Will programs backed up through time machine conflict with a newly installed OS X?

[countfufu]

After replacing a hard drive and installing a fresh OS Mavericks, will the programs I've backed up, like imovie, safari, preview e.t.c conflict with the newly installed programs?

 

[Slydude]

It's not exactly a matter of conflicting as much as replacing. If you restore all the files in the Time Machine backup they will overwrite files in the new install. You could choose to restore only certain files. Which files do you still need to replace?

 

[countfufu]

I think i need to replace all of them since my hard drive is failing and i need the macbook the way it was

 

[chas_m]

Time Machine will NOT overwrite the newer programs, contrary to what Sly said. So, for example, if you had an older copy of iTunes and Mavericks has a newer version, Time Machine will NOT replace it with the older version. It will of course copy over the library and music and so forth just as it was. There should be no conflict whatsoever unless you're jumping forward in OS versions by a great amount or keeping outdated programs around.

 

[countfufu]

thank you. it sounds like copying over will take up a lot of space. will the OS sort this out or do I have to delete copy files? [or would a software update after backing up my files take care of everything?]

 

[Slydude]

Time Machine will NOT overwrite the newer programs, contrary to what Sly said. So, for example, if you had an older copy of iTunes and Mavericks has a newer version, Time Machine will NOT replace it with the older version. It will of course copy over the library and music and so forth just as it was. There should be no conflict whatsoever unless you're jumping forward in OS versions by a great amount or keeping outdated programs around.

Wow. How did I make that mistake? Thanks for correcting that for me.

 

[chscag]

Wow. How did I make that mistake? Thanks for correcting that for me.

You were thinking about Carbon Copy Cloner which would do exactly what you said.

 

[Slydude]

You were thinking about Carbon Copy Cloner which would do exactly what you said.

Yeah Carbon Copy Cloner that's it.

 

[Rod]

Time Machine will NOT overwrite the newer programs, contrary to what Sly said. So, for example, if you had an older copy of iTunes and Mavericks has a newer version, Time Machine will NOT replace it with the older version. It will of course copy over the library and music and so forth just as it was. There should be no conflict whatsoever unless you're jumping forward in OS versions by a great amount or keeping outdated programs around.

Thank you chas-m that is what I thought, and have advised others, so I was a bit worried there for a minute. (If there was an emoticon for relieved it would be here)

 

[chscag]

Actually you can restore a Time Machine backup from a previous version of OS X on to a new machine with a later version and it will only restore things like your data files, apps, and so forth. The restore will not disturb system files or anything (apps) that show a later version. I've done this numerous times with success.