igneous wrote:Hey @Stromkraft or anyone else, do you have any advice/links on doing a clean install?
I have a mac, and am wondering if you used TimeMachine to drag in all the old files (music, photos, videos, etc) from the old system into the new OSX? And then I suppose redownloading all the apps? Some apps I got (legally) through a one-download-only deal in university, not sure if I'd be able to redownload. Any advice would be appreciated–it seems like my best bet to solve my audio glitches.
My advice is to do a clean install of macOS 10.12, not 10.13 yet unless you're absolutely certain everything you use is supported fully in 10.13.
Basically:
Find a machine with the macOS 10.12 installer*, like a friend's or on your own machine if you have downloaded it before on your Apple account, and make a 8GB (at least) USB stick to boot from. Try
diskmakerX 6 first. If this works fine.
I've had some issues with Diskmaker X lately, but could have been my stick. If you find you can't use this read the article
How to make your own bootable macOS 10.12 Sierra USB install drive at Ars Technica for info on an alternative app and also how to do it manually.
Prep work before installing:
- Back up everything (Data, preferences, apps) and verify the external archive
- Seek out installers for apps you know you will want to use and make sure you get updates that work with macOS 10.12 "Sierra". Likely some apps will need replacing. Many will work anyway but may need special treatment. Users are the best source for info how to overcome limitations like that.
Many apps will continue to work if you copy over the app itself from the backup's Applications folder. Sometimes you may need the preference files as well.
Don't forget hardware drivers for stuff like printers or controllers and MIDI and audio interfaces. Likely you need to find newer versions compatible with macOS 10.12, sometimes you can get around using old drivers with SIP turned off (for installation at least).
- You'll likely need container data from apps like Calendar/iCal, Mail and so on and this may involve exporting and re-importing info in some cases. This can actually be something of a headache to get right**.
- You need to untie licenses connected to hardware in most cases, like iLok, Waves or what not.
- Find all serials for apps you have licenses for and keep these at hand. I'm lazy so they are usually in my Mail database and if so this should be done before starting the installation.
- Make sure you're not out of Live installations. AFAIK an OS update or re-installation on the same machine does not use another authorization even if you go trough one. But I'd like to have the margins on my side.
Only when you've done all the necessary prep work, use the instructions in the article "
How to Perform a Clean Installation of macOS Sierra" on how to boot and install a clean OS.
Then install all available macOS updates, reboot and install all of your apps in your priority order. Then move over your data
manually, if you're as motivated as I've been two times the last four years, and make sure everything can be found and works as expected.
*If you can't find one, a ready made image can be written to your USB stick with Disk Utility. I'd advice against getting an OS from someone you don't know though. Best source is always Apple.
**One way to make this step less time consuming is to first back up this mint new OS so you can go back faster to this fresh state if some goes sour, then use the macOS
Migration Assistant to transfer over the old data from your backup.
After this, optionally go into your
Library folder:
[user home]/Library and move your preferences folder to the desktop, as preferences that are corrupt is a common source for issues (more so in older systems I'd say). You don't want to bring the issues over to the new clean system, as that beats the purpose of the whole operation. So tread carefully and do that initial backup.
Then start up all of your apps, update to the latest version, that you need to use and that were acting up before and make sure they have the settings you want and works as expected. After this move over the preferences for the apps that did work before and that are important for you, from the old migrated preferences on the desktop. This will maintain your settings in these.
If there are apps you don't really use anymore, just keep them off the new system. Focus on what you actually have been using.
For all the rest of your apps assume they can recreate their preferences and let them be, but keep the preferences around for a while. Sometimes you realize much later you need something.
This was from the top of my head. I might have missed some aspect as I'm quite tired now. Just ask if something is not clear. Make sure you do backups, clean your schedule for day or so and go all in.
