[waterbuck]

I need some help figuring out how to restore my files from backup now that I have an ERASED and REINSTALLED OS (10.3.9) in association with getting a hard drive replacement on my Powrebook through Applecare. I am a bit confused about what files to transfer from my backup so that I will have a maximally clean, but not too inconvenient "reinstall".

I have a full backup of my main user "waterbuck" folder in Retrospect on a networked drive, and "extra" (just to be safe) copies of my music, data, folders, keychain on a firewire drive.

I created a new "user" in my new OS with the name of the old "user". Apple's knowledgebase article "How to Back Up and Restore Your Files" indicates that I should drag over all my prior files onto the user, and then go into root user and use some commands that effectively reassign permissions over to the new recreated user file (commands are chown and chgrp).

I have done this before but people sometimes say that one goal of a clean reinstall is to avoid getting recontaminated with old "junk" that presumably lies in some (unknown) preference files. Certainly I am prepared to reconfigure network configurations. On the other hand, I clearly need to move my bookmarks (wherever they are), my keychain, and my data (music, pix, files) over from backup. And I don't want to have permissions errors that prevent me from accessing it.

So,....what do I drag over from the backup? Is it reasonable just to grab "Safari" bookmarks, a keychain, and just let the new software reinstallations create all the rest?

Feeling unsure...
Waterbuck

[red rocket]

I've been in your situation about a month or so back.

I've been restoring bookmarks and data on an individual basis when needed, haven't had any permission errors. Recreated my keychains from scratch.

Worked fine here.

So, I suppose my advise would be NO to old keychains and prefs, a cautious YES to dragging over old files, and NO to restoring apps from backups.