(posted to Hints by request) 

I hate it when I have to reinstall. Just hate it. It's so disruptive and there's always a million details that I have forgotten about that I have to discover by chance over the following weeks. (sometimes having to remember how I set something up, what was that terminal command again, what did I do with that CD, etc) 

So I have developed a way to deal with the reinstall monster. The idea is to make it as simple, fast, and painless as possible to restore if say, I have to back up, reformat, reinstall, and restore. Here's a brief description of how I do it. If you have any suggesions for changes or additions to this process, feel free to chime in, we'd love to hear from you. 

First thing you need to do is create a folder in your home called "Installers". Inside that I have broken it down into subfolders but this is purely optional, for us organizational freaks. Here's what's in my Installers folder: 

- Applications and Packages to Install 
- Boot Personalization 
- Hardware Drivers 
- Login Items 
- Shell, Firmware, Finder, and Kernel Mods 

The idea is, each time I do something to personalize my machine or account, something that is not part of my home folder and would not survive a nuke and pave with home restore, I put in here. 

Applications and Packages to Install 

This is for things like Fink, Photoshop, Fruit Menu, etc. Either applications that will demand you reinstall them if you reinstall the OS, or things that directly modify the OS itself and either way will not survive a reinstall of the OS. Place the installer packages or DMGs in here each in their own folder. Do not forget to include an RTF with your license codes if neeeded. If an app is too big to practically store a DMG of it, (iLife comes to mind) then just create an empty folder there named by the app to install, as a reminder that you need to go get the DVD for that one. 

Boot Personalization 

Not everyone has these, but I have several. Things like BootX, changes to the login panel, setting your OEM banner, OF password, modifications to the boot scripts in OS X, etc. Things that change how the mac behaves before you get to your desktop. If you make a change that's not running an app, (like a tweak to OF or a shell script) then place an RTF in the folder that describes what you did. You can also make little shell scripts that will do whatever needs to be done automatically. 

Hardware Drivers 

Printers, scanners, palm pilot, serial adapters, all that wonderful software that makes your toys work right. Be sure to keep these updated - if you run an OS update and find you have to get new drivers, be sure to update the ones in this folder so you don't have to go hunting again later. This will help you to not have to track down driver CDs later too, or to unexpectedly encounter a bit of hardware you don't use often suddenly is dead and now you have to fix it before you can use it and you're in a hurry as it is. 

Login Items 

Things that are either system Startup Items, or items in your account prefs panel that are set to launch at login. I have about half a dozen, and I'm sure you have a couple of things you just expect to run at login. They won't run unless you set them after a reinstall, not because they are not in the list, but because the item may have moved during the reinstall and now the login item link does not work anymore. 

Shell, Firmware, Finder, and Kernel Mods 

OK this may be getting a little hard-core but I have a bunch of these too. About two dozen shortcut shell scripts in /usr/local/bin/ for example. This may be a good place to put your OF banner if you set one. Maybe there's an improved kext somewhere you have installed to fix a bug or play nice with an old piece of hardware you have. Put these things here with rtfs if needed to explain how to use/install them. 

OK, applications time. 95% of the apps you run an installer for just go right for /Applications. While this is nice and convenient for a multiuser computer, mine's not. I don't want apps scattered all over the place, mixed in with the OS's default apps. So make a folder in your home, called Applications. You'll see Mac OS X is actually rigged to support this by default, and it will set the icon for the folder to be the Apps icon immediately. Now anytime you install something, if you can pick where, pick there. If it just homes in on the global Applications folder, move it after it installs. NOTE: this may interfere with repair permissions or updaters that are too dim to realize you might move something on them. You may need to, for example, move the app back to /Applications for their 3.0.0->3.0.2 updater to run without complaint. Just move it back when you're done. 

I got to debug my routine two months ago with going from Panther to Tiger via clean install. I only overlooked a couple items. I also found I needed a text file to note the changes I make to system settings, such as setting network time, all windows open in LIST view (I hate column!) and so on. But all in all it was a lot smoother than expected, and I no longer look toward reinstalls with foreboding. As long as my home is backed up regularly, and it is, I am good to go clean, anytime. 

Now all you need to do is make sure you back up your home folder regularly. All of this won't do a scrap of good if your hard drive suddenly decides to change careers and become a musical instrument. (or paper weight) For backups in environments where there is another mac nearby, I strongly recommend using RsyncX as a free backup solution. Learning curve is not too steep either. Remember, everything you need to recover is in your home folder now. 

Note that this is also handy for if you ever have to do a "archive and install" or "reapply the combo updater", which has a similarly destructive effect on your system.