continue backing up stuff, then..

 

[ftaok]

Don't forget to de-authorize your iTMS account before re-formatting/re-installing the OS. That is if Norway has the iTMS.

 

[Poff]

Don't forget to de-authorize your iTMS account before re-formatting/re-installing the OS. That is if Norway has the iTMS.

We'll have it by the end of the month, but thanks for mentioning it anyways. I guess I better remember that next time I sell my Mac.