OSX installation artifacts

September 24, 2005 9:38 AM

If you can answer questions about OSX 10.4 installation, please help!

I did an archive and install recently, and it stopped halfway through, and told me to start over again, so i did, thinking all was lost. Happily it worked and my old home folder was still present.

However. Now my computer's root has a folder in it called OSInstall.mpkg.92EHhcWa, which contains about 40 files that end with the extension .installplan.

And now my question: can I delete this folder?

posted by renderthis to computers & internet (5 comments total)

Yes. It's the leftovers from the failed installation.
posted by kindall at 9:51 AM on September 24, 2005

I feel kind of foolish asking this, because so far OS X has been everything Windows isn't...

...but it sounds like I can reinstall the OS without losing all my apps and settings. Is this true?!

To expand, for what reasons would I re-install the OS, and what side-effects/consequences will I encounter?
posted by five fresh fish at 5:15 PM on September 24, 2005

[FFF] Yes, you can archive and install. This will create a new copy of the operating system and keep your home folder and network settings and such.

A reason for doing this is to upgrade without patching the previous system (could be more stable), or reinstalling to have a more stable base if you have been having some weirdness or installed some software that much up your system.

The downside is that some software needs to be reinstalled, as it can lose some systems files. Normally, it is pretty slick and pain-free. Also creates a archive of your old system, so nothing is lost.
posted by qwip at 7:23 PM on September 24, 2005

Indeed, if the developer of the software named the system extensions rationally, you can often find the files you need in the archived system and move them into the new system, which is sometimes easier than re-installing the app (depends on whether you know where the CD is or not). E.g. if Photoshop is misbehaving, look for things in the "Previous System" folder that contain the word "Adobe" or "Photoshop" and haul 'em over.

The Mac doesn't use a registry; instead, all user-specific settings are kept in individual files in (a subfolder of) the user's home directory.
posted by kindall at 12:14 AM on September 25, 2005

Cool. Thx.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:53 AM on September 25, 2005