Best way to reinstall macosx

[LeSedna]

Hello,

I have been "playing" a lot in the first weeks with macosx as it was new to me, and I also have upgraded twice the system since then. I have a few hicups here and there with videos for some reasons and I can't identify the reason why. I figured out it's a good opportunity to start with a clean install again anyway. The problem here is to reinstall as flawlessly as possible, to go back to a fresh computer, and with all my apps and files back.

I have a Time Capsule with Time Machine constantly backing up my whole partition.

Now what is the best way to reinstall a clean way ?

- Should I do a full clean install and redownload all the apps, and retrieve the files with Time Machine ?
- Or should I do an install retrieving both the apps and the files through Time Machine or is that a bad idea ?
- Now just to be sure, how does the reinstall work PRECISELY when it comes to my files, does it copy all the /user/ folder ? Because I have my own folders next to /images/ or /movies/. For example I have an /audio/, i have my /dropbox/ there as well.
- What about the /library/.../plugins folder (with all the vst plugins), should I back it up myself, or is the /library/ folder retrieved as well ?
- What about the dualboot in windows 7 ?

 

[jipchen]

A full Time Machine Backup restores everything exactly as it was before. I don't think you'd really gain speed if you do it.
My drive on the MacBook failed recently and I decided not to use the TimeMachine Backup to restore everything, but rather to make a fresh install and only restore stuff like music, photos, documents, the whole download folder, bookmarks, emails+apple mail settings, contacts, iCal etc. Now everything is like 100x faster than before.. but my MBP is over 4 years old, so it might not be that big a difference for everyone.

The Bootcamp partition can not be backup-ed or restored through Time Machine, you'll need Windows software for that.

 

[LeSedna]

It's not really speed as the computer is fast most of the time, but it has hicups where it freezes for a few seconds sometimes when reading videos, loading a youtube video, etc. So you think that problem would stay ?

I'm confused, I just read a blog where someone mentioned his bootcamp partition was working perfectly after the reinstall... ? He did it because the startup of his machine was awfully slow, and after the reinstall it was fast again. Could not this be the case ?

 

[updog]

to restore your files and settings without installing a clone of your system, use migration assistant.

 

[jipchen]

It's not really speed as the computer is fast most of the time, but it has hicups where it freezes for a few seconds sometimes when reading videos, loading a youtube video, etc. So you think that problem would stay ?

I honestly don't know.. I would guess it wouldn't change because you import all settings and probably also the hiccups but then again maybe you don't. Since you do not loose anything you could alway try.

I'm confused, I just read a blog where someone mentioned his bootcamp partition was working perfectly after the reinstall... ? He did it because the startup of his machine was awfully slow, and after the reinstall it was fast again. Could not this be the case ?

Uhm, what I know is TimeMachine does not backup your Bootcamp partition. You simply can't select it when you choose what drive & partitions should be saved on the backup. What might work though: If you don't touch the NTFS/FAT32 partition with Bootcamp on it and only erase the Mac partition, then it shouldn't change anything for Windows. (Exception: Don't try to boot Windows when you deleted or created other partitions. Because it stores its number, i.e. 3 and if you change partitions it might be number 4 or 2 and then it won't start. There's a workaround for that though. After you have restored the Backup it should work just as before)

to restore your files and settings without installing a clone of your system, use migration assistant.

Yep good point, the migration assistant lets you choose which files and settings you want to import - very handy if you don't want a clone.