Leopard Clean Install - Please Help

Discussion in 'macOS' started by ginsterspasty, Dec 17, 2008.

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  1. ginsterspasty, Dec 17, 2008

    ginsterspasty macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2008
    #1
    Hi Everyone!

    My macbook has a 250gb drive in and i'm close to running out of space. Over the last 3 years I have accumulated loads and loads of software (freeware, etc)
    Also, the system just seems to be untidy, sluggish etc

    My idea is to wipe the drive clean, and do a clean install of leopard and then just recover the bits I need, and lose the rest.

    Can anyone tell me how to do this. Searching the net I can only find ways of recovering the entire system using super duper/time machine.
    I don't want to do this, I only want to recover the applications/settings I need.
    I was going to delete the apps I don't want, do a backup then a full recover, but I'm worried that i'm just going to recover all the crappy hidden system files that i'm trying to get rid of !

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Cheers
     
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  2. elppa, Dec 17, 2008

    elppa macrumors 68040

    elppa

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2003
    #2
    This seems a little counter-productive, because it would leave your system in the same state after the “recovery” as it was in before. You might as well just delete the apps and be done.

    I would:
    [1] Rummage through ~/Library/Preferences/, /Library/Preferences, ~/Library/Application Support/ & /Library/Application Support/ and do a bit of housekeeping.

    [2] Run Disk Inventory X (free) to see what is using up the space. Archive / remove where appropriate.

    Based on [2] decide whether or not to buy a bigger HD.

    If you really want to do a re-install then:
    [1] Backup everything, don't delete anything yet. Just in case.
    [2] Check the backup has worked and you can restore stuff.
    [3] Reinstall Leopard
    [3] Put your documents back that you need to use immediately (your photo library, music you enjoy etc.)
    [4] Scan through the backup of /Applications/ and reinstall the latest versions of apps you know you need to use
    [5] Add applications as and when you need them
     
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  3. MisterMe, Dec 17, 2008

    MisterMe macrumors G4

    MisterMe

    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2002
    Location:
    USA
    #3
    From the looks of it, there is no need for you to reinstall anything. MacOS X prefers to have 10% of its hard drive space free so that the virtual memory system can do its job. It appears that you have accumulated a lot of stuff that you don't want. My guess is that you have a lot of videos that are gobbling-up your available space. Remove enough files to free-up at least 25 GB hard drive space and you should be fine.
     
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  4. Gray-Wolf, Dec 17, 2008

    Gray-Wolf macrumors 68030

    Gray-Wolf

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2008
    Location:
    Pandora, Home Tree
    #4
    Get you an external drive and transfer a lot of it to it, if you can't bear to part with it.
     
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  5. ginsterspasty, Dec 18, 2008

    ginsterspasty thread starter macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2008
    #5
    Hi

    Thanks for all your advice. I think i'm going to go down the new hard drive route. I see you can pick up 500gb drives for around 90 quid now.
    The thing is, i'm an ex windows man, and with windows, if you didn't do a fresh install every now and again, the system would just get slower and slower and slower.
    Macs obviously work in a different way (better way!)
    So I think i'll just remove the applications/videos/etc I no longer need, do a backup, swap the drive, then restore.

    Would it be easier to do a clone of my current drive, or fresh leopard install onto the new drive followed by a system restore from time machine?

    Cheers
     
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