Resolved Does clean install of ML make a real life difference?

[DiamonDecoden]

Clean install(Major PITA): wipe disk clean- install OS- only move back your documents. then install app back one by one and not time machine back the preferences.

ok, so I'm wondering if going through all that makes any REAL life difference or it's just for housekeeping purposes. Does it get rid of any previously existing bugs?

 

[Set845]

That's a loaded question really. It all depends on the state of your system. If your system is running fine now then I would say probably not worth the trouble to do a clean install. But if your system is not running well then of course it can make all the difference in the world. Or maybe just doing an upgrade will fix everything. Do you see what I mean? Maybe this will help. I installed the Mountain Lion Gold Master release on a partition created for it and ran it for two weeks. It ran great on my mid 2011 iMac i7, better and faster than Lion. So when it was released to the public I upgraded Lion on my main partition and deleted the test one. I can say that I perceive no difference between the clean install and the upgrade. None. Granted Lion was running fine before the upgrade. I hope this helps.

 

[robgendreau]

I've asked to see any system logs or screen shots of Macs proving that a "clean" install made their Macs faster. Nothing yet. It's one of great enduring myths. And it can have significant downsides; anytime you reformat a disk and reinstall everything you're taking a chance.

And it's overkill if you do have problems. A more reasonable approach is to find the problem and fix it. Odds are it isn't the system itself that's corrupted; it's usually some software or utility or other thing you added. Better to find that problem and delete it than delete the entire disk and all your data just to remove that one offending part. The irony is people then sometimes just reinstitute the problem by copying it back, restoring it back, or cloning it back.

The way to remove bugs is to remove bugs. Of course YOU can't remove bugs in the system software because you aren't able to write it. And on occasion there's some people with a combo of hardware or software that didn't get tested with the beta ML or whatever and it just doesn't work. And since you can't usually remove chunks of the OS, you might have to go back to an older version. But even if that problem arises, a clean install won't help: putting the ML system software back will put the bugs back.

Sometimes you have no choice; disk failures, buying a new machine, etc. I've done scores of Macs and can't say that migrating to a newly installed system works any better than upgrading over the old system. But there's no reason not to try Apple's installation method: it works for most everyone, it's faster, and if it does fail, THEN you can erase everything and try over.

As long as you've got a back up you KNOW works.

Rob

 

[MacAndMic]

Have you seen this thread?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1414960/

 

[kodeman53]

Have you seen this thread?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1414960/

The MR motto is;

"You Can Never Have Too Many Threads On The Same Topic Unless It Duplicates A Thread In The News and Article Discussion Forum And Asking People Why They Didn't Even Read The Thread Titles On The First Page, Much Less Do A Search, Is Insulting To The OP"

 

[DiamonDecoden]

That's a loaded question really. It all depends on the state of your system. If your system is running fine now then I would say probably not worth the trouble to do a clean install. But if your system is not running well then of course it can make all the difference in the world. Or maybe just doing an upgrade will fix everything. Do you see what I mean? Maybe this will help. I installed the Mountain Lion Gold Master release on a partition created for it and ran it for two weeks. It ran great on my mid 2011 iMac i7, better and faster than Lion. So when it was released to the public I upgraded Lion on my main partition and deleted the test one. I can say that I perceive no difference between the clean install and the upgrade. None. Granted Lion was running fine before the upgrade. I hope this helps.

This makes perfect sense! Thank you for answering! I just did a upgrade. it was too time consuming to do a complete clean install and not to mention to put EVERYTHING back exactly as it were... not good at all. I mean I remember when my dad's pc got a virus or something he had to do a clean install... what a pain.

I've asked to see any system logs or screen shots of Macs proving that a "clean" install made their Macs faster. Nothing yet. It's one of great enduring myths. And it can have significant downsides; anytime you reformat a disk and reinstall everything you're taking a chance.

And it's overkill if you do have problems. A more reasonable approach is to find the problem and fix it. Odds are it isn't the system itself that's corrupted; it's usually some software or utility or other thing you added. Better to find that problem and delete it than delete the entire disk and all your data just to remove that one offending part. The irony is people then sometimes just reinstitute the problem by copying it back, restoring it back, or cloning it back.

The way to remove bugs is to remove bugs. Of course YOU can't remove bugs in the system software because you aren't able to write it. And on occasion there's some people with a combo of hardware or software that didn't get tested with the beta ML or whatever and it just doesn't work. And since you can't usually remove chunks of the OS, you might have to go back to an older version. But even if that problem arises, a clean install won't help: putting the ML system software back will put the bugs back.

Sometimes you have no choice; disk failures, buying a new machine, etc. I've done scores of Macs and can't say that migrating to a newly installed system works any better than upgrading over the old system. But there's no reason not to try Apple's installation method: it works for most everyone, it's faster, and if it does fail, THEN you can erase everything and try over.

As long as you've got a back up you KNOW works.

Rob

wow, yes that's exactly what I need to read. Thank you for answering this question. you seem to have a lot of experience over this particular issue. Very good answer! This is along the lines of what I thought as well but so many people here just say if you gotta bug/problem try clean install (like it'll only take a minute or something lol and they make it sounds like it'll solve everything/ gained system performance) I wholly, wholly agree with you on the risks and downsides! Wow, it indeed is a myth.. a very believable one too since so many people (here) advocate it! people needs to know the down sides and maybe they just have to remove/modify that 1 app, preference, plugin to solve the issue instead starting from scratch.

Have you seen this thread?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1414960/

oh yes. that's what initially caused my question since there were so many conflicting opinions. Also please take time to read the replies here. they are so helpful!

 

[DiamonDecoden]

The MR motto is;

"You Can Never Have Too Many Threads On The Same Topic Unless It Duplicates A Thread In The News and Article Discussion Forum And Asking People Why They Didn't Even Read The Thread Titles On The First Page, Much Less Do A Search, Is Insulting To The OP"

errmm... have you read his link? he is for clean install. yes it is related to clean install but the answers and also the question is a bit different. it's not insulting but this is.. it's like u r making fun.

I'm a girl and I also visit a female orientate forum also this male orientated forum and difference is astounding in a very interesting and a stereotypical way. females tends to not make fun/ belittle you when you ask a sincere question but males tends to make fun etc etc. females a lot more compassionate in answer as oppose to males are like whatever. I mean this is kinda no brainer but it's still interesting to observe especially in an online/forum environment.

 

[kodeman53]

Unwillingness to Search is a gender neutral behavior, while enabling disguised as compassion is distaff character trait.

 

[DiamonDecoden]

Unwillingness to Search is a gender neutral behavior, while enabling disguised as compassion is distaff character trait.

well.. doesn't matter. I got the answers that I were looking for. I already googled/ searched MR but I always sees conflicting opinions there were people for and against clean installs. However, the first 2 answers were so helpful... so basically I got my question answered so your argument is moot. however, thanks for bumping this thread since I do think this is an important thread for people to read before they go through the trouble doing a clean install.

 

[Honumaui]

we are having LR 4 issues sadly

so did a clean install of

SL
Lion and Mtn Lion

so had a chance to test LR performance on a clean install vs older and the newer was a touch quicker ! I mean a touch we are talking less than .x seconds and not a hard triple test just a quick timing test
mac pro 5,1 using SSD for each install etc..

I have tested LR 3 quite a bit in the past and did some testing on a older installvs new clean with all programs needed in place
with lots of apps and such and found a clean install was faster by a very small amount but it was quicker


I tend to test this a bit cause I like to and seems each version the need for fresh is going away

now the thing is will that savings of .2 or less seconds per thing you are doing add up to save you time of installing everything from scratch ? if you are a business then I would say NOPE

if you just like to have fun and tweak then go for it and test and find out for yourself


again I think the time it takes to install a clean OS vs just updating you are actually behind in time !!!

but its fun


also like some said its about sometimes you have to sometimes just keeping it clean as you move along is best
delete a program make sure you yank the pref files and support folders