Just want to back up applications.

[breatheasy]

I bought a new hard drive for my macbook pro and I was wondering if there was a way to back up just the applications on my current hd.

I wanted to do a fresh install of snow leopard on the new hard drive since there are a few issues that have arisen with my current install, but I do want to keep all the applications I currently have. Will it work if I just copy the applications folder to an external HD? or is it impossible without using something like time machine or disk utility to make an image?

 

[satcomer]

Well just coping the Applications will not work fully. Those applications might have put parts all over your OS X drive. Plus the registering of the applications could be in the /Users/YouUserName/Library/Preferences/ or Application Support.

You would be better off cloning the hard drive using Carbon Copy Cloner and cloning your current system to an external. Then when the new hard drive is put in do a fresh install of SnowLeopard and update it to the current version. Then connect to the cloned external (from your original drive) and use Migration Assistant to move over your application, music, pictures, email, etc.

Doing it this way will leave the cleanest 10.6.x install you can do. After the migration of your data you can reformat the external and use CCC to schedule a backup of your new hard drive's OS X.