[gberz3]

Hi All,

I've seen several threads on various aspects of data migration, etc. Some useful, most not. That said, I'm looking for info, tools, suggestions on migrating data from a computer to itself -- meaning, I will be backing up relevant data, performing a fresh install then reinstalling and migrating the existing data back (e.g. Keychains, Mail, etc.)

If anyone could provide quality/concise info, tools, suggestions, etc. it would be most appreciated.

Best.

[AKcrab]

Why are you doing this?

[Simon]

Two methods.

Use Disk Utility > Restore to make clone of your stuff onto another disk. Then after installing a new OS use Migration Assistant to get back your old stuff from the clone. Be sure to keep the clone around until you're certain the migration has fully worked.

Use Time Machine backup. After installing a new OS use Migration Assistant to get back your old stuff from the TM bakup. Before you start make sure to check TM backs up everything you want, IOW check the exclusion list.

[TETENAL]

Just upgrade.

[gberz3]

Thanks for your comments. I'll try my best to answer fully:

I have some associates with a small design firm that have been having some severe issues (at least as far as design and desktop publishing are concerned). The two biggest issues are font irregularities and some Adobe apps regularly crashing. The issues are actually occurring across a couple of systems. Some of the in-house folks have already done the basics like software updates, repair permissions, etc, but they are still experiencing issues. All affected machines are first-gen Intel which originally had OS X 10.4 (one of which was "upgraded" to 10.5).

In my experience, as good as OS X is, a clean install (while a bit more time consuming) is preferable to perpetually upgrading. So order to maximize variable elimination, I'm chosing to perform clean installs.

@Simon: How "clean" is the latest (10.6) Migration Assistant? Can I weed out certain personal bloat (e.g. preferences, history, etc.)? Also, for the systems running 10.4, Time Machine isn't an option, so I may need to use Disk Utility.

[OreoCookie]

In few situations, doing a clean install is actually necessary. In most cases, it's voodoo. Font problems can usually directly be traced back to, well, installed fonts. Font Book shows conflicts. My user account has its roots in 10.0 -- and I still use it in 10.6. No problems whatsoever.

[gberz3]

@OreoCookie: Fair enough. Still I'm definitely interested in proper technique for when it *is* necessary.


UPDATE: It would appear that the Adobe Products on the 10.4 system were hosed when the network went down during remote file activity. However, despite repairing permissions and removing prefs, the applications still crash. Photoshop actually crashes when pressing "CMD + O". Are there perhaps any "hidden" Adobe prefs?

NOTE: I realize that this particular question is a bit specific for this particular thread, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

Thanks again.

[OreoCookie]

Regarding Adobe products, if the problem is app specific, then the OS is not to blame. Without telling us what apps and what version are concerned, there is nothing we can do to help. In that case, upgrading, reinstalling and cleanly reinstalling won't change a thing.

However, I think it's better if you create a separate thread in the app forum.

Clean installs are rarely necessary -- unless you buy a new machine, of course (such that your current version of OS X is not supported). Typically something major must have happened to warrant that. There have been some cases when going from 10.4 to 10.5 or 10.3/10.4 PowerPC to 10.4 Intel when some kernel extensions would cause problems. With Snow Leopard, I have heard no such reports. In any case, the problems could be traced specifically. If the problem is fuzzy, then other than giving you a good fuzzy feeling, clean installs won't do any good. They're just additional work.

The existence of additional files (e. g. old prefs that are no longer used or cache files) do nothing to slow down your system and they don't eat up a lot of space. The prefs folder (including prefs you actually need) is typically a few to a few tens of MB (I noticed that I still have Sherlock prefs, hehe). That's about the size of 1~10 RAW files of my D80 -- which I easily shoot within a few minutes.

[reader50]

Having a crash on Cmnd-O could indicate a filesystem issue. Are you using a file server over a LAN, or does Cmnd-O crash when opening a local folder too?

I agree with Oreo that it is most likely Photoshop-specific. But if wiping PS's prefs and reinstalling PS doesn't do it, you might want to look into network/fileserver issues.

[Simon]

I agree with the others here. Wipe installs are rarely needed in Apple world. It's a Windows technique and most of the time there's simply no reason to do the same thing on a Mac. Trouble should be traced back to its source and solved there, especially app trouble. Simply wiping means your troubles are very likely to reappear soon.

However, if you do indeed need/want to wipe install, I have given you the two methods above. Which part isn't clear?

[patrix]

In any world really, appropriate solutions are needed for the problem. Repairing permissions work when a problem is caused by bad permissions. Wiping an OS works when the problem is caused by an unclean/corrupted OS. etc.

If bad permissions weren't involved, then of course repeairing permissions won't help. Same for any other solution.

Being able to correctly identify the source then fixing THAT, will work, too. Being able to narrow down the causes will help greatly. Is it user-account specific? Is it app-specific? etc etc etc.

Patrix.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by patrix 

In any world really, appropriate solutions are needed for the problem. Repairing permissions work when a problem is caused by bad permissions. Wiping an OS works when the problem is caused by an unclean/corrupted OS. etc.

If you have a corrupted OS, you don't need to wipe the drive. All you need to do is an Archive and Install.*

* Of course, under Snow Leopard, you may have to do the "archive" part by hand. Fortunately, the Terminal is reachable from the Utilities menu when booted into the installer.

[gberz3]

Originally Posted by reader50 

Having a crash on Cmnd-O could indicate a filesystem issue. Are you using a file server over a LAN, or does Cmnd-O crash when opening a local folder too?

I agree with Oreo that it is most likely Photoshop-specific. But if wiping PS's prefs and reinstalling PS doesn't do it, you might want to look into network/fileserver issues.

Actually, after diagnosing the machine on-site, it turned out to be a problem with Version Cue. Although they don't use it, all apps require its presence before launching certain actions. For some reason Adobe Updater wouldn't update it, so I renamed the original Version Cue "3.1.0" folder and re-ran Adobe Updater and all was fixed.

[gberz3]

Originally Posted by Simon 

However, if you do indeed need/want to wipe install, I have given you the two methods above. Which part isn't clear?

Both are clear. I was simply restating my purpose in that following post. My apologies for the confusion.

[gberz3]

Originally Posted by patrix 

Being able to correctly identify the source then fixing THAT, will work, too. Being able to narrow down the causes will help greatly. Is it user-account specific? Is it app-specific? etc etc etc.

Having previously been a software/OS tester in years past, I'm very familiar with the process of weeding things out. However, given the nature of this particular "project", I wasn't interested in spending the time. Wiping and re-installing (so I thought) was the preferable route. Fortunately after spending a few minutes in the console I *did* locate the problem.

So, in short, you're absolutely correct.

[patrix]

Great to hear! I was just making a comment really, and glad you found the issue. What was it, anyway out of curiosity? Always good to have these things at the back of the mind and always interested in knowing lol

Patrix.