Need to reinstall OSX - backup files on BootCamp partition?

[aoc153]

Hello,

I upgraded my from Leopard to Snow Leopard when it first came out, but for whatever reason my system has been running somewhat sluggishly since I upgraded (My Macbook Pro is more than capable of running either)


I want to do a clean install of Snow Leopard.

Could I just copy all of my music files, documents etc to my BootCamp partition, then reformat and install Snow Leopard on the other partition? Or does it wipe the entire drive?

 

[fehhkk]

Use Time Machine, it also backs up your Bootcamp partition.

 

[aoc153]

Use Time Machine, it also backs up your Bootcamp partition.

I don't have an external hard drive. I really just want to know if I can copy my music to BootCamp Partition, format & reinstall OSX on my mac partition and then drag it back over.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Could I just copy all of my music files, documents etc to my BootCamp partition, then reformat and install Snow Leopard on the other partition? Or does it wipe the entire drive?

Just run an archive & install, and select the preserve users and network settings option. None of your files will be affected. Of course, you should have a backup on another drive anyway.

The installer doesn't wipe any partition unless you tell it to. Your Boot Camp partition won't be affected.

Use Time Machine, it also backs up your Bootcamp partition.

No it doesn't.

 

[aoc153]

Just run an archive & install, and select the preserve users and network settings option. None of your files will be affected. Of course, you should have a backup anyway.

My drive is so fragmented and I've installed/ removed so many applications I just really want to wipe it and start clean. So I guess I'll just copy my music to BootCamp partition and format the other one with the installer.

Thanks for your help.

 

[BlueRevolution]

HFS+ (Mac-formatted) partitions don't get fragmented.

 

[aoc153]

HFS+ (Mac-formatted) partitions don't get fragmented.

Yeah, I guess that's not the right term. What I mean is I've deleted/ moved around alot of huge files, so there's not much contiguous free space.

i.e. Finder showed 100GB free on MacHD, but I couldn't create a BootCamp partition over 20GB because there wasn't a big enough chunk.

 

[BlueRevolution]

That's the right term, but Mac partitions don't experience fragmentation-related slowdowns.