New to OS X. Question about backing up applications.

[deadbolt67]

Hello everyone,

I just purchased a Macbook Pro running Tiger and I am completely new to the OS X world.

Question: Is is possible to backup/restore only the installed applications on the Mac? I would like to backup the installed Applications, and should I lose the disk, be able to restore them onto a fresh install of Tiger. I am not too concerned about doing a full backup, or running from a cloned drive. Coming from the Windows world, I know this is not possible due to the entries in the Registry, but not sure in OS X.

Many thanks in advance!

[dnanian]

It's not really a registry thing, but you should back up the whole thing. Applications store files in a number of different places, and it's a lot easier to restore a full copy than it is to try to pick and choose the files to copy.

[bharoche]

Full system backup/restore is preferable for a number of reasons, but I've found (myself coming from Windows world) that 90% plus of the time you can simply backup the program from the Applications folder and it will run when re-installed or installed on a second computer. That said, your user settings, software preferences and other things (possibly license registration) will not be carried over. And then there are a few apps that simply do need to be installed from an installer application or from a system restore.

[dnanian]

Well, I don't know whether it's 90% of the time, but why risk 10% when a few GB of space can ensure closer to 99%?