Back up without System Files

[RGreen]

I have a backed-up bootable clone. I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.1, but my cloned drive (I have NOT backed up recently) still has "regular" Leopard 10.5.8 on it. I'm having problems with 10.6 and want to "reverse" copy, however there are mail messages, web bookmarks, etc. that I want to copy BEFORE reverse copying. Will "Backup - user files ONLY copy those files and NOT overwrite 10.6 onto my 10.5.8 backup?

Thanks.

R Green

[dnanian]

I wouldn't do that, no... rolling back just the OS isn't going to be easy.

What I'd probably try is to clean install Leopard to another drive. When prompted to 'copy from another Mac', point it at the Snow Leopard drive. That MIGHT bring across the applications and data (which is why you're doing it to a separate drive, and leaving your backup safe). If it works, then copy THAT back to the internal.

[RGreen]

I didn't realize that I could do that - point to another Mac to copy files. I can try that and if it doesn't work, it won't hurt. I have a spare drive.

Thanks.

R Green

[RGreen]

I've also posted this problem on Apple Discussions and was offered another suggestion. I archived my Safari bookmarks and Mail boxes (I have several - organizing, etc.). Then I also checked Applications, documents to see if there were any differences, and if so, copied them. (There really was very little difference.) Then I rebooted to 10.5.8, imported the bookmarks and mailboxes. Now that everything is up to date, I can boot from the 10.5.8 drive for a few days more, just in case I forgot something, and then do a reverse clone with Superduper.
My reason for wanting to "go backwards" is a problem I'm having with 10.6 - a "sudden blue screen reboot". Read more here if you're interested -
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2143178&start=0&tstart=0

Thanks again.

RGreen

[dnanian]

I realize that you can manually copy a few items, but I would have been concerned that you would miss things, and a full migration would have been more complete. That said, I'm glad you're satisfied with the result you did obtain.

[RGreen]

I agree with you about making a "complete" reinstall/migration, but it was only a few weeks ago when I upgraded to 10.6, so there wasn't much difference between my 10.6 HD and my older 10.5.8 one. But I am waiting a week to be sure that I made the right move - booting my computer from the 10.5.8 drive in the meantime. If I discover that I made an error, then I can still try you what you suggested.

RGreen