Erase/Reformat and transfer accounts back

R

richs2k1

Registered
I am going to completely erase my hard drive (including writing zeros in the free space) by using Disk Utility. Basically, I want a fresh start to reinstall OS X 10.3 so when I upgrade to Tiger I have a clean, clutter free computer. Over time files have been written, overwritten, moved, etc and I still have junk leftover from OS 9 that I want to completely get rid of.

My questions is this. After I reformat and reinstall how do I get my old accounts/settings back to the new HD? Do I just copy the Users, Library and Applications folders to my second drive, reinstall on the first drive and then drag the folders back from the second drive to the new install on the first drive? I read in another post that it would work fine as long as the user names/passwords remained the same? Is this true?

Also, am I going to have to do a base install of Panther on the second drive in order to reformat and write zeros to the first drive before I reinstall Panther on it?

Thanks for your input!
Rich
 
Hi Richard,
first off: don't upgrade from panther to tiger. If you want to use tiger then you should make a fresh install. I read about many really confusing and frustrating issues when ppl upgraded into new macosx versions. So, if you are going to buy tiger then wait till it's released and make a fresh install.
To completely erase your disk you will need to boot into your panther/tiger DVD and open Disk Utility.
To backup your data your home and the application directory should be enough unless you have some other files spread somewhere else. Just check your disc to be sure. I did it this way as well and didn't even face any permission issues as you mentioned. However, this could have been due to the same user login and password. Maybe someone else in this forum can tell more about the permissions after such a backup.
 
I would suggest only backing up your home directory (i always use a seperate partition for my home folder anyway) and then re-installing. Apps should be re-installed in my opinion.. Some (not many) will put stuff into /Library or ~/Library which may not get copied otherwise. Plus it reduces the risk of permissions errors with applications (execute permission missing, etc)
 
It seems like I had a couple of problems. For starters I can't copy my fiancee's user folder over because it says it is not allowed. Is there a way to get around this?

Secondly, I kind of don't want to copy all of my own user folder over because there is still a lot in it that I am not going to need such as pref files amd other clutter from previously installed programs. Can I pick and choose what I want to copy over? The only things that are real imporant besides the documents folder would be my email (from Mail), keychain passwords and Firefox bookmarks. Besides that I can't think of anything that would be that important.

Isn't there an easy way to copy or import user accounts to a new install of Panther? This seems like a pain in the #@%.

Thanks,
Rich
 
A later version of Setup Assistant would import all your settings and apps from a previous computer to your new G5. You might be able to figure out a way to use that, idk how.

To get at your Fiancee's files you can Get Info on her User dir and change the owner under ownership and permissions to you instead of her, then apply it to all files and sub dir. When you are done, just change it back to her.
 
richs2k1 said:
Also, am I going to have to do a base install of Panther on the second drive in order to reformat and write zeros to the first drive before I reinstall Panther on it?
Click to expand...

I have a suggestion if your other drive is a firewire. If so, then your could create a bootable clone of your internal on a partition of the external. And, you could create a second partition on which you could install Tiger. Using this procedure, you would end up with (1) a clone of your, I assume, currently working internal to provide a worst-possible-case means of recovering from a Tiger fiasco and (2) a bootable Tiger partition which you could ensure is working properly before cloning it to your internal (after writing zeros). Having taken these steps, you then should be able to use the contents of your current home folder to set up Tiger as you wish. I hope I have not wasted your time in the event your external is not a firewire. Note also that, from an overall perspective, you might be happier cloning and then deleting what you don't want rather than starting fresh and adding the things you do want.
 
DON"T CHANGE YOUR FIANCEE'S ownership, that will just mess permissions. just log in as root, and then you'll be able to copy her home folder without problems. for instrutions on logging in as root, click here. just don't move or delete anything as root, or you could mess up your current install before you get 10.4.
 
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