extremely frustrated...

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Level 1

0 points

extremely frustrated...

ive been trying to figure out why my intel mac mini keeps resetting to its defaults and erasing all my user information. at the same time whenever i restart it and open for example, safari, it tells me that a keychain cant be found. but in short it sets everything back to default. the only things that are left alone are what is saved to the hdd itself. my 90 day support is done and i really dont want to buy the apple care thing. is there anything short of re-installing OS X that will fix my problems. if i have to re-install OS X, is it as easy as just running the OS X CDs after i boot up? i have done all the software updates as well. please help!!!!

intel mac mini, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Oct 20, 2006 11:22 PM

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Answer 1

David JD

Level 2

391 points

Oct 21, 2006 12:50 AM in response to zjohnsonua

Hi. Im a relative newcomer to macs myself and im not a Techie but i can answer the second part of your question.Its really easy to reinstall OSX and it really is a case of inserting disks after start up and following on screen instructions.I had to do an erase/install recently after 10 4 8 update probs and it all went ok.You can also archive your present settings etc and reinstall (doesnt sound like you would want to do this though!) good luck.

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Answer 2

a brody

Level 10

85,366 points

Oct 21, 2006 3:57 AM in response to zjohnsonua

A common problem is people seem to move or rename files that they shouldn't. See this article:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854

And frequently backup your data so that when it happens in the future you will only have to restore your data as my FAQ states:

http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html

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Answer 3

David JD

Level 2

391 points

Oct 21, 2006 5:52 AM in response to a brody

That is so true!. I had not backed up any data before reinstalling,and spent ages redoing lots of settings etc. afterwards.I now back up everything.Unfortunately its not something you know you should do until you know you should have done it.

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Answer 4

zjohnsonua Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2006 10:01 AM in response to David JD

its funny that you mentioned 10 4 8 probs, as my situation began not long after installing that update myself. how much room on the hdd does the data back-up take.

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Answer 5

David JD

Level 2

391 points

Oct 21, 2006 10:22 AM in response to zjohnsonua

Hi.In my case i am not sure as i did not really want any of the previous system on my mac,i know thats a little bit paranoid but my mac was fine until the update then wierd things happened,i looked on these pages about the update and got scared so i took mac into Apple for them to sort out.When i got it back they had left 4 folders !! previous systems on HD each with 8GB so i did a full erase and install then updated and now its fine.What i should have done was back up stuff on my lacie! but didnt think,luckily i use it more or less for leisure so no work was lost. I will know better next time.

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Answer 6

Oct 21, 2006 11:21 AM in response to zjohnsonua

how much room on the hdd does the data back-up take.

You should backup your files to CDs, DVDs or an external hard drive. The amount of space a backup will take depends on how many files you have in your user's folder. I have 15GB of music in my Music folder, 36GB of pictures in my Pictures folder and 22GB of other various files, including downloads, in my Documents folder. So, It takes me about 75GB to backup all my personal files. I have a 160GB FireWire hard drive that I backup all my files to about once a week.

-Doug

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Answer 7

Oct 22, 2006 6:03 AM in response to Douglas McLaughlin

Good advice!..I go w/
....2 external drives. Last thing you want is to do something like backup your drive over your existing backup and lose both. 3 Data Sets and one completely disconnected...call me paranoid, you call drive savers.

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