OSX Mtn. Lion/ Reset to factory settings/ secure HD wipe?

Question

All-
I have a late-2011 MacBook Pro i7, 2.5GhZ that has, through terrible file management on my part, become so cluttered and disorganized to the point where I would literally need to spend upwards of 36 hours to organize, clean, re-file, re-organize, and what not my file libraries.
Specifically, as a DJ/Music producer, my sample libraries are -terribly- organized (read: not organized at all).  I tried to work through it all day today but I've literally managed to get through maybe 150 files, which does not even scratch the surface of the files that start with the letter "A" on my Macbook Pro- see what I mean?
Anyhow, I recently upgraded to Mtn Lion, and love it, and I bought my computer with Snow Leopard on it, so, a restore to factory settings I think would wipe my OS back to Snow Leopard, which I really don't want to do...
I'm wondering if, since I back up my hard drive with Time Machine constantly, if it would just be worth it to wipe the hard drive completely clean and start over with a clean, empty MBP with just OSX Mtn. Lion on it, and go from there, and select files that I want from my external hard drive as needed to build up my file libraries again.
I just want it all to be neat and organized, and I've been unable to (read: too lazy to) keep up with it so far, and now, it's beyond manageable for me to re-organize everything. (Unless someone has tips to make this a more manageable process?)
How would I go about doing this and/or does this sound like a feasible plan?
Thanks-
Andy

Answer 1

Yes you certainly can Erase and Install 10.8, (no need for 10.6 or 10.7)
I suggest you transfer the contents of your users folders (music, pictures, documents etc) to a external storage drive (not just TimeMachine) and disconnect, it's only these files you will be returning into the same named account later, so no TimeMachine restores and thus no corrupts.
You need to export bookmarks, email addresses, serial keys or any other information (addressbook) that are locked into programs as well. Make a note of your programs installed. Disconnect all drives.
Write down your AppleID and password.
Hook your Mac to the Ethernet cable to your router or modem, if the modem, then power it off/30 sec/on.
This process is going to take hours, so prepare yourself.
Next your going to hold the Command r keys down and boot the computer into Recovery HD, select Disk Utility and on the left side, click on Macintosh HD partition then click on the Erase tab and there should be a slider, use the middle secure erase option. And click Apply, this will zero the entire Macintosh HD partition and map off any  failing sectors. Drive makers advise this whenever a OS is reinstalled.
Once this is completed, quit and then click the OS X installer and proceed with that step.
When that's finished you can reboot the machine and it's a brand new one, use the same setup name as before (important)
Software Update check just in case.
Now you won't have the free iLife that carried over from the 10.6 install, however you can use Pacifist from CharlesSoft to extract it from the black or purple (not white) 10.6 disks, or you can but it anew at AppStore.
If you have any purchases at AppsSore, hold down the option key and click on Purchases to reinstall.
You should also install as much as your third party software at this time as possible for best performance on hard drives.
Last you hook up the external storage drive and go cherry picking for what you want and leave what you don't want.
Tip: Use Activity Monitor to keep your boot drive (ideally) below 50%, never more than 80% filled.
Now once you have this "perfect" new Install, you can preserve it by using a blank external powered drive and Carbon Copy Cloner, default settings are fine for the first clone. Later you have to adjust for a "pure clone" every time it's updated.
This way if you ever have to do this painful process of resinstall, you can hold the option key down and simply boot off the clone and reverse clone!! No effort on your part required, it will take a few hours and copy everything over like new again.
Most commonly used backup methods
Good luck
note: what I do is I option boot from my clone, grab a copy of the latest files onto the clone, then erase the internal drive and reverse clone everything on.
What's good abou this, the software does all the work, the drive is bootable, and it optimizes and defragments the files too, so it's zippy.
When a hard drive gets more than 50% filled, it slows down depending what's written on the slower part of the drive, say a new OS X update or program for instance.