Restore mac back to Barebones

[Charliechalk]

I have had my iMac for three years and getting a little clogged up. So i want to back up all the impotant stuff and not any corrupt files etc. I am using Time Machine which has been good to back up all my 'stuff' on an external drive

IF!!!

I restore my Imac ie format the internal hardrive reinstall Snow leopard etc can i select which thing i want from Time Machine? and be good to go

OR!

Do i back up all my stuff manually to an external drive and then do the above except frrm the Time Machine bit!

My Main worry is that i wont get all my iPhone apps etc back, my College work and all my Music, films etc.

Can anyone please suggest what is the best way to restore a mac to factory with out loosing personal files etc.

Thank you
Chaz

 

[robgendreau]

Er, restoring to factory means just that: everything blank like the day you bought it. And of course you'll need to install a few years of system upgrades as well just to get back to where you are, and before you even get into moving your old data files over, etc.

If you reformat your drive you can use Migration Assistant from your TM backup; it's what I'd do if I were doing what you are doing (and I wouldn't):
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/27921.html

You didn't say what version of software you're using, but your "clogging" problem may more easily be solved by upgrading and migrating at that time.

Rob

 

[Charliechalk]

Hi robgendreau,

Thank you for your reply and for your advice. Since making the post I was able to jus back up the things i needed to and use the Snow Leopard disk to restore and format the harddrive. I think i was using the wrong term saying 'restoring back to factory settings'

Anyway I am all sorted now but thank you for your advice an help.

Oh! Do you know any Apple software which monitors internet usage and meters it? Our ISP has a cap of 10Gb downloads and we keep going over and am puzzled why.

Thanks
Chaz