OS X installed double on Mac Mini
So I convince a friend to go Apple, and he gets a Mac Mini for himself and a MacBook for his wife. I get a call the other day that his Mini is running slow and eating up ram (he has 2 gigs on the 2.0GHz Mini). A guy at the Apple Store guessed that perhaps, because of something my friend had done, he'd loaded Leopard twice, and both instances were running at once. Then he told my friend to call AppleCare. AppleCare did indeed pinpoint it to the fact that two instances of Leopard were running simultaneously. But then the AppleCare guy let my friend down. He told him to wipe the drive and reinstall from the Leopard disk, then get all his apps and data back from his Time Machine backup.
I say "let down" because my friend would have to grab all his apps, data, settings, etc. by hand, as it were, since he can't just do a restore or the double episodes of Leopard would just be reloaded.
My question: isn't there a way to just erase one of the versions of Leopard, thereby keeping all his data, apps and info intact? Or is there a simple way to reload his apps, data and settings without reloading the OS itself (if he does have to wipe the drive, reinstall from disk and use his Time Machine backup)?
I searched but couldn't find an answer here (and Googled) -- any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I say "let down" because my friend would have to grab all his apps, data, settings, etc. by hand, as it were, since he can't just do a restore or the double episodes of Leopard would just be reloaded.
My question: isn't there a way to just erase one of the versions of Leopard, thereby keeping all his data, apps and info intact? Or is there a simple way to reload his apps, data and settings without reloading the OS itself (if he does have to wipe the drive, reinstall from disk and use his Time Machine backup)?
I searched but couldn't find an answer here (and Googled) -- any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Comments
Whatever the problem is, I would recommend disconnecting the Time Machine drive immediately, so as to keep as intact of a backup as possible... then try an "Archive and Install" of Leopard. If that's no help, the best thing to do is to wipe the drive and start fresh, and create a new user called "Test". Copy the user home folder from the TM backup into the operational Users folder, and then go to the Accounts preferences and create a user with the EXACT same shortname as the name of the original home folder. It will create a new user around the original home folder. The rest (apps and such) is a fairly easy reinstall.
Somehow, the idea of two copies of Leopard running simultaneously seems impossible. Surely the machine would suffer a kernel panic immediately?
Whatever the problem is, I would recommend disconnecting the Time Machine drive immediately, so as to keep as intact of a backup as possible... then try an "Archive and Install" of Leopard. If that's no help, the best thing to do is to wipe the drive and start fresh, and create a new user called "Test". Copy the user home folder from the TM backup into the operational Users folder, and then go to the Accounts preferences and create a user with the EXACT same shortname as the name of the original home folder. It will create a new user around the original home folder. The rest (apps and such) is a fairly easy reinstall.
Granted I wasn't there, but supposedly in About This Mac under more info, it showed two instances of Leopard running. I'd never heard of it before, but both the Store guy and the AppleCare guy said it was so. Thanks for the response, and I'll pass it along to him. My big idea was to go to the Apple Store with it and have them mess with it... but I was hoping someone here would know more.