I want to do a clean install of Snow Leopard and I'm wondering if I can just make a copy (to my external HD) of my entire Music and Pictures folders, and then drag them to replace the new ones created in the clean install? If I do so, will my photos and music appear in iTunes/iPhoto as it should?
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Restoring iTunes/iPhoto after clean install
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I tried to do what you are thinking and the library did not come up correctly. I had ripped all of my CDs to iTunes previously. After I copied them back to the hard drive it showed each song individually instead of by artist and album. The best thing I can recommend is to use time machine and restore from there. I was able to undo my mistakes with it.
Restoring an item made me think of all those mistakes I made with my PCs. If only I had switched earlier....
Restoring an item made me think of all those mistakes I made with my PCs. If only I had switched earlier....
I tried to do what you are thinking and the library did not come up correctly. I had ripped all of my CDs to iTunes previously. After I copied them back to the hard drive it showed each song individually instead of by artist and album. The best thing I can recommend is to use time machine and restore from there. I was able to undo my mistakes with it.
Restoring an item made me think of all those mistakes I made with my PCs. If only I had switched earlier....
Hmm. But can I restore just my music/photos without restoring my whole system later on...?
The whole thing falls into place as long as you maintain the same computer name and short name that you had before. Meaning that the path has to be the same.
I backed up onto an external drive and copied my whole music and photo folders back and iTunes and iPhoto picked up where they left off. iTunes does take 10 minutes to update the library, though.
Also, just to be sure, export your iTunes library to an xml file (under File-Library in iTunes) as a backup. It is sometimes possible to use that to get your library back up.
I backed up onto an external drive and copied my whole music and photo folders back and iTunes and iPhoto picked up where they left off. iTunes does take 10 minutes to update the library, though.
Also, just to be sure, export your iTunes library to an xml file (under File-Library in iTunes) as a backup. It is sometimes possible to use that to get your library back up.
I have just done this exact thing.
Most problems occur when your original library is not as it should be. For example a lot of people have music/video files scattered all over their hard disk that iTunes knows where to get them, but the files are not digitally all in one place. When you go to move the library file you end up not moving everything that you need.
The most important thing is to consolidate your library into one folder. Move everything into it and let iTunes do the cataloguing. Then move that to an external HD.
Plug the HD into another computer and point the iTunes program to that new library. Open it up and make sure that your stuff is there. Playlists/ metadata/ artwork/ albumes etc. Once you are sure that it is all there you can then install SL.
I did a clean install and have all my music on a drobo. Everything is fine.
Most problems occur when your original library is not as it should be. For example a lot of people have music/video files scattered all over their hard disk that iTunes knows where to get them, but the files are not digitally all in one place. When you go to move the library file you end up not moving everything that you need.
The most important thing is to consolidate your library into one folder. Move everything into it and let iTunes do the cataloguing. Then move that to an external HD.
Plug the HD into another computer and point the iTunes program to that new library. Open it up and make sure that your stuff is there. Playlists/ metadata/ artwork/ albumes etc. Once you are sure that it is all there you can then install SL.
I did a clean install and have all my music on a drobo. Everything is fine.
Just finished up and all worked fine. Actually, after the clean install, I restored the old folders before Mac OS had even created an iTunes folder (I guess if you install Mac OS, there isn't even an iTunes folder until you first open iTunes, same as iPhoto library). But anyway, thanks for the input. I'm happily running Snow Leopard now 
PS: Thumbs down to Logitech for not having a compatible version of their control center software... my MX1000 has become a basic 2-function mouse...
PS: Thumbs down to Logitech for not having a compatible version of their control center software... my MX1000 has become a basic 2-function mouse...