reinstalling os x

[jsklar]

so after having bootcamp installed and then messing around with various linux/windows distros i can no longer use the bootcamp interface to repartition my hdd and get rid of the windows partition. i figured its time to reinstall tiger and just use parallels.

since i've never had to reinstall os x (this intel imac is my first mac - i never would have made it this long on windows without reinstalling), i was wondering what the best way was to back up music, videos, documents, maybe settings without losing stuff

mainly im concerned about all the organization of my itunes library and what not (especially videos/tv shows i've imported via quicktime media links).

if i just copy like my whole home folder to an external disk, can i use the migration wizard? or is there something better?

thanks!

josh

 

[72930]

No need. Select archive and install to keep all your settings/music!

SuperDuper is a great free backup app.

 

[emaja]

SuperDuper! is not free, but there is a demo available that will allow you to do what you need to do.

I assume that you want to copy OS X, wipe the partitions and then reinstall OS X - right?

If so, clone your HD with SD to a FW or USB drive and then test that clone top make sure it boots your Mac. If it does, startup from the install disks and reformat the internal HD. Once that is done, re-clone the FW/USB drive back to the internal and you will have everything right where you left it, but on a single partition.

 

[jsklar]

and that won't just re copy the system files but will allow me to return my hard drive to a full 250gb? cuz im missing 20gb now that were partiitoned for bootcamp but now lost... i had heard that reisntalling or reformatting was the only way to fix that if boot camp couldn't

 

[emaja]

and that won't just re copy the system files but will allow me to return my hard drive to a full 250gb? cuz im missing 20gb now that were partiitoned for bootcamp but now lost... i had heard that reisntalling or reformatting was the only way to fix that if boot camp couldn't

If you reformat your drive as a single volume, then yes you will have all of tht 250GB drive available for OS X.