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asking this as a pc person not a mac

Sabenth

Sabenth

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 24, 2003
887
3
UK
hi guys i have a question regarding OS systems on MAC's if it comes to reformating a MAC what are the steps take to

1 reformat a mac
2 reinstall the OS
3 pretend nothing happend and carry on like normal (THIS OPTION IS NOT INCULDED WITH WINDOWS ANY VERSION) Ive been talking about buying a mac for a while now on here and at last thanks to the many wonders of the world i finaly have enough cash saved up to buy a nice new 17 inch i mac would go portable but dont think i am ready for that step just yet my main problem is that under windows i know how to fix them because on a regula basis i come across refomra had drive please windows just toped itself again....

Now my understanding is that this rarly happens under a mac system but still id like to know who you do it and what steps are need to look fix and carry on sort of thing ...


Any info would be handy as i get the mac in less than a weeks time by which time i would problay crashed it a dozen times because i have a nack of making pcs go funny..

Thanks Sabenth
 
What you need to do is create a separate partition for OS X. When you put in the OS X install disk, one of the options will be "Open Disk Utility", which will allow you to repartition your drive and select which partition you want to install OS X in. This way if you have to reinstall OS X, your programs and data will be left intact.

One "gotcha" is that your home directory, including desktop, etc, will be on the OS X partition. Your iPhoto and iTunes libraries are kept on your home directory. What I did was change the location of my iTunes library (you can set this from iTunes preferences). And in the case of iPhoto, I "tricked" iPhoto by copying the iPhoto library folder to the other partition, then creating an alias (equivalent to a Windows shortcut) to it in my home directory.

So the short answer is that yes, there are ways to protect your data and prepare for the possibility that you might have to do a clean install of your OS. Definitely come back to these forums and ask more questions when it comes time to actually do it...
 
When you run the install OSX from the disk you have the options to complete reinstall and erase drive or reinstall where preferences and files remain untouched.
 
There's no need to lose data or reformat to simply reinstall OSX. When you start the computer on the OSX install disc you have the option to do a clean install of OSX and a clean install and copy over existing preferences. Either option will simply replace the existing system with a clean installation.

The only time you ever need to format is if you have a seriously disk formating problem that can not be repaired. I haven't had that sort of problem with any version of the MacOS in over 6 years.
 
yeah reformatting is REALLY not something to worry about. i've never *had* to reformat any of my Macs HDs over the years... and i've only done it once, during massive data transferring, for cleanup purposes.

Here's what you're not going to have to deal with. Your system and support files will not go corrupt except in full/partial disk failure. A program you install will not necessitate a reinstall if it misbehaves. About the only thing you have to worry about is a drive dying. So it doesn't hurt to put a backup program on if you have a disk to backup to-- i like deja vu myself. I also do the above mentioned methods of having my home and applications directories on an external disk, so the system is isolated...

boils down to: if you had to reinstall, it would be a simple process that replaced the OS around your data. And if you had to reformat, you'd just copy your data to another source, reformat, reinstall, and copy your data back. But don't expect to ever worry about any of it.

pnw
 
The best way is to have you user space and OS separate. It has saved me many times when my disk would get corrupted (bad IBM drive I bought).

Its very easy.

Put the OS install CD in the computer, and restart, hold the 'c' key when booting up. After you get to the install screen, click 'Installer' in the menu bar, and choose disk utility, click on the tab that says 'partition' and you can graphically partition your HD into 2 sections or more.

Allocate at least 3-5GB for the OS and Applications, the rest can be for your stuff.

Now, quit disk utility, and install the os on that partition (don't forget to name them during partitioning) that you set for the OS.
Once the OS is installed, go to the Applications folder, and open the utilities folder inside. Open 'Netinfo Manager' and click 'Authenticate' enter your password for your user. Now theres going to be a list of items, click 'users' and then choose the name that corresponds to your user that you set up. Change the 'home' property (will be in a list at the bottom of the window) to /Volumes/partitionname/yourusername
where 'partitionname' is the name of the second partition you set up (make sure it has no spaces in the name though) and username is the name of the user you set up (for login).
Now save a backup of the data, click "Management" and then "Save Backup."
When you need to restore your settings again after another reinstall, just do the same as above, but instead only reformat the OS partition, and "restore from backup" the file you just exported in netinfo manager.

Its pretty easy.
Then log out, then log in.
Your user folder etc, should be now located on your other partition.
As long as you keep your files within this directory it should be pretty protected.

Good Luck.
 
i never partition my hard drive. when os x screws up, i just reinstall it. all my programs, files and everything is left alone. that is probably my favorite of many adantages over windows xp.

iJon
 
Retrospect Express

The simplest thing would be:

1) Use Retrospect Express to backup your system. This backs up HFS files (those with resource forks) as well as UNIX file permissions. Costs around $50.

2) Reformat your HD.

3) Reinstall the OS you had on it before (10.2, for example).

4) Apply all software updates.

5) Restore the backup.

OS X has a pretty good separation between user space (where you install your stuff) and System space (where the OS puts its stuff) in the filesystem. But most likely, you'll notice that you rarely (if ever) need to reinstall the OS. For the most part, it just works.

- Adam
 
Originally posted by iJon
i never partition my hard drive. when os x screws up, i just reinstall it. all my programs, files and everything is left alone. that is probably my favorite of many adantages over windows xp.

iJon
Click to expand...

Exactly. Also if you backup your data regulary then if you have a hard drive failure you're covered.
 
Oh yeah...

That last post is assuming you really needed to restore from a backup (your HD fried, etc). Often, the easiest thing to do is simply to reboot from the MacOS X CD, tell it to reinstall, and keep user accounts (I think that's in Options). This way, the installer will trash the OS' filesystem & reinstall the OS from scratch, but it'll leave all your preferences & files in your home untouched. When you reboot, OS X will login to your home. Everything will be as it was, even tho you've totally replaced the OS. Very cool.

It will help you to read the System Overview & Aqua Human Interface pdfs here.

http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/macosx/Essentials/devessentials.html

They'll explain how OS X works. You'll learn that OS X's filesystem is very intelligently layed out.

- Adam
 
First off all thanks guys for the massive feedback more than i was exspecting for such a daftquestions and second I am hoping that i dont need to format my Hd every month like seem to with windows following countless problems wth it...


There is a side note to this by the way how do macs work with programs in gernral it was a quesiton i was suppose to ask the apple dealer but got all tangled up in the looks and feel of the system rather than programs ....

In other words i know that WINDOWS uses EXE files and i know that mac dosnt but what format do macs use ..

ITS A DAFT QUESTIONS YOU DONT HAVE TO ANSWER ....

thanks Sabenth
 
In other words i know that WINDOWS uses EXE files and i know that mac doesn't but what format do macs use ..
Click to expand...
Macs use the OPENSTEP style bundle.
A bundle is a directory/folder but actually looks like a file from the outside. All the important files that an application should need would be included inside that bundle, including the executable, so you don't have that sprawling mess of files like in c:/program files/ and then go hunting for the "real" executable. Older mac apps, like on OS9 are just like windows where it installs the directory somewhere and all the files are messy/lying around for everyone to see.

You can check the inside of a bundle by right-clicking/ctrl-clicking on an application and choosing "show package contents." Notice there is a MacOS folder that contains binary/exe. And the resources folder contains things like the images, sounds, and language files, plug-ins the app uses. You can even localized (add languages) to apps without even seeing their source code by editing the items in the resources folder.

Its pretty well thought out.
Though alot of badly behaved carbon (ported from Mac OS 9) apps still don't conform like Studio MX and MS Office.
 
Originally posted by Sabenth

There is a side note to this by the way how do macs work with programs in gernral it was a quesiton i was suppose to ask the apple dealer but got all tangled up in the looks and feel of the system rather than programs ....

In other words i know that WINDOWS uses EXE files and i know that mac dosnt but what format do macs use ..

ITS A DAFT QUESTIONS YOU DONT HAVE TO ANSWER ....

thanks Sabenth
Click to expand...


Well, in the Mac world... there are "application files" which are synonymous with EXE in the windows world. THey act exactly the same way.
 
Once again thanks guys its seems i made the right choice for new operating system let alone a new system ..

thanks....

Sabenth
 
Once again thanks guys its seems i made the right choice for new operating system let alone a new system ..

thanks....

Sabenth
 
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