Reinstalling OSX on new partition then migrating data over?

[Nopstnz8]

Ok so I've been really bored recently and have been pondering the idea of doing a clean install of Snow Leopard. What I was thinking of doing to make this easier, was creating a new partition to do a clean install of Snow Leopard then migrate over my users folder so I can keep my applications and data. I wanted to do this because I know doing a clean install would be a good idea to get rid of useless crap, and speedup my mac, but the other reason is that my first macbook pro 2009 came with Leopard. I then upgraded to Snow Leopard, and transfered the disk over to my current macbook pro 2010, giving the 2009 to my brother. Anyways, I feel there is still useless data from Leopard left over, which is why I wanted to start fresh.

My biggest concern is erasing the startup disk. I'm planning to make the new partition the startup disk once everything is transfered over and I erase the original one but how do I do this without encountering problems? Also, how do I copy over my users folder to the new partition without having permissions errors? How does the migration assistant work? I will already have my current Mac OSX partition cloned in case of a mishap from all this.

 

[Fishrrman]

"My biggest concern is erasing the startup disk. I'm planning to make the new partition the startup disk once everything is transfered over and I erase the original one but how do I do this without encountering problems? Also, how do I copy over my users folder to the new partition without having permissions errors? How does the migration assistant work? I will already have my current Mac OSX partition cloned in case of a mishap from all this."

What I would do:
1. Use CarbonCopyCloner to clone the contents of your hard drive (or boot partition) to another drive (or partition)
2. Do a "test boot" to MAKE SURE that your clone is EXACTLY the way you want it to be (which I would guess is the same as your current System partition is now).
3. While booted up from the cloned partition, use Disk Utility to re-initialize the [old] boot partition
4. Insert the Snow Leopard DVD and run the installer. "Aim" it at the now-empty partition.
5. Do a standard installation of Snow Leopard.
6. When the installer asks if you want to migrate info from another disk or volume, choose the "clone partition".
7. When the installer has finished, do another test boot, this time from the newly-rebuilt boot volume.
8. Run software updates as needed. You might consider downloading the 10.6.8 "combo updater" in advance and burn it to a DVD.

 

[Nopstnz8]

"My biggest concern is erasing the startup disk. I'm planning to make the new partition the startup disk once everything is transfered over and I erase the original one but how do I do this without encountering problems? Also, how do I copy over my users folder to the new partition without having permissions errors? How does the migration assistant work? I will already have my current Mac OSX partition cloned in case of a mishap from all this."

What I would do:
1. Use CarbonCopyCloner to clone the contents of your hard drive (or boot partition) to another drive (or partition)
2. Do a "test boot" to MAKE SURE that your clone is EXACTLY the way you want it to be (which I would guess is the same as your current System partition is now).
3. While booted up from the cloned partition, use Disk Utility to re-initialize the [old] boot partition
4. Insert the Snow Leopard DVD and run the installer. "Aim" it at the now-empty partition.
5. Do a standard installation of Snow Leopard.
6. When the installer asks if you want to migrate info from another disk or volume, choose the "clone partition".
7. When the installer has finished, do another test boot, this time from the newly-rebuilt boot volume.
8. Run software updates as needed. You might consider downloading the 10.6.8 "combo updater" in advance and burn it to a DVD.

Thanks. Greatly appreciate it, but I have two questions...

1. For step 3 when you said to re-initialize the (old) boot partition, are you talking about having it reformatted through disk utility?

2. For step 6 when Snow Leopard wants me to migrate data over from another volume, what is exactly migrated over? Will it just be my users folder, or everything from that cloned partition making the reformat a waste?

 

[Fishrrman]

"1. For step 3 when you said to re-initialize the (old) boot partition, are you talking about having it reformatted through disk utility?"

Yes.

"2. For step 6 when Snow Leopard wants me to migrate data over from another volume, what is exactly migrated over? Will it just be my users folder, or everything from that cloned partition making the reformat a waste"

It will bring over your accounts, including documents, and applications.
It won't bring over anything that is "unnecessary".

When completed, it should "look" exactly like things looked before you did the re-installation. It works very well.

 

[Nopstnz8]

"1. For step 3 when you said to re-initialize the (old) boot partition, are you talking about having it reformatted through disk utility?"

Yes.

"2. For step 6 when Snow Leopard wants me to migrate data over from another volume, what is exactly migrated over? Will it just be my users folder, or everything from that cloned partition making the reformat a waste"

It will bring over your accounts, including documents, and applications.
It won't bring over anything that is "unnecessary".

When completed, it should "look" exactly like things looked before you did the re-installation. It works very well.

Thanks. So the only thing holding me back from doing this would be whether or not application data will be preserved or not? I know that some applications store property lists in the system or library folder (Not the ~/library folder). Based on that, is it safe to assume I should just reinstall those programs and anything not in the users folder will be lost?

Also, are system preferences and preference panes backed up?