Macworld Forums

Hello All,

I want to do a clean install of Tiger on my ibook.

I have backed up everything, made notes of all my mail passwords and other relevant ones, but I cant work out how to back up my mail boxes with saved emails in them.

Can anyone suggest something simple for this task?

Once Tiger is fully installed on the clean hard drive, I want to then enter in my mail accounts, then import my mailboxes again so things will be pretty much as they are now.

Is that possible?

Has anyone tried to install Tiger without doing a clean install? Does this work ok? Is everything where it should be re software etc? Are your mailboxes still ok?

I would hate to loose any emails either way so which method do you suggest as being the best for installing Tiger - erase disk or simply update?

Thanks

Helen J.

maggie,
If I've got this right, to back up a mailbox you just drag it to your external drive and that's that. Doesn't seem to work for the inbox but just select all messages therein and drag those to a folder on your external drive.

maggie,

If you are in a position to obtain the use of an external hard drive, whether permanently or temporarily, it would be worth investigating what can be done by cloning.
Basically clone your existing HD to the external, switch start up to it then erase and reformat your iBook HD. Do a clean install of Tiger and clone back the files/applications you need.
I imagine the Import Mailboxes feature is still on TigerMail so that's probably your first port of call, gotta be easier than thinking your way through Carbon Copy Cloner or even SuperDuper!

Apple do provide a method of transferring "everything bar the OS and new Apple stuff" from one computer to another. Its primarily intended for users buying a new computer but I wonder if it can be made to work from a full cloned HD back-up. As I understand it everything is controlled from the new computer so, logically, its only interested in the HD on the old system.
Actually I'd be surprised if Apple haven't anticipated your dilemma and provided the necessary controls within the Tiger installer or as a helper program.

Some-one here will know.

Clive603,

I'd just be happy to get it to install at all...

BULLEID34081@mac,

I will try to drag them over to my external in a bit and thank you for the advice. It would be good to be able to just do this the quick way and not have to go all the way around the houses just to save mail in a mailbox :-(

Thanks

Helen J.

Clive603,

I cant copy the hard drive of the ibbok or the imac onto my external as there is not enough space - I have to do it the long way round. I have backed up everything else it is just the mail now.

I am waiting a bit to do this install to see what people are saying about their install experiences.

It would be great to do clean installations on both machines and then put things back like photos and mp3's.

Then get rid of things I dont need like certain fonts and languages to gain more space.

Thanks for the advice and I agree that carbon copy cloner is not the answer here.

Helen J.

maggie,
Not sure if itn will work in Tiger but it works in Panter. Delocalizer from bombich is a useful gizmo for removing unwanted langages and it's free.

BULLEID34081@mac,

thanks I shall try it. Going to install Tiger now on my imac. Wish me luck

I finally have time to sit down with it properly now so I am going to try it ....

Sorted out the mailbox storing problem - it was as you suggested.

I moved the mail from the inboxes to 'on my mac' mailboxes and then was able to drag them directly from within mail to my external HD.

Thanks - you have been most helpful

Helen J.

maggie,
Glad to have been of help. Hope Tiger goes well for you. I'm taking the coward's approach and sitting back while others report back on any problems
with the new beast. Expect me to take the plunge sometime around 10.4.3.

BULLEID34081@mac,

no problems at all on the ibook - BUT - terrible time to discover this I know - I have a problem with the superdrive on the imac.

I managed to get it to play a dvd and a cd. Cant get it to burn a cd or dvd and it keeps spitting out Tiger!

I have her laid out on a blanket in the living room and my partner is cleaning her up to see if there was a bit of dust or a dog hair or something inside :-(

Fingers crossed this works otherwise she will have to go into the shop on Tuesday.

I hardly ever use the imac these days as I cant get a look in with everyone else in the house. My sons usually get banned in the evening when my partner wants to surf the net. This is why I got the ibook.

Got my 14 year old son an ipod shuffle for his birthday last week and now he spends a lot more time on the mac storing copies of his journal and other private stuff on his ipod.

Tiger ought to slow them down a little while they get used to it. The parent features look really good. Cant wait to try them out for size later on.

Thanks again for the help

Helen J.

maggie,

if you can't get the iMac SuperDrive sorted. Try connecting your iBook to it in FireWire Target Mode ( if the iBook also has a DVD drive ).

The iMac should be able to access the iBook's DVD.

Is it just the Tiger DVD which is playing up ? Will it play a movie on DVD ?