[MtDew]

Hi all.


Just had a question, I'm relatively new to a mac. I got a second hand iMac with nothing but the keyboard and mouse, there were a lot of applications on it that I do not have the discs to and no way to re-install. I have purchased a copy of Leopard and want to reformat the hard drive. I know that with time machine they say you can copy an entire system, a friend of mine also mentioned a "carbon copy cloner" program, I am wondering if there is ANY way I can save these applications, mainly because I bought the computer because they were on the it. There's no way I can buy these applications on my own, so is there any way to copy these to the external hard drive and then format and re-install? Thank you so much for any help

[ibook_steve]

Most Mac applications are drag and drop installs, so all you have to do to back them up is to drag and drop them on the external backup drive. For exactly duplicating all the contents on the disk, go to versiontracker.com and search for "Carbon Copy Cloner" or "Superduper" to create exact copies of a selected drive, including the boot drive, to another drive.

Steve

[Big Mac]

Also, Disk Utility comes with the OS and lets you clone a drive using the Restore function.

[MtDew]

so I can just drag and drop the applications to the external hardrive and I don't have to worry about registration issues or serial numbers or any sort of thing? cuz like I said I don't have the cd's for them.

[ibook_steve]

It really depends on the application. Some apps keep that type of information in the application itself while some keep it in separate files, often in the Application Support folder in the Library folder. It's probably just safest to clone the drive, do a fresh install, copy stuff back and see what works and what doesn't.

Steve