Kelly: A fine mess I\'ve got myself into....

[Fiona]

iMac, 233mhz, OS9.1,160MB RAM

My Norton SystemWorks arrived today and I did as you suggested: I booted from the CD and ran Disk Doctor. All minor problems were fixed but this was the report: 'Major error found in system. You have multiple system folders. Apple recommends against this. 16,1,10. Norton Utilities is unable to fix this problem.'

This is as a result of my  'reinstalling OS9.1 to fix problems' as you suggested recently. Mea culpa. What do I do now? How do I get rid of two of the three system folders?

[kelly]

Hey Fiona. That sounds a lot worse than it is.  

There really isn't a "problem".

Did you do a Clean Install?

If you did you should have a "Previous System Folder".

You could just throw that away but there's probably some things you want.

Do you have Conflict Catcher?

If not, there's this, though I haven't used it.

http://versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=922&db=mac

Did Norton report anything besides that non-problem?

[Fiona]

Actually, I went to Sherlock and tossed all but the latest system folder. Then I emptied the trash.  Then I ran Disk Doctor again and the report was 'no problems.' Then I read your message.....um, stuff I wanted to save?...um...probably. Can you give me an example?

[kelly]

Oh. Like Preferences for this and that. Would save redoing them.  

Did you keep all your mail and documents and such.

[Fiona]

Oh, and yes, I had done a clean install. I tossed that. If need be, can I  retrieve it with SystemWorks? I love that SystemWorks! Thanks for the url to OWC.

[Fiona]

'That' being the previous system folder. Mail and documents seem to be OK. As for saving, that brings me to my Imation superDisk drive. I'm waiting for a new diskette to come in the mail. I corrupted the one I have, wicked woman that I am. Is the Iomega installed drive meant to be activated for an Imation drive? Enquiring minds need to know.

[kelly]

Never used one of them.  

http://www.macsonly.com/isd.html

You may need to reinstall whatever you used before. Or not.

When you get the new Disk just see if it works.

And try to keep a handle on that corrupting.

[kelly]

Fiona. Three major components of  the System Fokder are:

Preferences. Extensions. And Control Panels.

There are other odds and ends. Just open it up and you'll see them.

When you do a Clean Install you have the original that came with your machine.

Or a newer version if you've upgraded the OS.

Anything that you've added to it is gone.

All the newer, added stuff is in the Previous System Folder.

So, for example, if Iomega added an Extension or Control Panel before, it's gone.

Usually after a Clean Install you look for this added stuff

and put it in the new System Folder before you throw the older one away.

This is called a System Merge.

For anything like this, just reinstall it.