Clean install- how to restore files

After originally upgrading to Mavericks, I realized that I had many old files still in the System/Library from prior operating systems. I decided to do a clean install to clean things up and remove potentially problematic old software. I made an bootable USB drive, wiped my hard drive and did a clean install of Mavericks. I then used my Time Machine backup and Migration Assistant to restore Documents and what I think was labeled as something like Settings. I manually installed the applications. I think this may have been a waste of time. When I look in the home Library folder, it has all the application files and preferences from apps that I did not re-install. So I don't think I actually ended up doing any cleaning at all. This is frustrating and I don't understand what happened. Was it the Settings choice that brought all that stuff back?
PS- The clean install did not install the three iWorks applications that I thought were a free part of Mavericks. Why not?

I checked and this is even stranger. There is a second account, and that one has all my old applications (including ones not installed with Mavericks), but not the restored documents from Time Machine. How did those apps get there? I specifically told Migration Assistant not to install applications.

Similar Messages

Clean Install Mavericks and Restoring files

Good afternoon everyone, I want to do a clean install of Mavericks on my iMac so I have a fresh system to work with. Having read all the blogs I think I understand how to actually do the clean install via a USB stick but there appears to be a wide range of issues when either trying to restore or transfer files backed up to time machine. Indeed many blogs cite significant problems even accessing Time machine following the clean install. Surely this should be simple...but appears not..!
I'm primarily worried about restoring my email (googlemail), My 500gb itunes library and my significant library of photographs in Aperture.
Can anyone advise on the best way to restore files following the clean install using time machine ? My preference would be to re-install the Itunes and Aperture software from fresh and just transfer or re-import the itunes library and photograps (not easy in Aperture I know) as files...if you know what I mean !... I'm sure I can manage transfer of all other types of files providing I can get into the back up...
Any advice or guidance would be really appreciated..
Cheers

there appears to be a wide range of issues when either trying to restore or transfer files backed up to time machine
TimeMachine doesn't have a clean install option. It's why I don't use it and prefer bootable clones instead as they are direct accessible in case I do just want grab files and change permissions to the new account, dumping the rest.
With timed clones on seperate hardware, makes it easier to revert from a previous OS X version or optimize and defragment your boot hard drive for better performance using a clone, booting from it and reverse cloning.
Make a bootable clone of your boot drive
Most commonly used backup methods
Why is my computer slow?
How to safely defrag a Mac's hard drive
I'm primarily worried about restoring my email (googlemail), My 500gb itunes library and my significant library of photographs in Aperture.
To fresh install, you need to backup files manually to external drive (not timemachine), then wipe everything and set the machine up like brand new, with new user accounts, preferably with the same drive name (MacintoshHD) user account names, then return files to each account and do a #6 Repair Users Permissions on the files.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
iTunes shouldn't be much of a problem, provided you tag the songs in the playlist with the playlist names (attaches to the song files themselves) and use the same drive name and user account name on the fresh install so the pathnames in the itunes database matches where your files are at.
Aperture shouldn't be much of a problem for the same reason, as long as you copy the contents of your home folders direclty back into the new account folders of the same name, again to match the pathames where your files are at.
Gmail has a online website, so your emails are there, make sure you have the password. They should redownload to your machine once you set up mail in the new account (with the same name)
Local email files on the existing system will be erased with the fresh install method because they are likely seure and hidden in the invisible User/Library folder, which doesn't get restored with the fresh install method. (but will with TimeMachine restores as it copies everything)
Follow the A2 method here for a fresh install of OS X, your just targeting the existing MacintoshHD partition, a full drive wipe isn't necessary.
Reset your Mac
You also might want to read this also, it can be used for the fresh install method.
How to revert OS X back from Mavericks

GUID Partition Scheme - Need clean install: can I restore files from TM?

So, here's my problem. I have an Intel PowerMac (first series after the G5) and when I try to install SL I get the following error message: "Can't Install Snow Leopard Since Disk Does Not Use GUID Partition Scheme". I guess it's something related to the fact thet I previously upgraded from an old iMac with a PPC processor (Apple partition vs. GUID partition).
Anyway, accoding to my understanding, the only solution for me is to do a clean install by wiping the HD and re-partitioning it.
Now, my question is: can I use my current TM backup to later restore apps/prefs onto the new SL system? I believe that TM now has an Apple partition scheme that reflects the one I have on Leopard 10.5. Is that right? Will I encounter any problem because of the different partition type of TM?

"Anyway, accoding to my understanding, the only solution for me is to do a clean install by wiping the HD and re-partitioning it."
Right, except that your drive will automatically be erased when you set up the GUID partitiion.
"Now, my question is: can I use my current TM backup to later restore apps/prefs onto the new SL system? I believe that TM now has an Apple partition scheme that reflects the one I have on Leopard 10.5. Is that right? Will I encounter any problem because of the different partition type of TM?"
Your TM backup should work. But, there are not many guarantees in life. You could tranfer you TM backup temporarily to your internal and then make a bootable clone of your internal on your external. Afterwards, you could transfer the TM backup back. Then, you'd have two sources from which you could restore items.
Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks

How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks. I know the data is there but seems unaccessable because I may have changed the Computer or Owner name. Is there any way to fix that now?

Hi Linc,
my back-up data is managed by Time Machine; the actual data is on a second internal Hard Drive with a capacity of 1TB - not partitioned. I am using Time Machine and have access to all data backed up since Mavericks Clean Install but not the data prior to this date.
When I open the 1TB drive in Finder I can see a folder "Backups.backupdb/Sigi's Mac Pro/ followed by many folders of backup dates going back to 2010-09-20-103441 and up to 2014-02-07-142414 all followed with folder Macintosh HD. February 7th 2014 was the date of the clean install.
These Backups are followed by backup date folder 2014-02-08-075554 with a subfolder of MacPro-320GB (this is the name I assigned to my Boot Drive during formatting; I suspect I should have assigned the same name as before ie. Macintosh HD) and 2014-02-11 with a subfolder Macintosh HD, these are the ones I get access to by way of Time Machine > Restore.
Weird thing is on Febr 11 when I relised my possible mistake and renamed the Bootdrive back to what it was initially ie. Macintosh HD despite this I have access to all backup data since the Clean Install in both folders MacPro-320GB as well as Macintosh HD but not to any data prior to the Clean Install.
Is there something that Time Machine knows and prevents access or is it simply a matter of renaming the subfolder 2014-02-08-07554/MacPro-320GB to ........./Macintosh HD?
I like to restore selectively and not everything - It was hard work reinstalling apps that were supposed to be the troublemakers (ref my discussion on Maverick problems) but I now need to get onto data specific to some of these apps as well as other data I may have missed. Long story? Yes and sorry.
Sigi

After a Lion clean install, how do I retrieve my data from external back-up? Following Apple advice for use of Migration Assistant did not work creating similar issues leading to clean install.

After a Lion clean install, how do I retrieve my data from external hard drive?
Following Apple advice I used Migration Assistant which crashed new system twice which is why I had to clean install Lion in the first place.
Is there a sure way of doing it?
I have only a few programs that I will have to install myself and that should not be a problem.
I just want my data, music and photos back where I can use them.

Time machine backups. I went to migration assistant a few hours ago and limited my selection to "users", no need for applications, settings and other files. Stuff started moving over at a fast pace but has now seemed to stall.
I will let it run overnight as there are lots of songs and photos as well as a few movies.
If that does not work, then I will go into TM and try restore. I have restored some things in the past such a mail files and it has worked well.
The Apple fellow at the store told me to go right into TM, he may have had a point. I'll get it eventually.

After a clean install, how can I continue using Time Machine?

After a clean install, how can I continue using Time Machine?
I booted from my recovery partition, erased my HD, installed the same OS, (Lion, 10.7.5) then restored from my TM.
If it asks if i want to use TM, I say yes. When I chose the drive, it seems to want to start all over, instead of just picking up where I left off.
Is there any way of picking up where I left off?

Hi Frank,
You are sure you looking in your Library in /Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library and not /Library at the top level of your harddrive?
When you open iCal what do you see? Are the calendars the two default Home and Work ones?
I really appreciate the responses -- especially if you are in the UK as opposed to Ontario.
Why, do you have something against London Ontario?
John M

How to restore files without TIme Machine

Help! Anyone know how to restore files on tiger? I lost my WHOLE library of photos! And I don't have back ups. :'(
I was running short of disk space, so I decided to clean up some unnecessary files on my disk. I once imported all my photos from iPhoto to Aperture. Since I usually use iPhoto, I decided to delete all the photos from Aperture library. But the next time when I opened my iPhoto, I found the photos in iPhoto library were also deleted!!! Now there are only thumbnails of all the photos!
Please! Anyone know how to restore the photos on Tiger? I can't afford to lose all my photos. :'(

Try Subrosasoft's FileSalvage.
If that doesn't work try Prosoft Data Rescue II
If that doesn't work, take it to a professional such as http://www.drivesavers.com/
And in the future always keep backing up your data as my FAQ* explains:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Clean install and then restoring just what is needed

I have a machine running SL. It is fine as far as SL is concerned.
Back in time I started out with Panther on a 12" PB. I upgraded hardware and software a few times. As my profile shows I have a MBP 17" with the latest OS.
I had a hard drive fail last Christmas. Apple was great and they replaced the drive. As I was in the US and the backup was in the UK I used the machine for about 2 weeks before I could attempt to restore files. When I got back I found that the account set up did not match so the restore was not clean.
In any event I likely have some legacy files or other junk kicking around that I do not need. Some of it will be outside the user part of the filesystem (old apps, old library files for apps that were deleted long ago).
I had a number of application crashes over the last year running Leopardi. When in at the Apple store to get a fan replaced the Genius suggested that it might be time to think about a clean install. After I told him that I have had a number of system crashes he definitely suggested it was time for a clean install.
Basic model is back everything up and then install from the factory issued disk. Once I have a clean system on the computer I can bring across my files.
Question: How do I get only the files I need or want and not some of the old junk? Frankly I have no idea just what things I need or want in terms of legacy system files. I am pretty sure that everything in my home direction and down from there will be wanted. There will be some apps that I no longer need but how to make sure I am deleting all the associated files is unclear.
I have lots of spare disc space on external drives so I can make a Carbon Copy of the system and a Time Machine back up on a different drive. I am confident of my ability to follow the process once someone can explain what will consistently work. The time involved is not a concern.
Suggestions?

Mac OS X doesn't have a clean install per se.
However, making two bootable clones should allow you room to erase and install Snow Leopard, and just migrate over user data from specific user data folders.
You may have to reregister your licenses for licensed software to avoid issues.
See these two resources to make sure your applications either need Snow Leopard, and/or are Snow Leopard compatible:
http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/
http://www.macintouch.com/specialreports/snowleopard/slcompat.html
and make sure your printers and scanners are Snow Leopard compatible with their drivers:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3669
Once that's all the case, then you can migrate your user data from the specific folders on your backup*:
http://www.macmaps.com/safetodeleteormove.html
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Upgrading to SSD, what is the best way to clean install and transfer my files over?

I am upgrading to an SSD and I would like to start clean by doing a fresh installation of Yosemite on the new drive. However, I still want all of my personal files from my current hard drive, like my music, music libraries, photos, and Home folder, transferred over to the new drive. What is the best way of doing this?
I have Time Machine and a Time Capsule. Could I simply restore a Time Machine backup, or will that defeat the purpose of doing a clean install?
Should I just back up the home folder and transfer the home folder onto an external drive, then drag the home folder to my new drive? Will that save my iTunes playlists and music?
I don't need to transfer apps over so I'm not worried about that. Just my documents, files, pictures, music.

How to replace or upgrade a drive in a laptop
Step One: Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot From An OS X Installer Disc
1. Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple
      logo appears.
5. Wait for installer to finish loading.
Boot From a Recovery HD:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
      "COMMAND" and the "R" keys together.
3. Release the keys when the Utilities Menu appears.
After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and later.)
For Lion or later select Disk Utility from the Utilities Main Menu.
After Disk Utility loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the Disk Utility status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If Disk Utility reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Step Two: Remove the old drive and install the new drive. Place the old drive in an external USB enclosure. You can buy one at OWC who is also a good vendor for drives.
Step Three: Boot from the external drive. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the Recovery HD on the external drive, then click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Step Four: New Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utility Main Menu, then click on the Continue button.
2. After Disk Utility loads select your new hard drive (this is the entry with the
      mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of
      the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive
      is failing or has failed and will need replacing. Otherwise, click on the
      Partition tab in the Disk Utility main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from
      the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended
      (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to
      GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition/Apply button and
      wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the
      drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main
      window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the
      Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to
      return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several
      hours depending upon the drive size.
Step Five: Clone the old drive to the new drive
1. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
2. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
3. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the
      Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the
      Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the new internal drive. Source means the old external drive.
Step Six: Open the Startup Disk preferences and select the new internal volume. Click on the Restart button. You should boot from the new drive. Eject the external drive and disconnect it from the computer.

I need to do a "clean install" How do I retain my passwords, etc?

I intend to purchase a new hard drive and do a clean install of OSX 10.4, but I shudder to think that I won't be able to restore all of my passwords, iChat stuff, e-mails address books, etc.
Is there a method? I have used 'carbon copy cloner" in the past to duplicate my current system on a new drive, but now I need to start from scratch, as I was informed that some of my system problems are due to updating from earlier OSX versions....
Any advice?

So much for that.... here is the synposis:
I am a professional mixer. I have a private high end mix room in Manhattan.
I use Apple Logic pro running on a G5 dual 2Ghz tower as my main transport and have several racks which contain all of my outboard signal processing (nearly 60 channels of outboard compression EQ and other processors).
I rely on the MOTU PCI-424 and 2 HD192 and one 1296 interfaces as my patchbay for this gear. Insert latency is compensated by a plugin I invented called "latency fixer" which was implemented by the UK based 'OS collective" and is available as freeware.
I have a separate, internal 10,000rpm hard drive which stores only the audio tracks for the current mix project. I also have a UAD-1 card which I use very sparingly, usually only one active plugin. I always use the largest possible Core Audio buffer setting (1024samples) and the Uad-1 driver apparently doubles that figure.
Recently I added a Duende to the system. Initially I had very dubious luck getting audio through this device without dropouts and random temporal anomolies, i.e. If I inserted the Duende on a few of the drum tracks, these tracks would randomly shift in time by several hundred milliseconds. Not good. I became aware that OS X had serious problems with random latency when using aggregate audio drivers, and upon further investigation learned that there was an identical problem when using a firewire based audio interface. According to reports online, Apple ignored this issue for more than 2 years, but when Apogee released it's "Ensemble" firewire interface, the iShit hit the iFan, so to speak. They quickly addressed this problem by rewriting the kernel level firewire driver.
This new driver was sent to me and I installed it on my 10.4.5 OS. This fixed the random latency issue in my aggregate interface driver, and seemed to improve the performance of the Duende as well. Recently I have again been experiencing the random time shifts when using the Duende.
It's a professional embarrassment in my system. I find myself spending 4 hours on a mix and 6 hours troubleshooting the system in order to print the mix without spurious noises.
I was advised by apple that a clean install of OSX would improve the situation. I did a clean install of OS 10.4.8 and the problems with the Duende are actually worse than they were under 10.4.5.
I would appreciate any thoughtful advice about how to remedy this problem.

How to restore files to crashed iMac without Time Machine.

My iMac crashed and I am about to try and recover it with the Recovery partition. A month ago a pet somehow knocked my Time Machine disk off my desk and I hadn't replaced it. I have my files back up via BackBlaze as well, but don't know how I am going to incorporate (restore) those files in the proper places later.
Best practices or a utility is what I am looking for.
Thanks,
John

Reinstalling OS X is easy. But unless you have a restorable backup of your files there's little you can do to restore them. Read your BackBlaze documentation to find out how you restore a backup made with it.
Install or Reinstall Mavericks, Mountain Lion, or 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.
OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
because it is three times faster than wireless.

Need to A & I or do Clean Install - How to Save iLife?

Hello All,
Had some problems on the computer and I now need to perform A & I at a minimum, but since I have an external I figure I might as well just back up my files and once and for all perform a clean install (since I upgraded from Tiger to Leopard without doing a clean install).
Questions regarding this:
I assume I cannot just drag iLife apps onto the external and then drag them back? True?
If I need to reinstall them, how do I do so (I don't even remember if they came on a separate disc when I bought the computer or if they were integrated into the Tiger install disk?)
How about the iphoto library? Do I just copy over the iPhoto Library folder and then everything will work A-OK?
Thanks!

avsrock90 wrote:
I assume I cannot just drag iLife apps onto the external and then drag them back? True?
I think it's best to use the installer.
If I need to reinstall them, how do I do so (I don't even remember if they came on a separate disc when I bought the computer or if they were integrated into the Tiger install disk?)
The iLife package is on your 1st install disk that came with your Mac. Insert it while running Leopard and a window will pop up. Choose install bundled software. Then do a custom install of the package so you can choose what all you want put back on Leopard.
How about the iphoto library? Do I just copy over the iPhoto Library folder and then everything will work A-OK?
This will help you take care of the library.
iPhoto: How to move the iPhoto Library Folder to a new location

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.

Lion update won't install due to restore files issues

I have tried to install Lion twice with the same results. I get an error message telling me that the program was unable to create restore files on the disk so the installation is cancled. Why does is it not able to create a restore file?

Find your Snow Leopard DVD. Boot from it. Run Disk Utility's Repair Disk routine on your hard drive. If it found and repaired any problems, run it again until no problems are found.
Reboot into Snow Leopard on your hard drive. Run Disk Utility's Repair Permissions routine on your Snow Leopard boot volume. Run it only once, no matter if/how many problems were found and corrected (or not corrected).
Restart your computer while holding down the shift key (for safe boot mode).
Once you're logged in to your account after that restart, try installing Lion.

After clean Install how to assign time machine disc

Hi,
After a clean install I´m having trouble on assigning my old time machine disc.
I´ve created a new user because I dont know how to import the old one, is that the problem?
Thank you.
gfc

"After a clean install" you don't give enough information so I'll take a guess. You installed Leopard now want to restore your backup of TM. You did it wrong. Boot with the Leopard DVD or other means(I use a Leopard boot partition on a hard drive) once you select you language, go to Utility and select restore from TM backup. It will either recognize the disk you have the TM backup on or ask you to connect it.

Clean install- how to restore files

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