Reformat Question

[callmemike20]

Hey all,

I was going to reformat my mac today (just an OCD I have). The problem is, I have a lot of emails, calendars, and contacts that I don't want to lose. I do have mobile me that is syncing with all this. Is there a way to retrieve my info using mobileme after I reformat?

Note: I don't want to do archive and install. I just want to do a full clean setup.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Can't go into detail at the moment, but most of your settings are in various folders within the Library folder in your home directory (and some are in the main Library folder of your startup disk.)

The following folders have lots of your settings in:
"Preferences"
"Application Support"
"Caches"
"Mail"
"Calendars"

You'll want to preserve these (and probably a few others), and copy them over into your new, clean installation.

 

[quotemeas]

Hey all,

I was going to reformat my mac today (just an OCD I have). The problem is, I have a lot of emails, calendars, and contacts that I don't want to lose. I do have mobile me that is syncing with all this. Is there a way to retrieve my info using mobileme after I reformat?

Note: I don't want to do archive and install. I just want to do a full clean setup.

Yes, if you sync your information (contacts, calendar, bookmarks) to the "cloud," you then can re-sync the information to the new OS install. Just select "MobileMe" in the System Preferences pane and then choose "Sync" followed by "Advance" and then click "Reset Sync Data." A dialogue box will appear and just make sure the arrow is pointing to your Mac (Reset the data on your Mac). You will overwrite the default install data with your up-to-date data you had prior to the reinstall.

As for email, if the emails have remained on a MobileMe Mailbox (such as the Inbox) then it will remain on the server and reappear when you access your Inbox on the new install. If you created an "offline" or "On My Mac" Inbox, you will have to move those messages to a MobileMe mailbox or back them up. The easiest way to back them up is to navigate (in Mail) to Mailbox/Archive Mailbox in the menu bar. This will save a mailbox that you can backup to external media.

 

[quotemeas]

Can't go into detail at the moment, but most of your settings are in various folders within the Library folder in your home directory (and some are in the main Library folder of your startup disk.)

The following folders have lots of your settings in:
"Preferences"
"Application Support"
"Caches"
"Mail"
"Calendars"

You'll want to preserve these (and probably a few others), and copy them over into your new, clean installation.

No reason to backup "Caches." Those are temporary files and hold no "settings" information.

If you want copies of your data that can be backed up to external media, the best way is to export that data from within the application(s). This function is usually located in the menu bar under "File." Some applications even have a "Backup" function.