Reinstall OS X?

[besler3035]

Okay, so my iBook G4 (specs in sig) had a hard time handling my Photoshop and InDesign work last night. I don't have too much stuff on my laptop, and have 40 gigs left (60 GB hard drive). It's seemed like my iBook has gotten slower over the past couple weeks after trying to customize my system with CandyBar, Growl, etc. I uninstalled those items but it's still not as speedy as when I upgraded to Tiger.

Do you think it's worth an erase and install of Tiger? Like I said, I don't have that much stuff on my system (only pain is my music), so I could put things on a few CD's and then import them back when finished.

 

[munkle]

If it's not much hassle there's not any harm in re-installing. You'll get rid of any remnant files and no doubt it'll be a tad faster, not likely to be much though. It's up to you really.

 

[pulsewidth947]

I'd do a fresh install. The reason being is that a few people have experienced problems related to doing an upgrade.

Before you do so though, do the usual maintenence tasks (daily weekly monthly, repair permissions, update prebindings, repair permissions etc). If you already have Tiger installed, use this automator app to do some of them for you.

If that doesnt speed things up, or you've already done that, then yeah back all your stuff up and fresh install.

 

[besler3035]

Alright, I'll repair permissions first and restart and see if that helps. If not, guess I'll be spending my afternoon erasing and installing.

When I upgraded to Tiger, I did do an Erase and Install, which sped up the system significantly.

 

[besler3035]

Repaired permissions, didn't really help. Guess I'm off to backing up my 1000-song library and a few other documents, then reinstalling 10.4.0, then upgrading every software program imaginable once I reinstall it.

A pain? Yeah, but it's worth it

 

[pulsewidth947]

Mate I feel for you, its not much fun is it? At least you'll have a good backup for incase anything goes wrong in the future.

Remember to back up your Safari Bookmarks!!!!! I forgot one time and it took me ages to remember what needed to be there.

 

[besler3035]

Okay, I've reinstalled Tiger. The only thing is that I need to get Quicken '04 off of my old iBook disks. When I did it the first time, it installed Tony Hawk and some other games along with Quicken. Is there a program out there to JUST get Quicken off the disk?

 

[munkle]

Pacifist might be able to help.

 

[besler3035]

Pacifist might be able to help.

That's what I was looking for, but didn't have too much luck. My disks are for 10.3.3 and you have to install Software Restore into Utilities first. I tried both packages and no luck. Oh well, guess I'll install the extra apps and delete as necessary.

 

[ITASOR]

Mate I feel for you, its not much fun is it? At least you'll have a good backup for incase anything goes wrong in the future.

Remember to back up your Safari Bookmarks!!!!! I forgot one time and it took me ages to remember what needed to be there.

Is there a file that stores the bookman settings so I can back that up?

 

[IJ Reilly]

So much for there being "no harm" to clean installs. Always lots to try for performance issues short of a clean install. Lots. Repairing permissions is only step one.

 

[munkle]

Is there a file that stores the bookman settings so I can back that up?

In Safari, go to File/Export Bookmarks. Save the resultant file somewhere safe and use the import bookmarks function if you ever want to restore your bookmarks.

 

[neocell]

So much for there being "no harm" to clean installs. Always lots to try for performance issues short of a clean install. Lots. Repairing permissions is only step one.

Could you suggest a few?
My G4 iMac is starting to get a bit sluggish so I would like to know what I could do.
Thanks in advance

 

[munkle]

Download Onyx and run the maintenance tools.

If you're really concerned you can check your volume fragmentation to see if defragging your disk might be of benefit. If you do want to defrag your disk, I would recommend going the SuperDuper route instead. Here's more on defragging your system (PDF).

 

[neocell]

Download Onyx and run the maintenance tools.

If you're really concerned you can check your volume fragmentation to see if defragging your disk might be of benefit. If you do want to defrag your disk, I would recommend going the SuperDuper route instead. Here's more on defragging your system (PDF).

Thanks, I'll give them a try

 

[IJ Reilly]

Could you suggest a few?
My G4 iMac is starting to get a bit sluggish so I would like to know what I could do.
Thanks in advance

I recommend AppleJack so often that people are probably getting tired of hearing about it, but this little utility has saved my bacon so many times, I don't mind touting it the point of nausea and disgust and beyond if need be.

If you reinstall OSX without trying this first, you are truly wasting your time. IMO of course.

 

[neocell]

I recommend AppleJack so often that people are probably getting tired of hearing about it, but this little utility has saved my bacon so many times, I don't mind touting it the point of nausea and disgust and beyond if need be.

If you reinstall OSX without trying this first, you are truly wasting your time. IMO of course.

Thanks for the help