Backing up FCPX data for reinstall / migration

Hey FCP.CO people!

I've done a bit of searching and found scattered information about what to do when reinstalling your OS. I want a clean install of OS X however I don't want to lose info regarding FCPX. What are some of the healthiest and safest ways of backing up things like plugins, preferences and essential FCPX files in order to reinstall your operating system with ease?

Thanks guys

Clone your entire HD to an external drive with Carbon Copy Cloner. Wipe internal drive and reinstall OS. Make sure the drive is plugged in when you restart the first time after installation, and when prompted, use migration assistant to bring back all your apps/settings/etc. Keep all your serial #'s, authorization codes etc handy as you may need to re enter them when you start up FCP X again.

Thanks but that doesn't truly achieve the outcome I desire. I plan on wiping my computer's HD so that I can get rid of all the extraneous preference files, caches and garbage that accumulates with time to slow down an OS and hard drive. Using Migration Assistant unfortunately, to my understanding, imports those files as well, ultimately defeating the purpose of wiping the drive in the first place.

Migration Assistant is exactly what you want to use. It won't bring in all that junk you don't want.

Otherwise you'll have to manually back up what you want to keep, and manually bring it back after the install and set up is over.

For FCPX all you need are these folders from each drive:
Final Cut Events
Final Cut Projects
Final Cut Archives
Motion Templates

My question is, why exactly are you reinstalling the OS?

Gotcha... If all you care about is FCP X, simply make copies of the following folders located in your "Movies" folder:
Final Cut Events
Final Cut Events - Hidden (if present, might not be)
Final Cut Projects
Final Cut Projects - Hidden (if present, might not be)
Motion Templates

Once you've reinstalld the OS, reinstall FCPX from the app store. Before running it, drag all the folders you copied back into your Movies folder. If you want to be super safe, make copies of the *new* folders that were created when you reinstall FCP X before you replace them with the ones you copied from your old system. Also, you may have plugins installed that are FxPlug versions, which are not in the Motion Templates folder. You will need the installers and codes to reinstall these. Unfortunately it's sometimes hard to track down their locations to copy them before you wipe the system. Some are in ~Library/Plugins. Some are in ~Library/Application Support/Final Cut Pro/Templates... they're scattered about and if you don't find all the parts it will break something. You really should just reinstall them.

@BenB I'm wiping my drive for maintenance and upkeep purposes. It's been slowing down a little bit and I tend to perform clean installs on my computers yearly or biannually.

@Plysat Yeah that answers my question pretty well. I'm going to check out BenB's solution to see the results first but your solution was the one I was looking for.

Thanks to both of you for the help!

My Early 2008 Mac Pro has not had a clean install since it was brand new. Even when I update to larger OS drives, just use CCC. Clean installs should be unnecessary with OS X. Unix is an OS that keeps itself pretty clean.

I do run Disk Warrior once a month. But I have to tall you, I find reinstall of OS X pretty unnecessary. None of my IT consulting clients have reinstalled since OS X 1.0 and are running just fine. If you do proper regular maintenance, you should be fine.

There was an app called Spring Cleaning Deluxe, but I don't think it has been updated past OS X 10.4.