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How do I do back to previous system folder after archive and install?

Did an archive and install (retaining my existing user account), only to discover it was unnecessary. (Turns out the problem was hardware-related.)

How do I go back to using my previous system folder?

Mac Pro (Dual 3GHz Xeon), Mac OS X (10.5.5), 6GB RAM, 500GB HD, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

Posted on Jul 16, 2009 5:21 AM

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8 replies

Jul 16, 2009 5:47 AM in response to FloydianSlip

FloydianSlip wrote:
Did an archive and install (retaining my existing user account), only to discover it was unnecessary. (Turns out the problem was hardware-related.)

How do I go back to using my previous system folder?

you don't. this folder is there just in case something didn't copy to the new install. after checking that everything did copy correctly you should delete the Previous systems folder.

Jul 16, 2009 5:55 AM in response to FloydianSlip

FloydianSlip wrote:
Huh. Hardly seems to be worth "archiving" if you can't go back to the archive.

why would you want to? an archive and install gives you a new system but preserves user data and applications. in any case, that's how it works. if you want to be able to go back to the previous system you should make a bootable clone of your system before reinstalling. this should be done before any install anyway.

Message was edited by: V.K.

Jul 16, 2009 6:02 AM in response to FloydianSlip

ah, that could happen with some applications that install things in unusual places.
but as i said, there is no easy way to deal with this unless you made a bootable clone before reinstalling the system. you can go hunting in the Previous systems folder for various things that app has installed but that would be a nightmare. you should just reinstall it from scratch.

Aug 10, 2009 4:38 PM in response to FloydianSlip

Hi, I had exactly the same problem.
The hardware problem happened co-incidentally at the same time I installed the latest OSX10.4 update. After weeks of trying to figure out how create a clone onto a firewire drive (which is not seen by the computer when booting up) and to roll back to the previous version I eventually did an archive install from the system DVD - unfortunately several of my most important applications - notably Logic Studio - won't run anymore.
I've been trying to find the missing files in the Previous Systems folder, but no success yet.

I'm now trying to use the Migration assistant to get the previous system back off my firewire drive.

Aug 10, 2009 6:44 PM in response to stoked7

stoked7 wrote:
Hi, I had exactly the same problem.
The hardware problem happened co-incidentally at the same time I installed the latest OSX10.4 update. After weeks of trying to figure out how create a clone onto a firewire drive (which is not seen by the computer when booting up) and to roll back to the previous version I eventually did an archive install from the system DVD - unfortunately several of my most important applications - notably Logic Studio - won't run anymore.
I've been trying to find the missing files in the Previous Systems folder, but no success yet.

I'm now trying to use the Migration assistant to get the previous system back off my firewire drive.


But since this is the Leopard forum your comments mean nothing here. You can't have exactly the same problem with a totally different OS.

Aug 11, 2009 9:25 AM in response to FloydianSlip

FloydianSlip wrote:
Huh. Hardly seems to be worth "archiving" if you can't go back to the archive.


The purpose of an *Archive & Install* is to install a fresh, known-good copy of the OS, while preserving in the archive all the files from the previous copy of the installed OS that you might potentially need for some reason. (This is why it is called an Archive & Install.)

However, since any of these archived files might have been damaged in some way since they were installed or created, or in some way conflict with a freshly installed OS, they cannot be considered "known-good" without further testing & should not be reintroduced haphazardly into the "live" system.

The value of this install method should be obvious if you consider that if the OS is sufficiently damaged it will not run the computer, either at all or well enough to recover from whatever damage is done. Without this option, you would have to erase the existing startup disk completely (with the *Erase & Install* method), losing everything created or installed besides what is contained in the OS installer.

The closest equivalents to the kind of archive that you can "go back to" are cloning the entire drive or using the 'restore from Time Machine' option from the installer DVD's Utilities menu, assuming you use Time Machine.

How do I do back to previous system folder after archive and install?

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