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Mac Forum / Country Specific / Australian Mac Group / September 2007clean reinstall prceedure
Hi I suppose this has been asked several times in the past, but I can't easily find an answer on the apple site. My kids use an eMac 1.25GHz running 10.4.10. It's having all sorts of problems so I'd like to reinstall Tiger and then update to the latest version of the OS. What I'd like to know is: 1. How do I copy each users home folder to an external hard drive without logging into the user's account. 2. What should I keep in the way of prefs etc 3. Any other tips you may have that I haven't thought about. Thanks Peter > Hi > I suppose this has been asked several times in the past, but I can't [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Peter Peter: just wondering if, before you take the step of reinstalling the system, you have tried using Applejack to sort out the problems, whatever they may be. I understand that kids may have done some serious damage if they've been tinkering with the system, but if it is not too critical, Applejack might save you a whole heap of bother and save reinstallation. Free from versiontracker.com - a wonderful tool. Rifty  Signatureriftynet - put a dot after rifty > Peter: just wondering if, before you take the step of reinstalling the > system, you have tried using Applejack to sort out the problems, [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Rifty Thanks Rifty. Looks like a handy tool but, alas, it doesn't seem to work in this case. I just tried it on my kids machine but the same problems persist. P > Hi > I suppose this has been asked several times in the past, but I can't [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Peter Carbon Copy Cloner amongst others can be used to backup all accounts (or entire drive), preserving access rights... Alternately, boot from a Firewire drive with an installed system, booting the computer in Target Disc mode (see Apple help) and copy everything. You may be amused by the security implications if observant (unless this has been fixed). User prefs will copy, sys prefs will get replaced Alternately do a system install using the option to archive the existing system ie replace the existing system, this will preserve the existing user hierarchy. Once installed, remove admin rights from the kids accounts, and don't tell them your (admin) password If the HD has really been stuffed, and I personally have only seen it once, and that was due to and external device) to the point of requiring a reformat, then you will need to go the clone route to save teh user data. In the short term, download Onyx (titanium software) and run that; look in the prefs to run on all user accounts. Also do a fsck -f at sys boot (check in help). You have run Disc Utilities already right? Chris > Carbon Copy Cloner amongst others can be used to backup all accounts (or > entire drive), preserving access rights... [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > everything. You may be amused by the security implications if observant > (unless this has been fixed). I found an article on Apple's site about enabling root user. That is enabling me to copy data to an external USB drive I just purchased. I have an old 80GB firewire drive as well but there is a stack of music stored on it and it's too full to back up to. What I'm doing is copying all the User accounts, the Applications folder, the root Library to the external USB drive. I'll take note of the User's short names. Then I'll do an erase and install and restore the User's files to the internal hard drive. Maybe things will work a bit better after that. > User prefs will copy, sys prefs will get replaced > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Once installed, remove admin rights from the kids accounts, and don't > tell them your (admin) password Haven't given them admin access, much to my son's dislike. > If the HD has really been stuffed, and I personally have only seen it > once, and that was due to and external device) to the point of requiring > a reformat, then you will need to go the clone route to save teh user data. I don't think it's a hardware problem, probably just that the boys like to download random game apps etc that may or may not have corrupted their accounts. > In the short term, download Onyx (titanium software) and run that; look > in the prefs to run on all user accounts. Also do a fsck -f at sys boot > (check in help). > You have run Disc Utilities already right? Yes, I tried that as my first option, repairing permissions etc. > Chris Thanks Chris |
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