Thank you so much! I just successfully imported all my bookmarks, cookies, history and passwords from Safari to Firefox. As soon as my files are safely on my external HD, I'll try the erase and install. *fingers crossed*
good luck - hopefully that takes care of it. just make sure you don't overlook some of the smaller files. i remembered almost everything when saving my files but then i found out i completely forgot about ical. not that it was life and death - it just didn't occur to me. itunes took the longest to copy for me - but i'm up and running with no problems now.