Time Machine: Can I continue using old backups after I do a clean install of 10.6

[ElphabaPotter]

I've been looking for an answer to this but am not having any luck.

I currently backup my macbook pro using time machine. I am planning on doing a clean install of snow leopard so I can get rid of all the crap I've downloaded on my machine. haha.

Can I use my old time machine backup without it creating a new database to add to? I'd like to be able to go back in time and get those files from my previous installation while adding my new backups from my clean install.

Is that possible? How do I ensure that when I go to do this it doesn't delete my old backups?

Thanks

 

[spinnerlys]

No.

You can restore from your current backup all the data you want to your newly installed OS, but Time Machine will create a new database and might even delete the current data in doing so.