Clean install of OSX and restoring from Time Machine?

IceBus

IceBus

IceBus

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,817
Location
, Washington DC
When I got my MBP, I originally restored it from a Time Machine backup of my MB (which was originally Leopard, not SL). It doesn't feel quite as fast as I feel it should these days and so I figured I'd do a full clean reinstall of Snow Leopard, then put all my other documents back via Time Machine. I think I'll also just reinstall all my Apps rather than recovering them, in case there's any problems restoring them or in case that's the source of any of the slowness.

SO before I launch in, I thought I'd check the process before wiping my Mac! Am I right in thinking this is the procedure for doing a clean install of my system:

1) Put in Mac OSX install CD, hold C, erase HDD and clean install of Snow Leopard

2) Start up again open Migration Assistant and choose a restore from Time Machine, then only select the stuff I want restored?

Am I forgetting anything here that won't be restored or anything else I need to do?

Thanks a lot!
 
Can you update this thread when you do it? If you get a noticeable increase in speed from reformatting it and having a 'fresh' start I might do this myself. :cool:
 
I did this after I was forced to reinstall after a weird spotlight error that caused the system to kernel panic, after nothing else worked, I decided to backup using time machine and then reinstall.

I did it as you described, and while I didn't notice it being any quicker, it wasn't slow or sluggish before as it was a relatively new system at the time. It restored everything as it was and fixed my error, took a while to complete the restoration, but that is more down to it being a slow USB 2 HDD.
 
Just about to undertake this. I think I'm going to go the migration route just because I have way too many files to transfer it across manually. I'll post back with how it goes.
 
OK... Reinstalled Snow Leopard and used Migration Assistant to bring back my library and all documents. The only thing I didn't bring back was 'other system files' which I figured I'd probably not need.

So far looks the same and everything I own is on it alright. Now I need to download shedloads of patches from Apple and reinstall all my Apps. It seems nice and snappy at the minute, but we'll see how it goes once I get everything loaded back on. Safari definitely feels like it launches faster.
 
So just to detail the steps I've done here, in case anyone wants to attempt anything similar:

1) Put in the OSX CD, restart and hold down C.
2) Erase the drive and clean install OSX
3) Boot-up, install the OSX Apps from the Apps CD
4) Go into Migration Assistant, plug in your Time Machine drive - MAKE SURE TO SAY NOT TO USE IT AS A BACKUP DRIVE when the prompt comes up.
5) Restore whatever you want from the Time Machine backup - I chose just my main user account and library, not my Apps.
6) Log off and back in on your old account, run software update and update everything.
7) Install all third party apps.
8) Enjoy.
 
All done and dusted. Weirdly I've now also got a spare 60GB kicking around. Not too sure how that happened, but I don't see anything missing on my computer (music, video, photos). But I've got my old Time Machine backup in case I suddenly realise something is missing. Bit weird though...

The system definitely feels faster mind you. Everything opening up nice and nippy :D
 
IceBus said:
All done and dusted. Weirdly I've now also got a spare 60GB kicking around. Not too sure how that happened, but I don't see anything missing on my computer (music, video, photos). But I've got my old Time Machine backup in case I suddenly realise something
Click to expand...

Bootcamp partition maybe?
 
Hmmm... only if that was set up as standard on my original Macbook and I didn't know about it. I'm not complaining though :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom