CCC-wanna make sure i've got it right

[goodmanx]

i'm booting a macbook (2.4 ghz core 2 duo, 2 gb ram) from an external drive (running 10.6.8). i'd like to clone the os on the boot drive onto that macbook. the os (10.5.8) in the macbook appears to be seriously messed up (a number of apps--apparently intel, as opposed to universal, apps won't open).

my thought is to trash the system, library and user folders on the macbook and use ccc to clone those folders from the external drive onto the macbook.

please confirm that this is the correct procedure or advise that i'm being a chowderhead who's about to create big problems on the macbook and that the correct way to do this is . . . .

also, the macbook has a 160gb drive with just over 100 gb available. ccc tells me that the macbook "may not accommodate a complete backup of the chosen source volume." however, the total size on the external drive of the three folders mentioned above is less than 20gb. i'd appreciate your thoughts on why ccc would give me this message.

[deckeda]

If you trash the original folders you'll invariably lose something you want. Settings. App registrations. Who knows.

There are a number of ways you could do this. If you suspect only the OS to be the problem you could simply update 10.5 with a 10.6 install right on top of it. No external drive or CCC needed.

[goodmanx]

deckeda--i appreciate your counsel re not trashing some stuff that i'd want. how can i best get the macbook to look and operate as closely as possible to the external. delete user folder from mb and clone user folder from external? something else?

also, i've never used anything on the mb that i don't have on the external, other than a copy of m$ office that i do use regularly, so that's really the only thing on the mb that in which i'm invested. i can see, tho, that trashing those folders could well make office unusable. any suggestions on how to avoid that.

[Trouble]

Rather than trash the MB hard drive, I'd format it then CCC the external drive. If you want to keep some things, I'd copy them over to the external drive, then nuke, then clone.

If the external doesn't have the space available, delete what you want, make a folder on the root of the MB and name it 'Keep' or whatever, put everything you want to keep in that folder, select 'incremental' in CCC, and also select "Protect root level items." It should say "bootable" on the right side.

[deckeda]

Trouble's got it---recreate your experience on the external, to the extent you can comfortably erase everything on the internal and then simply clone it back. Get all the apps you want on there running correctly. Some apps keep settings and whatnot within the user directory, others do not. Trial and error might work as well as any recipe you're after.

One way to make sure is to live with only the external for a period of time. If nothing seems amiss, you should be ready to erase the internal.

Going forward ... a Time Machine backup could work as you intended. The day after a serious issue cropped up you could replace the entire System folder entirely, or a part of it to revert back.

[Speedy]

Reformat the internal (erasing everything), then update the MacBook to 10.6.x, then run Migration Assistant to move everything you want from the external to the internal.

[modelamac]

Before doing anything else, I'd try a Safe Boot, restart normally and try those apps.

You state in your OP that apps are messed up. Why not just reinstall the OS over what you have? No personal data will disappear, but the system will be replaced.

You can then deal with each app that still misbehaves. The best way to start this is to pull the prefs for those apps from your Home Library onto the Desktop, and then launch the apps. Do this one app at a time. Reset the app prefs, and if that works, trash the corresponding pref on the Desktop.

Your problem is a good example of why Time Machine and current bootable backup drives for each Mac are wonderful resources to have.