Help saving software before I system restore

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Hello all! So I just go a iMac G4 20-inch 1.25 GHz processor and 1 GIG of ram running 10.5.8. Its got Logic Pro and some other software that I would like to save before I do a complete system restore. There is a massive amount of junk on this thing and its running extremely extremely slow right now so I want to fix it by wiping it but I dont want to loose a few of these nice programs. I dont have the original CD for any of the software or the mac itself. If I just get an external hard drive and move the software over, then do the system restore will this save the software? I would assume that this wouldnt because I thought licensing was stored on the computer itself and if I wipe the licensing out then the software is useless without the original CD, is this correct? Is there any way that I can save this software?

I really appreciate everyones help with this, thank you!
 

cwa107


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Your Mac's Specs
14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
You don't need to wipe it - this isn't Windows. There is no registry to fill with cruft. The OS does not allow system directories to be modified (generally). So, a clean install is seldom necessary.

Simply create a new user account, reboot the machine, log into the new account and delete the old one. That's about all you need to do to get to a "clean" state.
 
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ooh wow, I had no idea about that!! So how do I move over the software that I want to the new account and keep the junk software where its at so when the profile is deleted all that is gone.
 

cwa107


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Your Mac's Specs
14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
The Applications are stored separately from your account. If you want to remove some, download a tool like AppCleaner. This will help you purge any junk apps/widgets without leaving cruft behind.
 
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MacBookPro 11,2 <--DAW!!!
Before I did a clean install of Snow Leopard (SL), I did an Apple Update and then cloned my entire system HD to an external HD with CarbonCopyCloner.
Reinstalled SL and installed Apple updates and rebooted.
Used Migration Assisstant in SL and copied over applications and utilities from the external HD to my MBP HD and rebooted.
Some things like my keychain passwords and safari bookmarks I had to move over myself from the ext HD.
After doing this clean install, I can honestly say that my ageing '07 MBP is faster and fun to work with all over again as my DAW for music.
 

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