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FireWire · Jan 5, 2011, 04:42 PM

Yesterday, after my OS became frustratingly slow and unresponsive (beachballs all the time), I decided to format and do a clean install of Snow Leopard. However, I realised that doing a Time Machine restore restores everything, including the system files. So in short I formatted my drive in vain. Is there a way to have a clean system AND restore my files without doing a manual transfer from the backup drive? What happens if someone has a critical bug in his system and wants to do a reinstall without reinstalling the corrupted files (provided he doesn't know the exact date the corruption happened)? I was under the impression that we had the option to transfer only the users's files but it's only when using the Migration tool from another Mac.

CharlesS · Jan 5, 2011, 04:51 PM

The migration tool doesn't actually restore the system files, to the best of my knowledge.

turtle777 · Jan 5, 2011, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

The migration tool doesn't actually restore the system files, to the best of my knowledge.

But it *would* copy corrupted preferences from your User Library.

-t

FireWire · Jan 5, 2011, 09:03 PM

Damn! The system is Snappier™ but my Adobe products won't start anymore because of a licensing issue.. I did a complete restore before and my suite continued to word as if nothing had happened. What could have caused this this time?

turtle777 · Jan 5, 2011, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by FireWire

Damn! The system is Snappier™ but my Adobe products won't start anymore because of a licensing issue.. I did a complete restore before and my suite continued to word as if nothing had happened. What could have caused this this time?

It could have saved the registration information in /Library/, not ~/Library/

-t

tonewheel · Jan 8, 2011, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by FireWire

Damn! The system is Snappier™ but my Adobe products won't start anymore because of a licensing issue.. I did a complete restore before and my suite continued to word as if nothing had happened. What could have caused this this time?

It's a well documented problem. I recall seeing this some months ago.

You do have a legitimate copy of the Adobe products, yes? If so, call Adobe support. They can reset this and you can reactivate. If, however, it's not a legit copy, well.....

FireWire · Jan 10, 2011, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by tonewheel

It's a well documented problem. I recall seeing this some months ago.

You do have a legitimate copy of the Adobe products, yes? If so, call Adobe support. They can reset this and you can reactivate. If, however, it's not a legit copy, well.....

OK I'll give them a call. I've also noticed iTunes had lost my authorization. Obviously something went wrong because the last time I did a restore it was as if nothing had happened.

FireWire · Jan 16, 2011, 03:08 PM

I finally managed to make it work! I found a useful document here

I had to download a disk image containing some special software, which presented me with this window upon launching

All that so it could run some obscure python script in the terminal from within an AppleScript application. After warning me that I was running this at my own risk, it didn't work. I tried all the other steps and finally the fourth solution worked. I had to rename the folder containing the security info using sudo in the terminal because it was located in the /Library and I didn't have access. This reset the license and I could re-enter my information and re-activate it. It now works perfectly!