[Awimoway]

I'm having kernel panics and am going to do a clean install of OS X. So I'm getting ready, doing all the relevant backups, and I'm a little confused about the difference between the /Library and the /System/Library. Do I need both? What is the difference? I want to keep my preferences and such, but if my kernel panics are being caused by something software-related, I wonder if I shouldn't copy either of these libraries over. My guess would be that the /Library is more worth keeping (because it's less system critical and therefore less likely to be causing any panics, and because that is where app-related prefs are) than the /System/Library folder is. But I really have no idea.

[ambush]

You should not backup /System/Library

if something makes your comp Kernel Panic, it's prolly because of something in there.

BTW, Mac OS X will backup your stuff for you when you choose the right option in the installer.

[Awimoway]

Originally posted by ambush:
BTW, Mac OS X will backup your stuff for you when you choose the right option in the installer.

Cool. Obviously, I wasn't aware of that.

Thanks for the tips.

[Catfish_Man]

preferences are user specific, therefore they are in /Users/YourNameHere/Library

[barbarian]

just to be clear:

local user prefs are in

/Users/YourNameHere/Library

systemwide prefs are in

/Library

root and "deeper" systemwide prefs are in

/System/Library

Instead of re installing you might try:

1. creating a new user and see if you get kpanics... if not then your problem is in your local library

2. Log in as root and remove 3rd prefs and additions to /Library... if you still get kpanics go to the next step

3. unattach any non-essential 3rd party hardware... hardware is just as likely, if not more likely than software, to cause k panics.

4. inspect your library and system/library folder for 3rd party kext files (3rd party kernel patches). These are often the most likely software culprit for problems... for example stuffit 8 and norton both install kext files which have caused problems on some systems...

4. if all else fails then go through the hassle of reinstalling, but when you do I'd recommend partitioning and keeping a totally clean copy of the system on a small partition. that way if you are having problems you can boot from the clean system and see if your problem is software or hardware related.