Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

thegrifman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 8, 2006
161
1
Kennesaw, GA
Not too long ago I ran a program that was supposed to free up hard drive space by getting rid of extra language packs and ppc binaries. Everything looked peachy, I freed up 2 gigs of space, until I tried to sync my iPod nano and Mac OS just wouldn't recognize it. It will also not recognize my external firewire drive that I back up to. Is it possible for me to reinstall Mac OS and preserve my user settings and applications, or better yet, is it possible for me to just repair mac os somehow?
 
Yup...boot into your DVDs that came with your Macbook (by holding down the C button during the gray screen before the Apple logo pops up during startup/restart) and after clicking continue a few times select the "Archive and Install" option. If you want to customize what gets installed it's also here or the next step.

I've done it a few times...works GREAT!
 
Make sure, when you archive and install, you check the box for "preserve user settings" (or something like that). Otherwise you will be back at square one and may lose some things. Alos, in the future, you may want to think twice about removing the PPC architecture. You may find programs unresponsive, unless you use only Universal apps.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.