Clean install and time machine

I'd like to reformat my hard drive and do a clean install of leopard. I've backed up my drive with time machine and I'm wondering if it is possible to recover all my third party applications etc etc including passwords and settings without having to reinstall them all from the original discs?

Hello Jacob,
All of these are good questions to have when erasing and installing OS X Yosemite. To answer your first question you would need to boot to either your Recovery HD or through the Recovery USB and follow the steps in the first article below. Either option will get the task accomplished and will install OS X Yosemite. For your final question about restoring from a Time Machine back up, you will see the option to restore when going through the setup process of your Mac. Let me know if the information below is of help or need further assistance.
OS X Yosemite: Erase and reinstall OS X
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18869
OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202294
OS X Yosemite: Recover your entire system
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18848
Take it easy,
-Norm G.

Similar Messages

Hard Drive Erase, Clean Install and Time Machine

I am currently running OS X 10.10.3 and I want to do a clean install. All my content is backed up with Time Machine via external drive.
First, how do I erase my hard drive and install a fresh version of OS X 10.10.3?
Second, is it better to use a USB drive for the clean install or just you the Recovery Mode?
Last, once i finally have a clean installation of OS X 10.10.3, am i able to access my external drive via time machine to bring back some of my old files...i have read that the folder in the external drive is not accessible and not accessible through time machine.
I appreciate the response and guidance!

Hello Jacob,
All of these are good questions to have when erasing and installing OS X Yosemite. To answer your first question you would need to boot to either your Recovery HD or through the Recovery USB and follow the steps in the first article below. Either option will get the task accomplished and will install OS X Yosemite. For your final question about restoring from a Time Machine back up, you will see the option to restore when going through the setup process of your Mac. Let me know if the information below is of help or need further assistance.
OS X Yosemite: Erase and reinstall OS X
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18869
OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202294
OS X Yosemite: Recover your entire system
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18848
Take it easy,
-Norm G.

Clean Install VS Time Machine for "out of the box" performance

Hi all ^^
Just under a year a go I made the leap of PC to Mac and have never looked back, im super happy with my Mac however I have been experiancing a decrease in performance since Ive been using it, back when I was using a PC I clean installed the OS once a year and then proceeded to add my files back, thus restoring my PC to full performance.
Ive been reading around these forums looking at Time Machine backups, hoping to see 'how much' gets restored when you perform a recovery from time machine, and from what I have read is that everything gets restored. So my question is purely for some advice and clarification
"If I want to restore my Macbook to its "out of the box" performance, Is it viable for me to use a Time Machine back up?"
if not
"If Time Machine Back ups wont help restoring performance, Would it be possible to Clean Install and then extract purely the Files from my TM Back up?" I read another user had issues, the Mac recognised the files belonged to another mac and he couldent use them.
So I wont waffle on any furthur, but im looking for the easist way to clean install or restore performance to my Mac, a long term solution I can use each year
Please and Thank you
Em

Thankyou for your answer
Im quite a clean freak when it comes to my PC, I keep my desktop bare, things I dont use remain unloaded.etc
I think as I am without a Defrag or Disk Clean up tool I feel abit helpless to maintain optimal standards. I not very experianced with the in's and out's of computers but all I really want on my Mac are my Files, Applications and the OS, nothing more.
I appreciate your time and experiance, so ild ask instead: In your experiance is it worth performing a clean install? I have hadly any junk on my Mac, and from the tone of your post you beleive a program such as MacKeeper would be sufficent?
Futhurmore a clean install once a year isnt worth it? I depend alot on what people have told me, so I may have fallen victim to a rumour :S

Clean install, migration, time machine

I am not a MAC OSX specialist in any way, but I would like to share what I have found out the hard way about the clean install.
1) Never do this unless you are absolutely sure that you have complete back up. Time machine cannot restore to the latest backup status, it can only go back to full backups and those are not made very often. In my case it was July 29, 2012. What a surprise! . Do the vital backups by hand. I propose copying your home folder to an external disc or usb pen drive. Copy Application folder as well. Why? If you are fond of iWorks'09 and hate new versions and you do clean install your favourite software is gone. You may just as well erase your Time Machine disc and start backup from clean drive. I didn't do it.
2) Make copies of your mails.
3) If you purchased software outside AppStore make notes of serial codes. Mail backup helps.
4) When making USB drive bootable do it this way: http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=18081307&postcount=3 it preserves RECOVERY partition which is needed for FIND MY MAC option and it is usefull to have it anyway. Place the USB intended for clean install directly into your MAC, don't use USB hub.
5) Migration assistant never worked for me. The reason might have been that my last full Time Machine backup was done 18 months ago, and it was 10.8... I have read quite a lot about getting restore from the Time Machine, and dwelled on the subject myself.
I can't give explanation why that happened but that is found out the hard way:
- I discoverd that long name of the user should be different than the one you used before clean install.
- After doing trial and error attempts I made short user name the same as in my user before clean install, and started it with a capital letter. Why? That gave me access to my time machine. When the I had a different short user name than stored in time machine then upon entry into time machine all the backups well dimed and going back was not possible. With the same short name the backups were accessible. The system complained that I had no permissions to access the folders. But that is possible to change. When you look up Time Machine folders in Finder, those that are restricted to you have got red circle with a white line inside. Ctrl click on the restricted folder and select Get info. Add yourself as a user that has the access and change permissions to read and write. Your Documents folder appear in every back up in Time Machine. The best it is to change the permissions in the latest backup.
At the end of the day I managed to recover my mail. Data from other programs and my old MBP is up runnning again and faster. It takes however, a lot of work to make it.
The biggest pitty is that I lost my Pages v4.3 and now don't have an option to recover it.

Are you sure its not shown? It should have a yellow or green icon, and list the name of the system and HD that was backed-up, not the one it's on.
If not, try to repair the backups, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

How do a clean install from Time Machine Backup which is in other partition of internal hard drive

I have 2 partitions in my internal hard drive they are
1. Mac OS (Sysem Files)
2. HDD (Other Personal Documents).
I did Time Machine Backup in HDD partition. So now i want to do clean install from the Time Machine Backup without format the whole drive since my system not booting meant that system crashed and cant boot in anyway (Just consider ). Also I have MAC bootable USB stick.
Thanks in advance .

Having never seen a setup like that, I'm not sure how it will work.
In theory, just erase the Mac OS volume, then install, choosing to recover from a Time Machine backup.
When you boot into Recovery, open Disk Utility and select the Mac OS volume, not the whole disk. Erase it, then quit DU and restore from the Time Machine backup. However, this is the part I'm not certain of. I would imagine the partition with TM backup will be mounted, but I don't know.
If you can't see the Time Machine backup from the Recovery HD on the drive, try it from the USB Recovery stick (it is a Recovery USB and not the old Lion install USB, correct?)
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718
If you don't have a "built-in" recovery HD because of your partitioning, then you would have to boot from that USB Recovery disk.
Your setup is severely flawed. A backup on the same drive as the data is not a backup. You will lose everything with a disk failure.
Also, partitioning off your OS on a Mac is not necessary and is probably counterproductive. OS X is not Windows.

Cannot clean install- Only time machine works

Hello!
I am currently running into aa few problems with my Macbook pro 15" mid 2009 laptop. I have had some troubles with the computer consistently beachballing, and freezing up so I decided I had enough and wanted to start from sqaure one. So I bought new Ram (corsair 2x 4gb 1066MHz), and a new hard drive (Seagate Momentus XT 500gb) and subsequently installed the two.
Now for the root of my problem- I cannnot for the lfe of me get Lion or snow leopard to install! It gets about 80% of the way and the installation will fail saying to contact the software manufacturer. Luckily I have a bootable external drive which I have used for diagnostics and I am coming up empty. Disc utility is claiming the drive is perfectly fine, and Memtest is saying the ram is fine. I was searching for a solution so I decided totry and install from a time machine backup which worked fine. Very weird.
Any ideas on what would cause my computer to reject a clean install?

You may have a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

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 vs. time machine recovery after installing new HDD

Hello All,
I have got actually two questions, but I think I only can do one issue at the time. Anyway: Here are my specs and question:
1. I have got a 2010 MacBook Pro with a 320 Gb HDD which seems to be on its way to lala land (crashes almost once every quarter year)
2. I have backed up my Mac with TimeMachine to uptodate
3. I have created a boot disk and purchased a new 1 Tb HDD to be installed
4. I plan to install new HDD in a bit
So here is the question:
Shall I make a clean install of Mavericks (and if so, how do I get all my e-mail and other data onto the new HDD), or should I just go with the latest TimeMachine update?
(Also: If I partitioned the HDD and designate one only for apps and the other only for data, how would I do that?)
Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. ... thanks, theo

Thank you for your swift responce and help
So this solution would remove the "clutter" and restore performace?

Fresh Leopard Install and Time Machine

Leopard has been a miserable experience on my Imac 1.8Ghz G5. It has played havoc with the fan management and constantly overheats causing an abrupt switching off with a “pop” (presumably a safety feature). I am planning a completely fresh Leopard install on a wiped hard drive (which was not done originally). What folders or files should I NOT back up in Time Machine so that none of my previous system is restored. Basically I want everything back as it is now, Apps, e-mails, bookmarks etc. but a completely fresh system. Presumably I need to restore the Library folder, but is there anything in the System folder that I will need to restore? I have done an Archive and Install before, but that has not helped. I have reset the PRAM and SMC also. Looking at various Boards, fan problems are commonplace. I hoped that the first update would sort this out, but it didn't. A fresh install seems a reasonable next step. Any advice would be appreciated.

It's time for Apple to fess up and admit that Leopard, while great in potential, was rushed out prematurely. I've never seen so many forums dealing with OS-X failures like we see with Leopard.
It's a complete mess. I guess all those engineers shouldn't have been pulled to rush iPhone out the door prematurely too.
Not one--NOT ONE product that Apple let out this year was correct out of the gate. ****, they couldn't even get a freakin' keyboard right!!
Bad Apple, Bad.
I used to be unabashedly proud to recommend to people that they give Apple a close look before buying a computer. I'd be out of my mind to recommend Apple again until they get off this self-destructive, kamikaze trajectory. They have absolutely exceeded their capabilities for quality product development, and are no better than Microsoft.

Mavericks install and Time Machine backup disk

Anyone come across this?
Trying to install Mavericks and get the message :
This disk is used for Time Machine Backups
This is my Macbook Pro Hard Drive and my time machine backups are saved to an external drive which was not connected when I was trying to install Mavericks
Currently running 10.7.5

The requirements for Mountain Lion are:
OS X v10.6.8 or later
2GB of memory
8GB of available space
and the supported models are:
iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
If your machine does not comply with these requirements you may be able to install Lion, for which the requirements are:
Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
2GB of memory
OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
7GB of available space
Lion is available in the Online Apple Store ($19.99) (you will get a code enabling you to download it from the Mac App Store).
You should be aware that PPC programs (such as AppleWorks) will not run on Lion or above; and some other applications may not be compatible - there is a useful compatibility checklist at http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

Clean install from Time Machine

My Macbook started to get slower over the last couple of months.
Last month I lost about 10/7500 records in cash book.
I did Verify disk in Disk Utility which recommended reinstall.
I did backup to Time Machine.
Then did Erase Disk.
Now restart computer (holding down command-R) and get message to instal from internet.
How can I install from the Time Machine.
I have another MacBook Pro ,on OS X 10.7.5.
Hoping someone can help.
Regards, David.

When you see a beachball cursor or the slowness is especially bad, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.
These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
          SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.
Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.
Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

Mavericks install and Time Machine

Hi all,
Running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard and going to install Mavericks. Current system and backups are good. Running Time Machine and also FileVault is enabled.
Want to know what I need to do (or not to do) so Time Machine can continue backing up right where it left off on Snow Leopard when I install Mavericks.
Is that possible or do I need to start a whole new TM backup with Mavericks?
Any help/thoughts on this or related to it are very welcome!
Thanks

Hi Alain,
I see you never got a reply to this, but I'm wondering what you finally did? I have very similar questions, but I'm "upgrading" from 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. I also have FileVault activated and use a Time Machine backup. Any comments/suggestions/experience you (or others) would like to share would be helpful.
Thanks

Combine fresh system install and Time Machine Backup

Hi all !
There´s a question that´s more generally Leopard and Snow Leopard related:
In trying to find causes of a system slowdown I decided to go for a complete fresh system install. BUT I also want to use my data saved in the time machine backup without spoiling the freshly created system folder.
I also want to update the system to the current OS version before restoring from BU.
Is there a way to keep the fresh system folder deriving from a fresh installation and just replace the rest of the data (that´s not present yet) with the time machine backup ?
I think the handy command "Restore System from Backup" from the OSX system installer wouldnt be a good idea. It would copy ALL the files from the backup, and would overwrite my fresh system folder, so that I´ll end up with the same old, probably faulty system.
Could the migration tool do the job ?
Thanks for your knowledge !

habschi2 wrote:
In trying to find causes of a system slowdown I decided to go for a complete fresh system install. BUT I also want to use my data saved in the time machine >backup without spoiling the freshly created system folder.
You should be able to migrate, for example, just your data using TM. But, TM is a bit unpredictable. Why not make a bootable clone of your internal on an external. It would serve fail-safe purposes, migrations purposes, and data-backup purposes. At the end of your install, you could, as groups only, migrate your data, users, settings, and apps--using your discretion. I would migrate only my data and my settings.
Is there a way to keep the fresh system folder deriving from a fresh installation and just replace the rest of the data (that´s not present yet) with >the time machine backup ?
See above.
I think the handy command "Restore System from Backup" from the OSX system installer wouldnt be a good idea. It would copy ALL the files from the backup, and would overwrite my fresh system folder, so that I´ll end up with the same >old, probably faulty system.
Absolutely correct.
Could the migration tool do the job ?
You can use Migration Assistant with TM, but I have never done so. So, I can't advise. The clone I mentioned takes care of all you issues in a very straight forward manner without dealing with the confusion of TM and MA that can arise.
(8878)

Mavericks Clean Install now Time Machine won't work

Was having probs with Mavericks upgrade so decided to do clean install. Did TM backup and wiped main HD and check it then installed Maverics.
Performed migration to get Applications & Data back all seemed fine. TM showd all back up from before install.
TM reported fail on next day backup so I open TM to see what was there. I was shocked to discover all backups gone except one following migration and in progress backup that failed. Never asked if old back ups to be deleted just disappeared.
As all apps & data on main HD I reformatted and Checked TM disk all fine. TM starts backup of HD around 750GB to TM 2TB disk. After many hours it reports an error occured, no details what so ever what error was. Have reformatted again and tried again same. Is this Apple saying my 4yo IMac needs replacing, do they need more money or am I missing something, have read TM support files that dont help.
Any advice would be great. Thank you.

What kind of external drive do you have and do you have software installed that came with it?
Pete

Install and time machine

When I restarted my computer last week I lost much - two user accounts, my email, my photos and pretty well everything I had added to the orginal iMac. I took it to the apple store and they used Time machine from my back up hard drive to my computer again. Tonight the same thing happened. I shut down and restarted and only the admin account appears andwhen that is opened all my files are again gone. I can't afford to go back to the techie once each week. What can I do to be able to reboot and still have the current desktop etc.each time.

It's time for Apple to fess up and admit that Leopard, while great in potential, was rushed out prematurely. I've never seen so many forums dealing with OS-X failures like we see with Leopard.
It's a complete mess. I guess all those engineers shouldn't have been pulled to rush iPhone out the door prematurely too.
Not one--NOT ONE product that Apple let out this year was correct out of the gate. ****, they couldn't even get a freakin' keyboard right!!
Bad Apple, Bad.
I used to be unabashedly proud to recommend to people that they give Apple a close look before buying a computer. I'd be out of my mind to recommend Apple again until they get off this self-destructive, kamikaze trajectory. They have absolutely exceeded their capabilities for quality product development, and are no better than Microsoft.

Clean install and time machine

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