Time to re-install OSX

Mac
#1

I was always a chronic formatter, a bit of a hold over from my Windows day, but lately I’ve just done upgrades rather than clean installs. At least El Cap and Yosemite and probably Mavericks before that.

So today I’m trying to install 10.11 onto another machine and have been having nothing but trouble creating an install USB.

On my machine I can’t seem to download the installer form the App Store (it just spins and spins but never starts downloading) yet my Wifes 2011 MBA did it straight away. Same story when I try to create the install media with the file downloaded on my Wifes machine it fails. Again on the Wife’s machine it worked perfectly. :cry:
I can’t say there is anything in particular that’s not working, although there might be a little pause here or there. It’s a 2013 rMBP but I’ve run a couple of SSD reporting tools which say there isn’t any issues with the SSD.

So maybe it’s time for a clean install this time around when sierra is released since I’d rather only do it once. This thread is half for me to list out the things I need to do first :stuck_out_tongue: as well as to get any reminders on things I’ve missed (or might have missed).

So step 1 will be a full image to be sure with CCC.

Apps to reinstall:

** These few apps are getting on and may very well have issues with OSX 10.12
(there might be others too… it’s always possible with a new OS let me know if there is any others)

#2

Step 1: Complete
CCC backup done so it’s only an incremental backup later.

For reference, Ive always had a TimeMachine Backup as well as an automated backup (through CCC) of my user folder as well as OneDrive/Dropbox/Google Drive combo for other things. I don’t need a bootable backup since I have other machines I could use if I ever needed to.

#3

So my CCC HD died while attempted to update the image last night so I had to grab a new one today and I’m currently playing the waiting game while it’s slowly creating a complete image. At least it’s now over USB3 :smiley:

I also grabbed a SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 memory stick that’s capable of writing at 100MB/s (and reading even faster) which made creating my Sierra install USB very fast. It’s a little more expensive that the usual sticks, but damn it’s nice to not wait.

Clean install here I come (soon).

#4

I upgraded to the (earliest) GM build, but decided to blow It away and clean install the public release. Backed everything up but have decided to not restore anything until I need it - trying to keep the cruft to a minimum.

#5

That’s the plan with some of the user files, just dump them on the NAS and forget about them. The applications though, I actually use all of them on at least a monthly basis.

#6

I just reinstalled my MacBook Air and I am considering an upgrade to the new MacOS. But will think on it a bit longer before I rush in :wink:

#7

My parents have my old 2009 Mac Mini. Ages ago I installed an SSD, but the SSD is now a bit full (though it’s also still go the spinny disk as well). I’m doing a resintall and cleaning off a bunch of crap it’s accumulated over the years. The internets say that it won’t run Sierra… should I even try installing it? Otherwise El Capitan is as high as it will ever go.

It’s now 7 years old, but it still works quite well. I’ve got it here while they are away, and I almost don’t want to give it back.

#8

Years ago you could do the trick where you run the macOS installer on a device capable of installing it, but point it to an SSD/HDD of another machine (using target disk mode or similar) to get it to install.

Unsure if that works for Sierra, but I’m guessing probably not.

EDIT: No Wi-Fi on that model with Sierra installed: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-12-sierra-unsupported-macs-thread.1977128/

2 Likes
#9

I’ve just done some reading up, and apparently Apple have dropped support for the built in Wifi card (!) in the Mac Mini 2009 in Sierra. That seems a tad petty to me. There are work arounds, but they would probably require repatching every time there’s an update and my parents won’t want to deal with that, so I’ll stick with El Capitan.

#10

As an update, my clean install went well, the machine is running like a champion. Things feel snappier now and there is less “stuff” installed (or potentially left behind from old installs) now. So far I’m pretty happy with Sierra although I’m still finding

I’ve referred back to this thread a bunch of times to check my list of apps and surprisingly Photoshop and Acrobat are still powering on :smiley: (although I haven’t really tested either yet).

#11

I have a Jan 2015 MBA and I am trying to decide if I should go from my clean 10.10 build to 10.12 Sierra. I am guessing I will as this will make me on the same release as my wifes MacBook.

Do like clean installs though. Makes the machine perform so much better vs migration process pulling over junk that might impact things…so much more work though.

#12

So did I, but the last couple of upgrades I just haven’t had the time so have done them as upgrades. I have to say that it did work pretty well. I never had any showstoppers… just that kludgy feeling while running and probably the mental issue of knowing it hasn’t been done in so long.

I’d recommend most people just do the upgrade and see how it goes. After all, worst case it’s really not that much time for the upgrade anyway.