"Clean Install" and General Info

Hey all. Without getting into the argument of whether or not to erase and install vs upgrading (the fact of the matter is that Apple kind of forced my hand on this one by upgrading the included PHP and adding extensions that I manually had to compile in 10.5) I'd like to get some info to be able to do this around the 10.6.1 release maybe...
First, I've read several times that some of you, when doing this, will run the previous system on another drive (assuming Target Disk with Firewire drive?) but I wouldn't know where to begin doing this. So I'm hoping someone can give me some resources for this or lay it out for me.
Second, I've always been unclear about this one thing in macs. When you go to erase a drive in disk utility, do you erase the volume (the first title) or the disk (the second title)? The volume is the one that gives you the partition information correct?
Lastly, I believe someone posted that if doing a "clean install" you lose the previously included iLife apps, but the iLife 09 disk should take care of that right?
Thanks for all the great info!

Hey rothnd.
Well, for question 1, the idea is to back up your current system to another drive using something like time machine, or carbon copy or the like so that you have a copy of your current system (unless of course you are installing 10.6 on a new drive that will be replacing your previous drive, in which case you will just want to have a way to access the data off the previous drive such as a usb or firewire enclosure or another machine to use via target disk mode).
This will give you a resource for retrieving your current software setup from (which in essence will give you a situation very similar to upgrading).
Although, if you are planning to use the included utilities to restore the data from your previous setup, why not upgrade? If you have to compile things again, you have to compile things again, right? The option to get your data off a previous volume is part of the setup.
Secondly, either will do. For all intensive purposes they will both do the same thing. Your drive will be wiped clean and fresh as a new one.
And third, you got it in one
Cheers!
neon

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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 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 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.

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

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.

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.

Clean install and selective migration?

Hi,
First a bit of background:
I have 2 Macs, a 2009 Mac Pro and a Late 2011 MBP 17".
The Mac Pro was originally Leopard, then Snow. I decided it was getting risky and upgraded to 10.8.5. No issues.
The MacBook Pro came with Lion. I wanted to upgrate that to 10.8.5 too. Oh my goodness what a nightmare!
In brief: Upgraded MBP to ML. At the same time it did a firmware update for Thunderbolt. Ever since this, it proves very hit or miss with booting – it tends to hang before the login screen (spinning beachball of death). I have done all the SMC and NVRAM resets, and eventually did a clean install of Mountain Lion, then used Migration assistant to copy everything from the MacPro. It still seems to have issues. Apple tech support say that it cannot be software if I've reinstalled everything, but they did say I should NOT have migrated the users over. Not sure why.
Anyway, I took it in to an authorised service centre and they said it could be the HD on its way out (although SMART status is ok). They recommended that I replace the HD with an SSD. However, as I have loads of client and personal data on my HD, I cannot send my MBP away for someone to clone etc, and dispose of the old HD without me knowing how well they disposed of it.
So, I've just secure formatted the whole machine. When I came to restart, it wanted to install Lion rather than ML. I was surprised, as I'd heard that once you update the OS, the firmware gets rewritten so you can't go back. Anyway, I loaded Lion, then reinstalled ML. So now I have a clean install on the HD. I did this so that when they swap the HD for the 1TB Crucial M500, they can set me up with ML all ready to go, not give me back a Lion machine.
So, anyway, with all that as preamble, these are my questions:
1 - The Apple tech said that I should not migrate users. But I do want to get all my email history etc back. If I migrate "data", will I be able to create a new user and get it back to how it was?
2 - Applications-wise I personally would rather rebuild from scratch as my Mac Pro has got so many out of date apps that I don't really want to migrate, but what I'm concerned about is that I cannot find my MS Office 2008 disks, so ideally I'd like to migrate that. In other words, is it possible to choose which apps I migrate across using Migration Assistant?
Or am I really going to be forced to migrate users, apps and everything? And does anyone know why Apple tech think this might be the cause of the problem?
Sorry, I lknow that's a lot to read but I always think background info is useful.
Thanks in advance. I'm off to take the MBP in to have the SSD fitted, but will need your advice for setting it up when I get it back.

A few things...
1. Updating the firmware doesn't preclude loading an older version of the OS. Depending on the machine and the firmware, it may set up Internet Recovery with something different than what you're installing. For example, the firmware update may set up Lion as the Internet Recovery system, then you install Snow Leopard. You can do it, it's just that if you use Internet Recovery it'll use Lion.
2. Your problem could be the hard drive, or it could be the SATA cable. The way I normally test this is to move the drive to an external enclosure and boot from it by holding down the Option key and selecting it. If it runs fine from there, the SATA cable is the problem.
3. You really don't need tech support to do this, it's all pretty straightforward. By all means use them if you're uncomfortable doing this kind of thing, but the problem is you may get it back with the same problems. Especially if it is a SATA cable, as an SSD is only going to give you more errors than the HD did.
4. Migration Assistant gives you the option of moving Applications, Data, or Settings. You can move any or all of those categories, but not selectively. If you move Applications it'll move all of them.
5. As far as not migrating users... the reason to not do this is in case there's some software loading for the user that's causing problems. An easy way to find out if that's the case is to set your machine up with a clean install then clone it with something like Carbon Copy Cloner to an external drive. Now do your migration. If the migration causes problems, just copy the clone back onto the drive.
Here's the procedure for changing a drive in your model:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+17-Inch+Unibody+Hard+Drive+Replacement/3 401

Clean install and still spotlight problems

I've been having several problems with my system, including problems with spotlight, and so I decided it was time for a clean install. After a clean install to 10.5.2 and then a combo update to 10.5.6, spotlight still is not working correctly. I opened my sys prefs and saw that right after a clean install, there were still settings in my "privacy" list for spotlight from my previous system. I'm assuming then this info is somehow stored locally on each drive? Does that sound right?
Spotlight starting indexing like normal, but it got to the point where it hangs on 7364159 hours remaining. This was the same issue I had before the clean install.
so, two questions.
1- How can I get spotlight to work? I've tried "spotless" and others and it never seems to work correctly.
2- I've got 4 internal drives, could it be that the drives are two large for indexing? Seems strange but at this point I can't figure out why indexing never finishes.
Stock 320gb
seagate 500gb
2x seagate 1.5 TB
I really would appreciate any suggestions. I've been really frustrated that spotlight hasn't worked since buying this new Mac Pro.

I did as suggested and enabling them one by one allowed me to index my system drive but as soon as I started on the 2nd drive (seagate 1.5TB) it started doing the same kinds of things. It looks like it's working and then gets to the same point and the number starts to go up and the status doesn't move. I ran lsof | grep mdworkder in the terminal and I got this
mdworker 181 user cwd DIR 14,2 1258 2 /
mdworker 181 user txt REG 14,2 340640 212542 /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadat a.framework/Versions/A/Support/mdworker
mdworker 181 user txt REG 14,2 1028096 849446 /Library/Caches/com.apple.LaunchServices-023501.csstore
mdworker 181 user txt REG 14,2 10244016 192561 /usr/share/icu/icudt36l.dat
mdworker 181 user txt REG 14,2 1059792 217357 /usr/lib/dyld
mdworker 181 user txt REG 14,2 136200192 585600 /private/var/db/dyld/dyldshared_cachei386
mdworker 181 user 0r CHR 3,2 0t0 184107396 /dev/null
mdworker 181 user 1w CHR 3,2 0t0 184107396 /dev/null
mdworker 181 user 2w CHR 3,2 0t0 184107396 /dev/null
mdworker 181 user 3u KQUEUE count=0, state=0x2
mdworker 181 user 4r DIR 14,2 272 24898 /Library/Spotlight
mdworker 181 user 5r DIR 14,2 714 152 /System/Library/Spotlight
After leaving it for a while, it doesn't seem to change at all. This is after it had started indexing the drive and then I restarted my computer. Once restarting, it has the spotlight window that says it is calculating the time and it doesn't do anything.

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 iChat and Safari

My computer has reached a point where it takes 45 minutes - 3 hours to restart. Everything takes 10x longer than it should. I have tried everything i can think of (regular reinstall, limiting the number of applications running, removing peripherals etc) so unless there are other recommendations I have decided to run a clean install. I have copied all important data to an external hard drive but I am concerned about losing iChat and Safari preferences and settings. I was hoping someone could let me know the best way to carry these over.
Thanks

Hi G^B, Welcome to Apple Discussions.
IChat prefs are stored online, for Safari just copy the Safari folder.
Here is a list of where your important data is stored ("~" stands for "Home"):
Your data in ~/Documents
~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
~/Library/Application Support/iCal(copy the whole folder)
Also in ~/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need)
~ /Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
~/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist *This is a very important file which contains all email account settings and general mail preferences.
~ /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
~/Library/Application Support/Safari (copy the whole folder)
~/Library/Application Support/iMovie (copy the whole folder)
~/Pictures/iPhoto library
~/Music/iTunes
~/Movies/iMovie
If you want cookies:
~/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
~/Library/Application Support/Webfoundation/HTTPcookies.plist
For Entourage users:
Entourage is in Documents/Microsoft user data
Also in ~ /Library/Preferences/Microsoft
internet explorer favorites are in ~/Library/Preferences/Explorer/favorites.html
-mj
[email protected]

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 General Info

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