Scratch Install - What to backup

[Tango2]

Hi,

Been using both Mac and Hac systems for a couple years now. My Hac desktop running Catalina 10.15 has been acting really buggy lately - it seems to be something with the bluetooth. I'm not sure if it was an installation gone wrong or something else. My thoughts were to completely re-install the OS.

With that, I was hoping there was a guide on how best to backup all pertinent information on my Hac so I could restore it after the reinstall. I know one option is using Time Machine (which I have never used before), but I was concerned that doing so *could* also restore my problem. The most of my concern is with the new Catalina features such as Books, which is contained in a somewhat hidden file structure on the system drive. Any advice or pointers on the best way to backup all of that type data would be appreciated.

 

[kylec]

I never actually use it, but I think Migration Assistant is good for this type of data. It's not as good at transferring applications, though. You can reinstall those. Keep a backup of the old system's user directory for a while.

 

[Tango2]

I'll check into that. I went ahead and did a time machine backup as well. If anyone has a better method to backup the user data without backing up system files/applications/settings/etc., I'm all ears.