If you have Time Machine and don't use it, you may want to reconsider. My issues started out simply enough.
Chapter 1 - The Warning Signs
Finale started to report "unable to create temp files" but still functioned. Then yesterday morning WHAM! On launch I got the message again, but this time FInale (all versions on my HD) would crash on launch! Suddenly the Mayan Calendar started to make sense.
Chapter 2 - Counseling
As in all relationships worth saving, I looked into trying to repair it. Permissions, deleted plists, yadda yadda yadda... Oh wait, I yadda yadd'd over the best part. No, not the lobster bisque. In an effort to fix the problem which seemed to be one of permissions and "access" I "GOT INFO" and on the root HD and changed the access to READ & WRITE for "me" as well as "EVERYONE." Oooops! NEVER do that!!
Chapter 3 - Give 'Em the Boot
Next restart of the G5 WHAM Ver 2! Endless loop of restarts; the machine was inaccessible. Booting from the Leo install disk showed the disk to be fine (Disk Utility) and repair permissions took over 6 hours and returned hundreds of errors which it repaired but still no booty!
Chapter 4 - Can't We Go Back to "The Way We Were"
In an act of desperation to save my relationship with Mac, I turned to TIme Machine (as opposed to reinstalling the OS). Booted from the Leo install disk and for the first time ever (it's always good to try new things in any relationship - keeps things fresh) I told it what I wanted and how I wanted it. Oh baby! Restore my hard disk from a backup using Time Machine.
Chapter 5 - Takin' A Chance On Love
It asked: "Do you really want to restore to your boot disk with a backup? All data on the drive will be lost."
What to do? I hit yes and the process was unstoppable at that point. Go have a cigar and a few glasses of brandy to drown my sorrows and come back in a few hours. <sniff sniff snifter>
Chapter 6 - Can't We just Get Along?
The process was complete. I hit the restart button and placed myself in the hands of Jobs. Oh my Jobs! It booted. Mail asked to import my emails and I said "Yes! Oh yes!!" (to quote Ulysses ~ James Joyce). After a few rounds of disk checks with Drive Genius, Disk Utility to run permissions repairs and repair disk routines, my Mac is back and better than ever. DP 7 needed to be reauthorized as did iTunes and the iTunes store, but other than that everything was screaming like it hasn't in years. And those pesky permissions I changed? Not only were they correct, but the user "unknown" was changed to "Wheel" (which I am guessing is something that Mac like to call "itself" when I'm not around.)
Epilogue - SYSEX, DRUDGE, and ROCK & ROLL!
This morning I hit the power button on the G5 (AKA the "G Spot") and watched it light up. A thing of beauty. Super fast as it was when it came out of the box and performing like it hasn't in a few years. Even programs like Acrobat Pro which were slow to startup or returned some errors were back to lightening fast speeds.
Moral - It's Never What You think
But then as to mock me for all my efforts at reconciliation, Finale reported once again "unable to create temp file." WHAT!? I deleted all the plists and spent the better part of my day yesterday fixing this stuff. Oh no, there was one plist tucked away in an obscure folder (root>Library>Safe Preferences) and Finale was reading THAT file all the while. Acrobat had one in there as well as did a few other programs. Safe my ass. These programs were cheating on me right in front of my virtual face! These were the culprits that were causing all the problems. But I'm glad I was forced to restore the drive. I lost no data and the machine is purring like a Leopard should. Almost like a Festivus for the rest of us.
