Reinstall OSX. Need some advice.

[GlynJones]

Hello All,
I'm having the odd glitch on my (relatively) new iMac 24" Core Duo in that every now and then it locks up. One time when it locked up it would not reboot until the pram was reset. Speaking to Apple Support stated that this was a software problem. I have run full hardware tests and everything passes.

When I have bought new machines I’ve always used Migration Assistant to copy over from my old machines so I’ve been from Powerbook G4 (Panther), Powerbook G4 (Tiger Upgrade, not clean install), Powermac G5, back to Powerbook after selling the G5 and then onto the Intel iMac. Front Row as never worked on my iMac and I have assumed that it has got corrupted somehow. Apple Support think that something no longer compatible or needs upgrading software wise is causing the problem. I do have a lot of old software that I no longer use. Time for a clean install.

I need a bit of advice. I can copy most stuff from my backup drive no problem i.e. iTunes, Parallels, eyetv etc. I'm just worried about iPhoto (06), iCal, Mail, Address Book, as I don't want to loose these settings etc. Are these in a standard location and is it just a case of dropping from the backup to the correct locations?. If so can anyone tell me what they are?

Thanks for any help. Looks like tonight is the night for the rebuild.

Glyn.

 

[72930]

What about backing up just your whole Home folder

 

[mad jew]

iPhoto
Copy the iPhoto Library folder from your Pictures folder. Open iPhoto on the new install whilst holding OPTION and select this library.

iCal
From within iCal, select Backup Database from the File menu. On the new machine, select Revert To Backup from the File menu and select the file you created from the old install.

Mail
Copy the folder named Mail in your Home folder's Library. Drag this folder to the equivalent location on your new install.

Address Book
This is pretty much identical to iCal. Backup and restore via the File menu.


In short, everything's pretty much kept in your Home folder. I haven't mentioned backing up preferences (customised settings in each app) because it's rarely necessary and it may just make things a bit messy. Plus, it can be fun going back through the apps and setting them up as you like. If you have the storage capacity, make a backup of your entire Home folder for safekeeping.

 

[GlynJones]

These worked fine except for Mail.

When I copied across the Mail directory then opened it, it went through an import stage for half an hour. I lost my sent mails and as I changed email provider last year to .mac I lost all the emails prior to that.

I checked the directory where my Mail was on my backup drive and found a subdirectory for my old provider. I imported from that but when I moved the imported data the main inbox it only moved a few emails across and I got the clock indicator which I left running all night but nothing else moved across.

I thought all I'd have to do is copy the directory across and all my mail would be exactly as I had at backup time. Am I doing somthing wrong? Should I have also coped across a pref file?

Please help as I'm screwed if I cannot get my email across from my backup.

Thanks.

Glyn.

 

[mad jew]

It shouldn't have needed a preference file. Are all the files still on the .Mac server? .Mac works as an IMAP account so resyncing with the .Mac servers (re-entering your details) should get all your mail downloaded. .Mac is notoriously slow though, so it may take some time. After a reimport, I sometimes need to Rebuild the mailbox I'm looking at, which is in the Mailbox menu.

 

[GlynJones]

So that would account for it being slow. Any idea why it did not pull back my sent mails?

Thanks.

Glyn.

 

[mad jew]

Dunno. If Store Sent Messages On The Server wasn't checked on the old install's Mail Preferences (in the Accounts pane), then they would have been in the Mail folder on your hard drive instead. Have you tried manually importing the Sent folder again from the backup? Every now and then a folder needs two attempts at an import. I ended up importing all my folders manually anyway. Also, have you tried rebuilding the Sent mailbox yet?