Doing a clean install of 10.8.2

[Chuchichan]

Hi,

I have an MBA 13" with Lion currently. I've had a little over a year and am upgrading to 10.8.2 soon. I will do a clean install via a USB drive. I don't have many apps installed, just the basics such as Chrome, Skype, Firefox, Office, etc. I don't mind reinstalling all of these manually.

The only application that I want to maintain settings from is iTunes. I have two accounts on the Mac right now (mine and my wife's). We each have an iPhone that we sync under our own account.

I'd like to make sure that I don't mess anything up when doing the clean install. Is the only folder that I need the "iTunes" folder located under "Music" under each of our accounts?

From what I understand I should just copy this folder back to the same location after the clean install is complete? I'm just wondering what will happen when I sync each iPhone to the Mac after the clean install. I'm afraid that something will be lost.

If possible, please confirm that what I noted would be correct and if there is anything I need to do prior to syncing each iPhone.

Thanks in advance.

 

[justperry]

Hi,

I have an MBA 13" with Lion currently. I've had a little over a year and am upgrading to 10.8.2 soon. I will do a clean install via a USB drive. I don't have many apps installed, just the basics such as Chrome, Skype, Firefox, Office, etc. I don't mind reinstalling all of these manually.

The only application that I want to maintain settings from is iTunes. I have two accounts on the Mac right now (mine and my wife's). We each have an iPhone that we sync under our own account.

I'd like to make sure that I don't mess anything up when doing the clean install. Is the only folder that I need the "iTunes" folder located under "Music" under each of our accounts?

From what I understand I should just copy this folder back to the same location after the clean install is complete? I'm just wondering what will happen when I sync each iPhone to the Mac after the clean install. I'm afraid that something will be lost.

If possible, please confirm that what I noted would be correct and if there is anything I need to do prior to syncing each iPhone.

Thanks in advance.

If you want to keep the iPhone's synced you need more than just the iTunes folder, if you only move the iTunes folder over and you sync they will loose a fair bit of what is on the iPhone's.
I think you also need to move the SyncServices inside the Application Support folder in your users Library.
So:
/Users/User 1 name/Library/Application Support/MobileSync
and
/Users/User 2 name/Library/Application Support/MobileSync

Edit: what I would do is at least copy both Home folder to an external source, if anything goes wrong you still have all your settings.

Also, why do a clean install and not install Mountain Lion over it?

 

[Chuchichan]

If you want to keep the iPhone's synced you need more than just the iTunes folder, if you only move the iTunes folder over and you sync they will loose a fair bit of what is on the iPhone's.
I think you also need to move the SyncServices inside the Application Support folder in your users Library.
So:
/Users/User 1 name/Library/Application Support/MobileSync
and
/Users/User 2 name/Library/Application Support/MobileSync

Edit: what I would do is at least copy both Home folder to an external source, if anything goes wrong you still have all your settings.

Also, why do a clean install and not install Mountain Lion over it?

Thanks for your reply. So, after the clean install I should copy back each "iTunes" and "MobileSync" folder prior to connecting each iphone?

I would just like to do a clean install for peace of mind Sort of a new year thing. Just the way I am I suppose.