Clean Install and Backup

Dear friends,
I'd like to do a clean install on my iMac ( to remove all the junk accumulated in time) and I'm looking for suggestions.
I've Leopard so I'm using TIme Machine.
What do you reckon is the best way of doing a clean install?
And what do you think is the safest way to save all my data? Is Time Machine safe enough?
As I said I'd like to give the Mac a fresh start removing all the junk and I was told that a clean install is the best way. Do you agree?
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, see:
Mac Maintenance Quick Assist,
Mac OS X speed FAQ,
Myths of required versus not required maintenance for Mac OS X,
Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
Essential Mac Maintenance: Get set up
Essential Mac Maintenance: Rev up your routines, and
Speeding up
For the newbie stuff, see:
Switching from Windows to Mac OS X,
Basic Tutorials on using a Mac,
Mac 101: Mac Essentials,
Anatomy of a Mac,
MacFixIt Tutorials,
MacTips, and
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition.
Additionally, *Texas Mac Man* recommends:
Quick Assist.
Welcome to the Switch To A Mac Guides,
Take Control E-books, and
A guide for switching to a Mac.

Similar Messages

Clean install and restore from Time Machine: Will i lose my applications ?

I want to do a Snow Leopard clean install instead of a an upgrade.
1) How do I do the clean install and restore it from Time machine during the install ?
2) If I do the clean install and restore from Leopard's time machine backup, will I retaing all my applications or I will only retain my personal files ?
- If I don't retain my applications, how will my photos in iPhoto be restored without iPhoto ?

If you did a complete TM backup, then all your files, users, settings, and programs will be restored. You will have the opportunity to restore using TM at the end of the install. I would back at least my data up separately.
To erase and install (i.e., clean install), start up to your DVD and stop after selecting your language. Use the menus to start Disk Utility and erase your drive. Quit Disk Utility and proceed with your installation. At the end, you will be able to choose to reclaim your settings, files, and apps from TM.
Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

Clean install and transferring applications

I just bought a brand new MacBook Pro a year and a half ago with the top performing quadcore i7 with 8GB of RAM. Ever since I upgraded to Mountain Lion from Lion. I have had some serious performance issues. I have already done a time reinstall and still have the same performance problems, which is pretty poor and a very hot core. I have read that doing a clean install and transfering file from the TM results in noticably better performance. I have never done this before so I like to know the risks and can I transfer my applications (pages, keynotes, word, powerpoint, ect.)

Yes, that is an option although you will need to take care you do not restore from backup something that is the direct cause of your problems.
All your applications may be reinstalled from the App Store or installation DVDs depending upon where and how they were purchased.
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

Clean install and migration of only one or two program

How does one do a clean install and migrate only one or two applications.

I don't believe there is a "clean install" on the Snow Leopard disk if you launch the install from your standard system boot. I believe you need to:
1) Put the SL disk in the machine drive.
2) Restart your machine.
3) Hold down the 'c' key during startup, to boot from the SL disk.
4) Once the system boots up, it starts the Snow Leopard install process. However, you have a menu bar where you can run several system utilities, such as Disk Utility.
5) Run Disk Utility and erase/reformat the main system harddisk. This will give you a "clean" disk to install Snow Leopard on.
6) After Disk Utility finishes, proceed with the install process.
7) After intallation of Snow Leopard, restore any apps/data you want from backups and/or original installation packages.
Hope this helps,
j0hn

I did a clean install and lost all of my iweb data and settings. My site is up and published through yahoo's server. Is there a way to retrieve/import so I can make changes?? HELP!

I did a clean install and lost all of my iweb data and settings.
My site is up and published through yahoo's server.
Is there a way to retrieve/import so I can make changes?? HELP!
Can I do this through wordpress or using html code?
Thanks!

Is there a way to retrieve/import so I can make changes?? HELP!
It's often asked and answered.
Search this forum for similar disasters : lost iweb file
The answer usually is No. You'll have to start from scratch. Unless you have a backup.
Can I do this through wordpress or using html code
No.

Recently upgraded Mac 24" to Lion (clean install) and now no external hard disks work with Time Machine

Recently upgraded Mac 24" to Lion (clean install) and now no external hard disks work with Time Machine.
installed new internal disk first with fresh 10.7.3 Lion software. Also upgrade ram to 4GB. Work great, super fast.
BUT.... my WD 1TB firewire400 external disks no longer work with the Lion enabled machine now.
FURTHER... I read somewhere that WD is problematic with Lion but Seagate was not... so I went and bought a new 3TB Seagate GoFlex.
When it didnt work properly either, I patiently searched and found a software/firward upgrade and applied.
I re-partitioned disk to extened/journaled standard, etc.
Then assigned the particition to Time Machine. Drive turned the blue/grey color, so I thought it would work.
But, it has now been in "preparing" mode in Time Machine for HOURS....
What is up Apple? So dissappointed. Ive read these type of problems are notorious with Lion and I wish I never upgraded.
Are you trying to make issues with External disks, to drive people to iCloud? That trick ont work in me. I will not reward bad behaviour Apple.
Please provide a fix... I wasted hours/days screwing around with this, instead of using the Mac for what its intended!

Solved by Pondini, on another thread I opened...
Answer:
Sounds like either:
A directory problem on your internal HD. Verify your internal HD, and Repair any other volumes being backed-up per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
Something in OSX may be damaged. You've tried the "combo," so a fresh copy of OSX (that won't disturb anything else) would be worth a try (and you don't need a tech for that). See Installing the ''combo'' update and/or Reinstalling OSX.

Clean Install and Software Restore CDs

Hi,
I have had my iBook G4 since February 2004. Yesterday I did a Clean Install and completely erased my HD. I used Install Disc 1 and 2. However, I was never prompted to insert Disc 3. Did I miss something?
Also, I also found the 8 Software Restore Discs. What exactly is "software restore"? After reading the pdf file and searching around these boards, I still could not find a definitive answer. What software is restored? The only application I seem to see missing is GarageBand.
Thanks,
DBDevil

Any software that you are missing from when you first got your ibook brand new should be there. It should also give you the option of which ones to install and such.

Clean install and Mail/itunes

I want to do a clean install and wipe my hard disk etc but I then like to put on my old mail and itunes library etc. What do I have to do that i.e. what folders do I need to bring back from Time Machine. And where do I put them etc?
Thanks

I had to reinstall Leopard for reasons unrelated to Leopard. When I did this reinstallation, the vertical quirk went away. Very strange.

Did a leopard clean install and restored via time machine

Hi
Just done a leopard clean install and restored data via time machine, now when i run time machine i cant go back in time to restore other bits and bobs, any ideas
thanks

This is not meant to be a snide comment, but I use Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper not TM. Used TM for a while but got tired of it, changed to CCC and then when Super Duper was updated for Leopard moved back to SD. I like it because (both SD and CCC) can be scheduled for whenever you want to run it and it only backs up files that have changed since last update. It also produces a bootable disk.

IMac Clean install and now won't install Lion 10.7.5

My mid 2007 iMac was haveing trouble connecting to the internet via a browser and I took it into the Genius Bar and their only suggestion was to do a clean install and then see what happens. I wiped the computer and tried a clean install. It wouldn't install OS X 10.7 Lion (which this computer was previously running). I took it back into the Genius Bar and they had to install 10.6 Snow Leopard. And now it won't upgrade to Lion (that it used to run till it started having problems).
What's going on?
Now, 3 weeks later, on our other mid 2007 iMac is starting to have the same issues.
Is there something wrong with the OS? I go to network diagnostics and it says it is connecting to the internet just fine. But it won't connect via a browser or do software updates.
I go to Airport Utilities and it wants me to forget the AirPort Extreme. Exact thing happened on the other iMac and I couldn't ever recover (or discover) the Extreme.
Help !!!!!!!!

You mean 2011 or do you mean Mountain Lion? Lion came out in mid 2011 and ML in 2012. And yes, 7,1 is the model identifier. Here is something I found on running the current OS:
From this site:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac-core-2-duo-2.0-20-inch-alu minum-specs.html
Did you try recovery?
Not sure if your machine would be able to qualify for the recovery disk assistant (since yours would need the assistant to create a recovery partition)
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433
If that works, you should try using the recovery option (hit Command + Option + R during restart) to connect to Apple's servers and reinstall Lion.

Clean install and restore using Backup 3.1

I have an older G4 thats got some stability issues and I'm considering backing up the user folders and doing a clean install just to give the machine a good cleansing.
I'm not familiar with Apple's Backup program but I'm hopeful that i can backup the users to a second hard drive...erase and install Tiger on the primary HD then restore the users.
Are their any problems or pitfalls with this plan. Will the OS eagerly accept the restored users?
Thanks

The AEBS(n) does not officially support a partitioned USB drive, which could explain the inconsistency in mounting. See this article for the supported disk formats:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305038

Clean install and selective restores from Time Machine?

Hi, all.
Just purchased a 13-inch non-Retina MBP last week. Swaped out the 500GB drive for a 1TB, upgraded to Mavericks and transfered all my data from a 2006-era white iMac running Leopard via Time Machine. I've had some connectivity issues (logins at app store failing, server verification errors in iTunes, and not being able launch the software that allows the folks at Apple to view my screen via chat) and after a few nights on the phone and in chat with Apple support, they've recommended booting in recovery since nothing else is working, wiping the hard drive, and performing a clean install of Mavericks. The assumption is that something from the migration is causing the issue.
I've created a fresh Time Machine backup on an external 1TB drive, and I'm mainly concerned with moving over the documents, Lightroom 4 library, iPhoto library, and iTunes library.Will I just be able to enter Time Machine and restore those or, failing that, manually drag and drop them into the user library? Are there any user permissions I need to be concerned about?
Thanks in advance!

Thanks, I figured as much. Another foolish question: should I be concerned about user permissions if I'm starting over? Can I transfer the users (there are only two, me and my wife) over from Time Machine? Trying to start as fresh as possible since no one can figure out what's causing the connectivity issues.

Clean install and time capsule restore question

Hello apple community,
This is my first post ever, so here goes nothing..
I have a 2010 MBP and I want to do a clean install of lion. The reason is: 1. I just want to, and 2. I have noticed some performance issues due to all the crap I have downloaded throughout my time in college.
I have not made a Lion install disk because I do not have the media to put it on. So I am thinking about doing a clean install of SL (which I have the disk for) and then doing all the updates, etc.. (sounds painful, doesnt it?)
The MAIN reason I am posting this, is to ask: After I complete my clean install, can I access my time capsule and recover individual files (pictures, music, movies, ect..)? Or do I have to select "recover from time machine back-up" during my clean install? To me that last option seems silly and pointless, but I am unsure if I can access my back ups after doing a clean install. I would really hate to pull the trigger and find out that I cannot get to my files.
-Also, assuming that I CAN access my idividual files on my time capsule, are there any limits to what I can restore? I'd like to restore apps that I didn't get thru the app store (school stuff).
Thanks, I really appreciate the input.
Matt.

You can access the Time Machine data outside the GUI. If you have a Time Capsule, you will go into its hard disk through Finder and mount the sparsebundle. Once mounted, you can choose a date and any file. Drag and drop.
You may run into permissions issues, so it is imperative that if you modify permissions for a folder you do not modify the home folder or its immediate folders. For example, if your short name is "murdauch", which contains Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc., you would neither modify the permissions for /users/murdauch/ nor /users/username/documents/. Instead, you might modify the permissions for /users/murdauch/documents/recovered-from-backup/.

Clean install and restore

Dear Peoples of the community
Can you help me. I have had no end of problems with mail since I upgraded to mountain lion - icloud accounts continually not being recognised, mail preferences freezing, etc. I all stems to a duplicate of the mail app which occured during the install ?!?!
I have decided to try a clean instal, from a bootable USB which i am hoping to create, then I am hoping to restore my files from my time machine back up.
I have a couple of questions:
Does this method allow me to restore applications such as word and excel, garageband, numbers, all my photos, all my music etc. or will all these apps be lost?
if it does restore the software apps, will i have to put in the product keys again
and Last but by no means least - will restoring from time machine just restore the corrupted permissions that have lead me to these problems.
If anyone has any info, suggestions then i am all ears
Thanks for your time.

If you did a complete TM backup, then all your files, users, settings, and programs will be restored. You will have the opportunity to restore using TM at the end of the install. I would back at least my data up separately.
To erase and install (i.e., clean install), start up to your DVD and stop after selecting your language. Use the menus to start Disk Utility and erase your drive. Quit Disk Utility and proceed with your installation. At the end, you will be able to choose to reclaim your settings, files, and apps from TM.
Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

Clean install and iPhone

I'm convinced that I need to do a clean install of Leopard (I did Archive and Install, but I haven't done a clean install since Panther, and I just want to start fresh).
How will this affect my iPhone? When I'm done with the clean install will my iPhone be recognized as activated, etc.? Will I be able to sync my settings (Mail accounts, Address Book, Calendar) back to my MacBook Pro from the iPhone (I will definitely backup my MBP first, and can restore these data files from the backup, just wondering if I could restore from the iPhone if I wanted).

If you set up your admin account with the same user name and password as before, you should not have any problems with your iPhone syncing. Too bad the iPhone has no "disk mode" like the 'pods.

Clean Install and Backup

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