How to Keep Installed Programs on Macbook

[SeanBuchanan85]

Hey everyone, I just got a Macbook from my older brother who upgraded to the new macbook pro. He gave me the Macbook which has Final Cut Pro and other programs on it. I was wondering is there anyway to format the drive so all his stuff is off it but keep final cut pro on the machine as well? I know it is a dumb question, I am just new to the Mac world. Also He lost the startup discs, and I called Apple, they are sending me replacements, but the macbook has osx 10.5 so will those startup discs keep leopard on there as well?

 

[scathe]

well if you're planning on wiping the computer clean and just keeping bits and pieces, then yes, you need an external drive

and if your system will be leopard depends on what disks you have it's printed on the disk, leopard is 10.5

you could partition your disk in 2 with Disk Utility and keep one partition as "backup data" .. not efficient but might do the trick, the installation should recognize you have more then one partition and would let you install in the specified part ... still I would not recommend it

 

[SeanBuchanan85]

I had to order new setup disks, so lets hope 10.5 is on there. Thanks for the info, I'll just use an external drive and transfer the programs that have been added on to it, then I guess put them back on once I have reformatted the drive... Thanks!

 

[Kash]

If your brother still has Final Cut installed on his machine and has the original discs, it's technically not legal for you to have a copy installed on your machine as licenses are generally for single machines. The only caveat is if your brother got a copy with multiple licenses, which seems unlikely.

 

[SeanBuchanan85]

no, he doesn't have final cut on his new macbook, so that won't be an issue. He just moved back here, ad doesn't have any disks for the macbook he gave me, so thats why I wanted to know how to keep some of the programs when I format the drive because I have no way of getting them back

 

[SeanBuchanan85]

I need some help please!!!

So I have I want to be able to reformat my drive but I do not want to lose final cut pro or office 2008... so how do i go about keeping these programs or putting them to an external and then adding them back once i format the drive???? please help!!! thanks!

 

[Kash]

Most applications can be backed up by simply copying them to an external hard drive. The problem with applications like Final Cut and Office is that they have installers and so there are additional files strewn about the system. I believe with Office you can simply copy the folder and it will recreate the additional files on its own when you drag it back, though I'm not sure whether Final Cut does the same.