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bbales · Feb 28, 2007, 09:41 AM

I posted earlier about my hard drive in my 12-in PB possibly dying. Well, I declared it dead yesterday. Yes, I could get it back, by Disk Warrior was making the same repairs and telling me the same thing before making the repair (critical error, not enough space to replace the directory -- even though there was) and it was taking longer.

I had backed up the whole drive to an external, using BounceBack.
So I now have a new drive (twice as big, in fact), installed by Comp USA. Getting the store to actually put in an OS was going to cost another $120, so I decided I would do all that myself. The tech who installed the drive was nice enough to format it, however, and he told me he booted it from a spare Tiger disk, so I am reasonably sure it all works.

It's sitting there, and now I'm wondering -- should I simply restore all the stuff from the backup to the new drive (which I'm not sure I've ever done completely successfully, mind you. I have only had to do this once before, when I installed a new drive in my desktop.) Or should I take this opportunity to start fresh? I was running 10.4.8, but maybe I should install the original Tiger and then do the upgrades, and then...

ON the other hand, reinstalling all those aps sounds like a whole lot of work.

Just wondering what others would do, with a nice clean drive.

fisherKing · Feb 28, 2007, 09:56 AM

i did this when the HD in MY 12" powerbook died; installed the os, updates, apps.
then i moved the files i wanted back, etc...

took a day, but got to clean out stuff, get better organized.

still...your call, hard for anyone to tell you what's best.

my vote: clean start.

bbales · Feb 28, 2007, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by fisherKing

i did this when the HD in MY 12" powerbook died; installed the os, updates, apps.
then i moved the files i wanted back, etc...

took a day, but got to clean out stuff, get better organized.

still...your call, hard for anyone to tell you what's best.

my vote: clean start.

I'm kind of inclined to the clean start, even though it will take lots more time, to be honest with you. My kids would have to redo playlists, probably -- though maybe not -- I'll investigate that aspect to be sure. And I do have the backup, so I have the leisure of choice.

I seem to remember you got your 12-in PB about the same time I did (which would be when they were introduced; mine is a Rev. A). When did your drive die? This is the first one I've ever had go south on me. On the other hand, the machine is 4 years old and is on pretty much all the time. It gets a lot of use.

fisherKing · Feb 28, 2007, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by bbales

I'm kind of inclined to the clean start, even though it will take lots more time, to be honest with you. My kids would have to redo playlists, probably -- though maybe not -- I'll investigate that aspect to be sure. And I do have the backup, so I have the leisure of choice.

I seem to remember you got your 12-in PB about the same time I did (which would be when they were introduced; mine is a Rev. A). When did your drive die? This is the first one I've ever had go south on me. On the other hand, the machine is 4 years old and is on pretty much all the time. It gets a lot of use.

you remember that??

my revC drive died 2 years in, apple replaced it. ive SINCE replaced that with a revD 12" (my preference over a macbook or mbp).

you could bring in your itunes folder, should carry over playlists.
same for iphoto etc.

at the least, keep the new OS, & update it from software update.

HOWEVER, whatever works. the point is just that; to get back to work.

have fun!

SierraDragon · Feb 28, 2007, 10:00 PM

Start fresh. And repair Permissions immediately before and immediately after each of the new installs you do.

-Allen Wicks

romeosc · Mar 1, 2007, 09:25 AM

I do a clean install and then run Migration assistant to import everything.
It keeps prefernces, passwords, etc.....

zaghahzag · Mar 1, 2007, 09:44 AM

start over.. i did a carbon copy cloner with a new drive in exactly the same circumstances as you and had problems.

a clean install all the way.

bbales · Mar 1, 2007, 08:29 PM

Well, I'm sort of betwixt and between. I installed the OS, ran updates, etc. Then I started moving stuff over. (I just didn't have the werewithal to do all that installing again, though I probably will wish I had when all is said and done.

So MOST of the stuff is the way it was, but not everything. For example, the dock is still in teh wrong place, itunes can't find my music, etc. I can't move over preferences and system stuff b/c I don't have permission. I'm installing the OS on the external and will maybe move things that way, or now maybe I'll try the migration assistant. Alan -- I did do the good installs, though, and I did repair permissions.

and may I say, the new drive is speedier, at least so far. It's also bigger, so my data has room to breathe. (Went from a 60 GB to as 120. DIdn't even want that big a drive, but it was cheaper, with rebates, than a smaller one.)

mmurray · Mar 2, 2007, 02:47 AM

I just had the same problem and got the PB back without any os. I had a clone I had made with SuperDuper and cloned that back on. All seems fine. I would recommend SuperDuper -- it has given me no problems and they update regularly. It isn't particularly good for backing up a directory or a few files but it's excellent for backing up the whole machine. Once you have done one complete backup the next one is quicker as it does a `smart backup' just replacing the things that have changed.

While I agree a cleanup might be a good idea I waste waaay to much time on my computer to add to it.

Michael

olePigeon · Mar 2, 2007, 12:30 PM

If for any reason a technician can't get onto the laptop (even if it's a screensaver with a password), they'll wipe the HDD clean. That's what an Apple Genius told me.