Wasn’t wasting my time. “Archive and Install” didn’t help the funky menu issue. It just didn’t feel right…like whatever was plaguing my G5 went further than a clean system install could fix. So, a fresh start it is.

I’m not a masochist. I did this because I was beginning to see signs that my disk was having problems. Specifically, I would go to save files in InDesign or Photoshop and it would come back with “Item could not be saved due to a disk error.” Quitting the application and resstarting it always fixed the problem. But assuming that was the end of it is just living on borrowed time. I ran Disk Utility until it came back clean (and S.M.A.R.T. status is “verified”), but I had the sense that something was “off” with the drive. I decided that I was going to attack the problem on my timetable, rather than have the drive go south on me on a workday in the middle of a big project.

Strange thing is, I left my drive as a graphic designer…I’m returning to it as a nonprofit organization’s Operations Director who needs a Mac G5 to do some print work for a single client. The only applications I’m planning to put back on the fresh drive are Transmit (my favorite FTP application…so I can get at my backup files on [Filesanywhere.com](http://www.filesanywhere.com)), Adobe Creative Suite 2, Microsoft Office, Font Agent Pro and Quicksilver. Maybe Art Director’s Toolkit and some other small utilities. Sad to say that I can’t think of anything else that I absolutely must have.

Also sad that I was far more panicked when my PC drive died a few weeks ago. If my PC doesn’t work I’m bumping into walls. If my Mac doesn’t work the workarounds are far easier. I guess it just drives home the fact that unless my career changes direction again, this will be my last high-end Mac. I won’t be able to justify the expense no matter how hard I try. I’ll still only buy Mac for the kids, and Eric just got a new 12″ iBook.

Tiger does install fast…the “erase and install” installation completed in the time it took me to compose this entry. Hopefully that was the last time…now I’m off to reinstall everything.