Help, I think I need to reload my Macbook Pro..

[silvrbullet]

Ever since I loaded SL I have been having issues with my Macbook Pro (I didn't do a fresh install). Entourage crashes all the time, and so does word and excel. I have sluggish performance opening windows, and now iphoto is stuck and I cant upload or change any of my flickr sets! I get the beach ball WAY more than I ever use to.

I have everything backed up via time machine, but I some questions about reloading. Firstly, how easy is it to restore from time machine? All I really care about is everything in my home folder, all my bookmarks and OS settings (if possible), my itunes music (FINALLY go it all organized and all duplicates deleted) and my lightroom catalog. I lost the disk for lightroom somehow, and I have over 120GB's of pictures loaded in it. I REALLY dont want to loose all my changes to my RAW files. Can I retreive the program with catalog still intact from time machine?

Secondly, I have the SL upgrade disk. Can I do a clean install from it? What else do I need to know?

I want to do a fresh install to wipe all the clutter off the drive. Can I just do a fresh install, load over everything from my home folder and then Itunes and lightroom?

This is my First Mac (had it about 6 months) and I'm paranoid about loosing my stuff. Especially all my images and lightroom catalog!

 

[stridemat]

I want to do a fresh install to wipe all the clutter off the drive. Can I just do a fresh install, load over everything from my home folder and then Itunes and lightroom?

Time Machine backs up everything unless you have specifically excluded items. It also makes it very simple at restoring from the TM backup once you have reinstalled Snow Leopard.

Boot up from the SL disk and select Utilities and the top, then select Restore from Time Machine backup.

 

[liljoedaprince]

Ever since I loaded SL I have been having issues with my Macbook Pro (I didn't do a fresh install). Entourage crashes all the time, and so does word and excel. I have sluggish performance opening windows, and now iphoto is stuck and I cant upload or change any of my flickr sets! I get the beach ball WAY more than I ever use to.

I have everything backed up via time machine, but I some questions about reloading. Firstly, how easy is it to restore from time machine? All I really care about is everything in my home folder, all my bookmarks and OS settings (if possible), my itunes music (FINALLY go it all organized and all duplicates deleted) and my lightroom catalog. I lost the disk for lightroom somehow, and I have over 120GB's of pictures loaded in it. I REALLY dont want to loose all my changes to my RAW files. Can I retreive the program with catalog still intact from time machine?

Once you "finish" installing SL, before rebooting, you will be asked if you want to use migration assistant to transfer your files form a time machine back-up. Keep in mind that if you select no, you will never be able to again witout reinstalling SL.

And Congratulations on having your first. I have an iMac (bought it on Obama's inauguration) and have gotten soooooo much happier. Macbook Pro Soon. Have fun

 

[ayeying]

Once you "finish" installing SL, before rebooting, you will be asked if you want to use migration assistant to transfer your files form a time machine back-up. Keep in mind that if you select no, you will never be able to again witout reinstalling SL.

Not True. Migration Assistant is in the Utilities folder. You can do it at a later time with no problems.

 

[silvrbullet]

So I can format the HD, install SL, and then use migration assistant to select everything in my home folder, itunes, and lightroom?

This is my first time doing this with a Mac, and if I loose my files I will jump off the nearest building! Does Migration assistant just give you a list of applications that were backed up on time machine?

 

[davidlv]

Your post implied, but wasn't really clear, that you have an external drive specified as a Time Machine backup disk. If you do, and allow the OS to make it up to date, you should be OK. I have done something similar, reinstalled SL, but then I did the restoration of my files and preferences manually. That was a long hard process, so I am sure TM will be much less painless, but it can be done that way if nothing else works.
The general rule is to have your vital data backed up on at least 2 separate sources, HDs etc. BEFORE erasing the internal HD. I don't mean to scare you, but what if the TM drive decides to die during the restoration? Be safe if you can and write your data to a DVD disk too. Just to be safe. You might consider buying a cheap USB external drive and using Carbon Copy Cloner or such to make a clone of the drive in advance too. Sort of rambling here, ...

 

[silvrbullet]

Yes, I have an external hard drive I use for time machine backups. I have two other backup drives, but they are NTFS and have too much other crap on them to reformat to HFS. Usually I do have two back ups, but I just moved all my PC stuff over to Mac, so I'm in the process of getting everything setup the why I like it.

Maybe I should take this opportunity to buy a 640GB hard drive and try to restore to it. That way if something goes wrong I can just put my 500GB back in and try something different?

 

[JosX]

I had a simiar issue with SL on my 2007 MBP, it was very sluggish, fresh install definitely improved it allot, but then I upgraded from 2GB to 4GB RAM & it was FAST. Far faster than Leo with 4GB.

 

[silvrbullet]

I had a simiar issue with SL on my 2007 MBP, it was very sluggish, fresh install definitely improved it allot, but then I upgraded from 2GB to 4GB RAM & it was FAST. Far faster than Leo with 4GB.

Did you use time machine to back up and restore? What was your experience?

 

[slabman]

When you restore from the TM backup, aren't you simply installing any problems and other clutter that was on the old setup? How can one be sure he's not re-installing the same problems? How would I do a clean install of my apps from original disks and then import the old data pertaining to that program?