Burning (free) apps to discs

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I have a question (obviously):

I'm having issues with my computer and will have to clean out the whole thing, I'm going to lose everything. I would like to back up my applications so that I don't lose them all! How can I burn them onto disks so that I can re-install them later? Just dragging them over to a disk wouldn't work would it? =/ Or is there any other way I can save them?

By the way, these are free apps, it's not piracy... I just can't find a couple of the versions anymore so I don't want to lose them!
Thanks for the help.
 
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p1p3r,

The easiest way would be to save the app's .dmg or zip files to a new burn folder, then burn that to a disc. I know many folks don't save those, so unless you do, that option may be out. If you have serial numbers for the purchased files, you can just re-download those later, so don't worry about those. Another option (difficult) may work, I haven't tried it myself, but it would save all the files for an app - start by downloading AppTrap (which collects all an app's files and puts them in the trash when you delete the app)- then one by one, delete your apps and AppTrap will put all the files for that app in the Trash. Then you could extract that app's files and put it in a desktop folder to ID it. Do that for each app. Then put all the folders in a burn folder and go for the burn, probably to a DVD.

A safer option would be to save everything to an external drive using SuperDuper (bootable and free to use). If you don't have an external drive, now's the time to buy one. Then after you have everything backed up, erase your internal drive, then reformat it with MAC OS Extended (Journaled) and put a fresh copy of OS X on it. Then you can take your time moving your apps back from the external (maybe using the AppTrap method).

Not an easy proposition unless you have the .dmg or zip files. But it can be done.

Good luck to you. Maybe someone else will have a better method for you...

Noel
 

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