Question about backing up files and reinstalling OS X

[manosaurus]

I want to do a custom reinstall of OS X on my imac G5. From what I understand there are two ways to back up the DATA that I want to keep:

1. Back up all of my files or clone my HD onto an external. Then copy anything I want onto the new installation.

2. Copy all of the files I want to keep onto several DVD's and do the same.

Now, I am wondering if there are any other options for saving the DATA I want to keep like music, photos, documents etc.. Is there a way that I could somehow clone my current HD to my imac HD, do the custom install, copy the files I want to keep from my old HD to my fresh OS and then erase the old HD?

TIA!

 

[beatsme]

I want to do a custom reinstall of OS X on my imac G5. From what I understand there are two ways to back up the DATA that I want to keep:

1. Back up all of my files or clone my HD onto an external. Then copy anything I want onto the new installation.

2. Copy all of the files I want to keep onto several DVD's and do the same.

Now, I am wondering if there are any other options for saving the DATA I want to keep like music, photos, documents etc.. Is there a way that I could somehow clone my current HD to my imac HD, do the custom install, copy the files I want to keep from my old HD to my fresh OS and then erase the old HD?

TIA!

what I would do is this:

1) back up all your documents (MP3's, photos, etc.) to your external HD...you could make an image copy of the iMac HD to do this if you wish

2) do an Archive & Install of the OS on your iMac. This will preserve all your applications, files, and user/network settings. Basically, it will just replace the operating system; your data files won't be touched. I believe you can customize the install to your specifications.

3) after you've done the Archive & Install, and verified that all your documents still remain, wipe/reformat the external HD.

4) make an image copy of the HD on your iMac G5, and save it to your external HD.

if you do it correctly, this will preserve all your documents and settings and give you a backup copy of everything.

note that steps 3 and 4 are optional. If you wanted, you could keep the original iMac image copy on the external HD. That way, if your new install doesn't work out, you could return to your old settings by replacing the new install with the image copy.

 

[manosaurus]

Thank you very much for the reply! I should have mentioned that I do not have an external at the moment so unfortunately I could not follow that detail. Is there a way to create a sparate partition on which I could do a clean custom install then transfer all my files from the old partition to the new?