Your syntax is off. I think you mean:

cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/

Use tab-complete to avoid errors.

@Karl Reed: After you’ve finished installing Snow Leopard, you’ll have all your stuff right there in the “previous” directory, and you can just copy it using Finder. I personally don’t copy over the folders but just copy the contents of the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public and Sites folders to the new account I created during the Snow Leopard installation (at the end, when it asks for your details and what username and password you want). That way you avoid most issues with those folders belonging to the username they did under Leopard.
I also copy the folders from Library/Application Support/ for apps that required lots of customization and for which I’d rather not start fresh.

You can also move stuff via the Terminal, if you so need.
And whenever your user needs admin rights, you just “sudo”. I.e. If “mv /Previous/Documents/* ~/Documents/*” tells you you don’t have the rights to execute that move operation (though you should and this is just an example) you can always just “sudo mv /Previous/Documents/* ~/Documents/*” and after hitting Enter and then entering your user’s password, everything should execute.

Do note that using sudo in improper places (like the /System folder) can really foobar your system.

Hope this helped.

Nevermind. Found a solution. Ended up just deleting the old “admin” through terminal which prompted the system to have me make a new one. Good as new.

I tried this and had the same result as Zachary; Snow Leopard installed cleanly, but I was never prompted to create a new user. And my old account is still there, but now is a “Standard” one, without admin privileges. Zachary, if you’re out there, how did you delete the old “admin” in terminal?

That kind of defeats the whole purpose of Archive and Install though…
Plus that one can copy those folders while still running Leopard, from Finder, and wouldn’t need to go all Terminal to do it

The really nice thing about using mv and clearing all crap out for a new install is that afterwards you can just copy your old keychain files or Application Support files you really do need.

I am having this problem where the system wont startup past the white opening screen. I dont even get a apple logo. I have some very important files that I want to backup –

I just did what you explained. It took 2 mins and that was that…
I am a litttle sceptic that, that simple action has saved all my documents. Am understanding right that supposedly I can reinstall snow leopard now, and find my old desktop files and everything in a folder somewhere after finishing the installation?

Is this the best way of saving your files if your mac wont start?

you don’t have to go to all that trouble. if you already had snow leopard, you just choose the partition where it is installed, and it will automatically archive install it. no more “previous” folders and a whole lot simpler.

RE:I just did the archive and install- however when I was done I was not prompted to create a new user account- as my old users were still there. I signed into my old “admin” account to find the system looks new and my previous folder contained everything I wanted it to- yay- but I can’t make any changes or move anything over since all accounts are now “Standard”. How do I make one an “admin” account if I no longer have the rights to do so?

I have this same exact problem and Im stuck here any help would be great. Please and thanks you!

if you really need an admin account you can also just log in to root obviously if you hadnt tried that, but just checking, and if you cant the use the singleuser mode trick. just google mac singlueuser mode admin hack and you should find how to do it

my computer was recently stolen from me and returned. the asshole who stole it knocked out all of my info and I’m trying to archive and install but I don’t know where the utilities button would be and snow leopard just let me reinstall and didn’t give me any options? Anyone have any ideas?

If someone wanted to test this procedure they should use a different folder name than Previous? Pr3v10u5
I had to drag all my files over manually to any existing folders on the new system since they are “required” or something to that effect.
Also some could not be used since they are in use. In the case of the dock, I decided to keep the new one. It was nice to get my preferences back. I am afraid that I crossed the streams again because I ran a ‘sudo chmod 755 [userFolder]‘ before moving the files, however I don’t think that was helpful and therefore not necessary.

Edit the one above:

i also tried

cp Volumes/ “(drivename”/ ./Previous/

but still no luck (the “” are supposed to be there, it tells it that the drive is the whole name if there is a space)

I figured out the problem with the drive, it was an NTFS, so no working, thanks for the help anyway.

I ended up taking it into the shop, i archived it to the hard drive and the install failed half way through…. Multiple times.

It was a software bug.

Thanks for all the help that you managed to give and hope it works for others.

Same thing, basically. Unless you have a Time Machine backup of before the update which you’d rather use.

Seeing as I’ve never run into any of these problems (and have done this quite a lot, on multiple Macs), I’m guessing this has to do with the fact that I remove all the files and folders in /Volumes/Macintosh HD with the exception of the ones I move to the Prev folder.