Re-installing Lion without losing iTunes, iPhoto and documents...

[naclers]

So I want to do a complete reinstall of Lion and erase everything off of my iMac. I understand how to accomplish this, however there are three things that I need to keep safe from deletion. Those being my iTunes library (which I since my iPad and iPhone to: I would prefer to not have to erase and resync once this is over), my iPhoto library (which is relatively large about 9,000 photos and some videos) and of course my documents folder. It is imperative to me that I save these things.

Is there an easy way to go about doing this?

Thanks

 

[NewbieCanada]

So I want to do a complete reinstall of Lion and erase everything off of my iMac. I understand how to accomplish this, however there are three things that I need to keep safe from deletion. Those being my iTunes library (which I since my iPad and iPhone to: I would prefer to not have to erase and resync once this is over), my iPhoto library (which is relatively large about 9,000 photos and some videos) and of course my documents folder. It is imperative to me that I save these things.

Is there an easy way to go about doing this?

Thanks

Do you have another drive large enough to hold these folders? If so, it's easy as pie. If you don't, it's not going to be easy!

 

[naclers]

I have my 1TB Time Machine drive. Which should be enough for the things I need. Though I do not want to just restore from a back up.

 

[naclers]

So, I have secured an additional hard drive that is not in use. What do I do from here?

 

[AlexCC]

1. Plug it in

2. Copy the following folders to the extra hard drive you have:
~/Users/<USERNAME>/Documents
~/Users/<USERNAME>/Pictures/iPhoto Library (is a file, not a folder btw)
~/Users/<USERNAME>/Music/iTunes

3. After the re-install simply replace these folders in your fresh install with the ones on the external hard drive.

4. Done!


The Documents folder may not allow you to replace it. In which case you just copy the content of the Documents folder on your hard drive into the Documents folder in the fresh install on your computer, instead of replace the entire folder.

Edit: During the re-install process of Lion it is probably best to disconnect the external hard drive form the computer. You know, just to be sure!

 

[chown33]

2. Copy the following folders to the extra hard drive you have:
~/Users/<USERNAME>/Documents
~/Users/<USERNAME>/Pictures/iPhoto Library (is a file, not a folder btw)
~/Users/<USERNAME>/Music/iTunes

There is no folder or directory named "~/Users". "/Users", yes. "~/Users", no. Why point this out? Because accuracy is important when giving instructions.

Instead of "/Users/<USERNAME>/", one could more easily say, "In Finder, open your Home folder, and copy the Documents, Pictures, and Music folders". The Home folder can be opened by choosing Home from Finder's Go menu.

 

[AlexCC]

There is no folder or directory named "~/Users". "/Users", yes. "~/Users", no. Why point this out? Because accuracy is important when giving instructions.

Instead of "/Users/<USERNAME>/", one could more easily say, "In Finder, open your Home folder, and copy the Documents, Pictures, and Music folders". The Home folder can be opened by choosing Home from Finder's Go menu.

Jesus Christ, you really don't have anything better to do than going around picking on people trying to help others, do you?

 

[naclers]

Thank you very much. Forgive me if I caused any trouble...

 

[chown33]

Jesus Christ, you really don't have anything better to do than going around picking on people trying to help others, do you?

If by "picking on" you mean "correcting inaccuracies of", then no, I don't have anything better to do at the moment.

Instead of getting all annoyed and argumentative, you could simply correct your post. Then I'll have a mod delete my post, and instead of having inaccurate and potentially misleading information posted, you can take pride in your post's accuracy. Because an inaccurate "trying to help" isn't all that helpful.