How to Properly Migrate With a Clean Install to OS X Mountain Lion (From Lion/SL)

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

I've been meaning to post in here for awhile now (I'm talking since 10.8.1 was released), but I've been so busy.

You cannot apply an incremental update to your OS X ML USB key. You have to re-download ML all over again from the Mac App Store, and re-image it to your key.


Besides that, I'm assuming since there hasn't been a post in here for awhile, nobody has had issues with this? Feel free to PM/post in here if you have any issues in the future.

 

[recca231]

Thank you for the guides

almost a month now i've been planning to upgrade my iMac..

Thanks for this

 

[TaxTech]

Safari - Yahoo- Can't attach files

Help.

I just upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion.

We use Yahoo Mail via Safari. When we try to attach a file, it says "invalid file type", and won't attach the file.

When I did a search on this forum, "Safari Attach" , I don't see any matches. I can't be the only one??..

Ugh. Any suggestions?

(I wish I read your PDF on creating a UBS restore. Tsk. )

Thanks!!
TaxTech guy

PS. I'm trying to learn how to make iphone apps, so I had to upgrade to get XCode. Former winders guy, novice at this mac thingie.

 

[throttlemeister]

I have a few issues with this guide:

1) Installing like this will not update the internet recovery partition, which means things quickly go downhill even further in the case you need it.

2) Restoring with Migration Assistant without settings is essentially the same as upgrading 'the Apple way' and deleting the contents of your ~/Library/Application Support and /Library/Application Support

Doing a normal upgrade as Apple intended and deleting those directories will yield a similar result quicker and take care of your recovery partition as well.

 

[hamkor04]

Help.

I just upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion.

We use Yahoo Mail via Safari. When we try to attach a file, it says "invalid file type", and won't attach the file.

When I did a search on this forum, "Safari Attach" , I don't see any matches. I can't be the only one??..

Ugh. Any suggestions?

(I wish I read your PDF on creating a UBS restore. Tsk. )

Thanks!!
TaxTech guy

PS. I'm trying to learn how to make iphone apps, so I had to upgrade to get XCode. Former winders guy, novice at this mac thingie.

Do you have latest patch?

 

[choreo]

This thread was a big help. Finally took the plunge and upgraded my MacPro 3.1 (early 2008) Desktop to ML from 10.6.8. and installed it on a new Velociraptor drive at the same time. Wiped out most of a day to get everything back up to snuff.

Relatively painless, but lost access to about 20 apps that do not offer support for Lion. Had to purchase the 2011 MS Office

My 5 printers all came back up, but as usual lost my SilverFast Scanner support, so have to buy an upgrade to use the scanners.

Biggest thing I miss is WindowShade X. I purchased WindowMizer, but it does not work in most apps. I will never understand why the Mac OS removed double-clicking window title bars to collapse in place - there simply is not substitute.

 

[cooa99]

I have a few issues with this guide:

1) Installing like this will not update the internet recovery partition, which means things quickly go downhill even further in the case you need it.
.

But I thought an clean install overwrites everything and then recreate the recovery partition?



cooa99

 

[Weaselboy]

But I thought an clean install overwrites everything and then recreate the recovery partition?

It does.

 

[cooa99]

It does.

so I take it that throttlemeister's comment is wrong ?

 

[Weaselboy]

so I take it that throttlemeister's comment is wrong ?

Yes. Any install of lion or Mountain Lion creates a Recovery HD partition on the target drive.

 

[cooa99]

Yes. Any install of lion or Mountain Lion creates a Recovery HD partition on the target drive.

Thanks for clearing that up.

on another note I am getting frustrated.

I have followed the steps in page1 to try and restore the the InstallESD.dmg to a USB flash drive but keep getting an error after I click on the restore button.

it says :-

Restore Failure
Could not restore - Resource busy


Any clues please ?

Thanks

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks for clearing that up.

on another note I am getting frustrated.

I have followed the steps in page1 to try and restore the the InstallESD.dmg to a USB flash drive but keep getting an error after I click on the restore button.

it says :-

Restore Failure
Could not restore - Resource busy


Any clues please ?

Thanks

Try reformatting the USB key to Mac OS Extended just to make sure it is clear, then use this free app to make the installer. The app give you the same end result and just takes the guesswork out of it.

 

[cooa99]

Try reformatting the USB key to Mac OS Extended just to make sure it is clear, then use this free app to make the installer. The app give you the same end result and just takes the guesswork out of it.

cheers again, i figured out what the original problem was ...... but I also created another usb stick with the app in your link.

I am still not free of issues !.

I tried booting into both the 2 created usb sticks and get the same error pretty much at the start of the whole process .. :-

There was a problem Installing "Mac OS X"

These 2 USB sticks seem ok on my MBPRetina but seem not to work on my mac mini (2011) that I am trying to instal ML.

Any clues?, could it be because I am using wireless keyboard & Mouse & HDMI TV as monitor?

cheers


cooa99

 

[cooa99]

There was a problem Installing "Mac OS X"

These 2 USB sticks seem ok on my MBPRetina but seem not to work on my mac mini (2011) that I am trying to instal ML.

Resolved,

I had to reset the PRAM and everything went smooth

cheers

cooa99

 

[touchstone]

Thanks for making this guide! I was really nervous about upgrading my OS since it was my first time so I decided to use the Lion DiskMaker and followed your guide from step 10 on. Now that I've done it once and know what to expect I'll probably try to follow your guide the whole way through for whatever OS X come next (I really hope it's called Domestic Shorthair since they have to be running out of big cats...)

 

[skinnywhitepipe]

Key chain password

Hello all. I am new to this forum and need some help. I updated to IOS6 and Mountain Lion. Not sure what's caused it, but since then, when I try to connect to my time capsule it makes me type in my password but keeps my old password in the box and i have to type over it, even though I check remember this password. Any ideas how I can fix this. I would like to be able to open time capsule and have it connect automatically. Thanks with any help.

 

[Weaselboy]

Hello all. I am new to this forum and need some help. I updated to IOS6 and Mountain Lion. Not sure what's caused it, but since then, when I try to connect to my time capsule it makes me type in my password but keeps my old password in the box and i have to type over it, even though I check remember this password. Any ideas how I can fix this. I would like to be able to open time capsule and have it connect automatically. Thanks with any help.

Try turning off Time Machine then go into Keychain app and delete all entries for Time Machine or Time Capsule. Just search for "time" and you will see them. No turn Time Machine back on and enter the password when prompted and check to box to remember it. That should do it.

 

[Confuzzzed]

First up, like many before me I want to say thanks to @Steve.p for putting the guide together. Excellent. I have read the thread but can not see any reference to anyone doing a basic migration (as opposed to a clean start and moving programmes and user data individually) from Lion Server to a factory pre-installed ML machine. I am expecting a new iMac any day now (lets be optimistic, ey) and my time machine back ups are of a mac mini server (Lion). Will this cause any issues that I need to be aware of?

 

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

First up, like many before me I want to say thanks to @Steve.p for putting the guide together. Excellent. I have read the thread but can not see any reference to anyone doing a basic migration (as opposed to a clean start and moving programmes and user data individually) from Lion Server to a factory pre-installed ML machine. I am expecting a new iMac any day now (lets be optimistic, ey) and my time machine back ups are of a mac mini server (Lion). Will this cause any issues that I need to be aware of?

The only issues I can think of that would cause an issue, is that your Server data and applications won't be transferred, because Server isn't installed on your iMac.

What you should do is create a temporary account on the iMac (with a different account name than on your TM backups), install Server from the App Store, then transfer your data with Migration Assistant. It's in the Utilities folder.


That'd be the best way to ensure everything is transferred.

Oh, and congrats on the new iMac. My 2011 model I bought on SJ's birthday last year (2012) is still my workhorse.

 

[Confuzzzed]

Oh, and congrats on the new iMac. My 2011 model I bought on SJ's birthday last year (2012) is still my workhorse.

Thanks for that and your prompt response! To be honest, I don't have any server applications or data that I need, unless the OS turned my music, videos, photos and other user data into a 'server' subtype. Which I don't think is that case but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there...

 

[skinnywhitepipe]

Thanks weaselboy. It worked

 

[Ruahrc]

Just want to confirm- if I do a clean install of OS X, wiping everything, I won't also hose my Windows 7 boot camp installation that is located on the same physical drive (but different partition), right?

And ML install will cleanly handle updating/re-creating of the hidden restore partition (not create a new one and abandon the old one, wasting disk space), and also detect the windows 7 installation on the drive and give me the appropriate bootup options in system preferences>startup disk?

This mac has some weird problems on it (that have existed ever since it was new) relating to spotlight not indexing my mail and also not ever going to sleep on its own. I've spent many hours trying to research/diagnose/fix both all to no avail and I think the only salvation lies in a clean purge of the whole drive and starting over.

 

[Weaselboy]

Just want to confirm- if I do a clean install of OS X, wiping everything, I won't also hose my Windows 7 boot camp installation that is located on the same physical drive (but different partition), right?

As long as you just erase the OS X partition, it will be fine. That said, I have read posts from users here having trouble with the Bootcamp install after an OS X upgrade... so make sure you have it backed up.

And ML install will cleanly handle updating/re-creating of the hidden restore partition (not create a new one and abandon the old one, wasting disk space), and also detect the windows 7 installation on the drive and give me the appropriate bootup options in system preferences>startup disk?

The ML install will make sure you have one, good Recovery HD partition. It won't create a second.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Hi guys,

I've read through this entire thread, but would still like some input from the pros out there.

I just picked up a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD to go in my base 2011 mini. I'm going to use this as the sole drive, as all my media is stored on a NAS. 256GB is plenty. I do perform Time Machine backups to my NAS, and I also have external docks + bare drives to use for additional backups/recovery.

Since my mini is 1.5yrs old, I'm a bit worried about moving over junk/garbage via a Time Machine restore to the new SSD. The mini works fine, but of course there has been a dozen+ programs come and gone over the time, and I'd like to get as clean of a start as possible. I'm running Mountain Lion, since the day it came out.

There are a few programs that I currently run that I basically have to keep the settings for. I also run a couple of start-up scripts, that I'd rather not re-do from scratch.

1. Should I use Recovery Assistant?
2. Would I check "Settings"?
3. Would I pull out my current HDD and just attach via USB dock? Will the mini recognize it once I install ML from the internet recovery option on the bare drive?

I basically have all the hardware/facilities to make this go smoothly, just not sure how to best retain my current config without bringing over 1.5 years worth of garbage.

 

[Weaselboy]

1. Should I use Recovery Assistant?
2. Would I check "Settings"?
3. Would I pull out my current HDD and just attach via USB dock? Will the mini recognize it once I install ML from the internet recovery option on the bare drive?

1. You will want to use Migration Assistant. But this will bring over all the old "junk" you mentioned.

2. Only if you want system settings brought over. If you want to reset them all, you can uncheck it.

3. You can just pop the new blank drive in then option key boot to your Time Machine backup and format the drive then restore all from the Time Machine backup disk. No need to redownload the OS.

The only true way to get and entirely "clean" install is to install the OS new then manually reinstall every app and setting. If you are not familiar with OS X, this can be quite a chore. IMO, if you current system is working okay, I would just restore it then you can manually look around and delete old things you don't need any longer.