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Reinstalling/Uninstalling/Installing Mac based OS

frnak

frnak

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
73
0
I know a lot of people in the Windows world (including me) wipe their hard drives and reinstall an Operating System all over again numerous times throughout the year to get rid of unwanted "stuff". My question for all you mac users out there...is it simple to do it on a Mac? and is it really necessary, after hearing that Mac is DLL-Hell-free and 11,000 Virus free? :p
 
While reinstalling the Mac OS X is relatively simple, it's completely unnecessary as a regular "maintenance" procedure. Most issues can be fixed with much less drastic measures. (By the way, how did you get your Windows system down to ONLY 11,000 viruses, from hundreds of thousands that are running around out there for Windows?) :D
 
So, application files left behind will not slow down the system? I heard that the application "App Zapper" is needed to completely clean off an application after uninstalling it. So isn't that the same thing as Windows?
 
frnak said:
So, application files left behind will not slow down the system? I heard that the application "App Zapper" is needed to completely clean off an application after uninstalling it. So isn't that the same thing as Windows?
Click to expand...

Rarely does an App leave stuff behind, other than user preferences. In those cases where they do, AppZapper can clean up the few files left behind. It's not nearly as complicated as the installation process in Windows. There is no registry on a Mac, or .dll files, etc. Mac is much more elegant and straightforward on installation/removal of applications.

By the way, when you switch to a Mac, you'll only have one regret:

... that you didn't do it years ago! :)
 
Ok, so constant reinstalling and uninstalling and install apps on Macs will not deteriorate performance on the mac, thats good.

But in case I DO need to reinstall Leopard on my Mac, will the applications have to be reinstalled again like on Windows? And what about settings for those applications? Especially iPhoto, which I believe does not let you organize the photo library outside of the application. How would I back it up, and restore the settings, WHILE having a new Leopard installation?

Sorry if that sounded extremely confusing...lots to think about before switching...
 
I switched to a Mac two years ago and haven't looked back. I'm not going to slate Windows as it does its job OK and I have to use them all day at work. Plus I know it very well and have mine tweaked as much as possible. It was always pretty stable, the only bad thing was system slow down and having to re-install. With my MacBook I have only restored once in two years and that was to install leopard. I backed up all my photos, mail etc and done a clean install. Took me about 4hrs all in all and that was restoring everything (files and programs and settings).
 
frnak said:
Ok, so constant reinstalling and uninstalling and install apps on Macs will not deteriorate performance on the mac, thats good.

But in case I DO need to reinstall Leopard on my Mac, will the applications have to be reinstalled again like on Windows? And what about settings for those applications? Especially iPhoto, which I believe does not let you organize the photo library outside of the application. How would I back it up, and restore the settings, WHILE having a new Leopard installation?

Sorry if that sounded extremely confusing...lots to think about before switching...
Click to expand...

iPhoto can be messed about with outside of the app - it is just not advised. It is easy to back up - merely copy the library in your home folder (equivalent of my documents) and when you have re-installed OS X, place it back in the same place - simple as!

Keep the questions coming, I know I had loads before I switched. Honestly, everything is so easy on a mac. I bought a little beginners guide to os x (which helped) and also a heavy text book style one (which I have hardly used due to the excellent help files and of course forums like these).

List off your questions and I'll try and answer as many as I can.
 
Oh, ok, so the library file can just be replaced...

Another question is about iTunes...apparently everytime I play a mp3 file, iTunes automatically add it to my library. Is there a way to turn that off, like in windows media player, that prevents iTunes from adding sound files I play into my library?

And yet another question...is there a way to backup with Time Machine, and exclude system files, applications and such, but STILL retain folder structure in programs such as iPhoto and iTunes? So that when I install a fresh new Leopard, I can install iPhoto, and use Time Machine to get my photos back. Is there a way?

Thanks for the help
 
frnak said:
Oh, ok, so the library file can just be replaced...

Another question is about iTunes...apparently everytime I play a mp3 file, iTunes automatically add it to my library. Is there a way to turn that off, like in windows media player, that prevents iTunes from adding sound files I play into my library?
Click to expand...

Just uncheck the box in Preferences
 

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Widows has a registry that gets sloppy with repeated installs and uninstalls. OSX has no registry so you won't need to clean it up by reinstalling OSX.
 
frnak said:
Oh, ok, so the library file can just be replaced...

Another question is about iTunes...apparently everytime I play a mp3 file, iTunes automatically add it to my library. Is there a way to turn that off, like in windows media player, that prevents iTunes from adding sound files I play into my library?

And yet another question...is there a way to backup with Time Machine, and exclude system files, applications and such, but STILL retain folder structure in programs such as iPhoto and iTunes? So that when I install a fresh new Leopard, I can install iPhoto, and use Time Machine to get my photos back. Is there a way?

Thanks for the help
Click to expand...

Yeah, iPhoto library is one big 'package' with everything it needs in there.

iTunes I am not so sure on. I am assuming that it adds it because when you play the file iTunes is the default player. Hopefully someone knows if this can be turned on/off.

I use Time Machine with Time Capsule. Luckily I haven't had to use a back-up, apart from when I upgraded from Tiger to Leopard (Tiger doesn't have Time machine). However, when you re-install leopard you have an option to migrate files from a back-up. Not sure if this is only for Time Capsule back-ups though.
 
Thanks for all your help =)

I'm done with questions for today, phew, lol
 
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