Need to do a clean reinstall of El Capitan. What files do I backup first so I don't lose any personal data?

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Need to do a clean reinstall of El Capitan. What files do I backup first so I don't lose any personal data?

I need to do a clean reinstall of El Capitan on a partition of an external drive where it was originally installed but has now become corrupted. The partition will not boot nor can it be repaired in D.U.

I intend to wipe the partition clean and then clone onto it a pristine bootable version of Mac OS 10.6.8 after which I plan to update to El Capitan using the same El Capitan installer that I used for my original installation of El Capitan (from Snow Leopard).

I realize I need to back up my old (now corrupted) install of El Capitan before I wipe the partition clean so I don't lose any personal data or files. Intend to use Carbon Copy Cloner for that. My question is exactly which files do I back up and which do I tell CCC to ignore? And then how do I restore them to the partition that will now have a fresh install of El Capitan on it?

iMac 21.5″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Oct 19, 2024 2:25 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

731,339 points

Oct 19, 2024 2:28 PM in response to flashDriver

Copy the entire system and migrate your data when prompted by the Setup Assistant. If you'd rather do it manually, back up the Users folder and anything you've added to the Applications and Library folders.

(256047)

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Answer 2

flashDriver Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 19, 2024 2:42 PM in response to Niel

Thanks, Niel. I'll be copying the entire system to a folder created on a partition that has some extra free space. Will that work?

If I manually back up the Users folder and anything I've added to the Applications and Library folders is there a chance that I'll miss something?

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Answer 3

Niel

Level 10

731,339 points

Oct 19, 2024 2:48 PM in response to flashDriver

1. The system will need to be on a partition or disk image, not just a folder; if you copy it to an image, you won't be able to restore it right when setting up the new installation.

2. Generally, no. Applications which include command line tools or have installers of their own(not just disk images or App Store pages) may not function properly unless manually reinstalled.

(256048)

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Answer 4

flashDriver Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 19, 2024 6:41 PM in response to Niel

Ah, I was wondering about that. Thanks so much for the info.

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