Reinstall/Back up question..

Discussion in 'iMac' started by newuser2310, Oct 10, 2011.

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  1. newuser2310, Oct 10, 2011

    newuser2310 macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2010
    #1
    Hello,

    Currently run a 09 Imac which is starting to be a bit slow during certain tasks.

    I'm going to reinstall lion and add some extra ram to speed things up a little until I can afford a new ivy bridge imac next year.

    I need to buy a new external as my current one is too small, old and slow.

    I was also thinking about moving all my media to the new external drive.

    Is this the right way of doing things:

    1. Copy all media to folder on external drive.
    2. Create time machine backup excluding media.
    3. Re install lion
    4. Use migration assistant to bring back applications/documents
    5. Point itunes etc to folder on external

    Can I change the pictures/movies/music folder in finder to point to the relevant folders on the external or would i have to click on the external every time?

    Or should I just save myself the hassle and keep all the media on the local drive and use the external solely for back up?

    I've been collecting music for years and would be annoyed if it all went pete tong with the new external.

    I suppose I could just copy all my media onto my old external to be extra safe.

    Cheers

    PS I do have the lion dmg saved Can I just create a disk image and burn to dvd? Rather than re installing sl??
     
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  2. Wally4000, Oct 10, 2011

    Wally4000 macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2011
    #2
    I would suggest reinstalling Lion doing a "Restore" in Disk Utility onto a USB stick of at least 8GB. You then do not need to reinstall Snow Leopard.

    In all honesty I would wait for 10.7.2 (which should be out in a matter of days!) to attempt to clean up your problems, maybe run a few cache clearing tools (either Onyx or Ccleaner (this is still beta so its probably not best yet!)).

    Backing up the iTunes Folder, iPhoto / Aperture Library (And Photobooth if you must) is okay as its as simple as dragging those folders back into the Music and Pictures folder respectively. You however would be better off doing a full time machine backup and running Migration assistant to get all your settings back (if you do not feel comfortable manually backing stuff up)

    You should also consider purchasing iTunes Match and taking up iCloud if you have so much music.. It'll be worth every penny for you as your entire library will be in the cloud safe and sound!
     
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