My First MAC re-install

[PaulTech]

Hi, Thank you in advance to the Technibble community. A customer acquired a MAC (iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X 10.8.3) from another person in the same office and wants to do a re-install. This is my first time doing this so I've put together the following procedure:

1. Record User Information (Easy way to save off this information? (System Profiler?))
2. Copy off list of installed Apps (Click 'About this mac' and hit the 'More info' button in the panel. When the next box comes up, choose 'System Report') Compile any disks to re-install those applications.
3. Backup, run Apple's Time Machine and Shirt Pocket's SuperDuper (Burning an additional image seems redundant if I do both of those?) Does this require a separate backup drive for Time Machine and another for SuperDuper?
4. Create Mountain Lion USB stick (http://osxdaily.com/2012/07/25/how-to-clean-install-os-x-mountain-lion/) <- as a safety net
5. Start the re-install: Hold down the Option key (ALT key if you are using a non-Apple keyboard) on the Mac while restarting, select “Recovery HD,” begin booting into this partition.

Not sure on the best re-install procedure from this point, maybe?

A. Run MAC updates first.
B. Install Applications.

What procedure is recommended to restore the backup data?

Thank you for the help!

 

[PaulTech]

Ok. Just beginning the process. Used a spare drive and formatted the drive using the iMAC to GUID (journaled + extended) and it is now being used by Time Machine. Even though the main drive is 1 TB only 15.38 GB is being used so the 250 GB drive works!

I thought I'd document the process used in-case someone needs to do the same. Please, any recommendations?

One note: change the Energy Saver Settings to avoid it sleeping during the process. Press Cmd+ Space Bar (Windows Key + Space Bar) and this opens Spotlight and type in power and click on Energy Saver.

 

[Digital Sage]

What is the situation here? New person wants a fresh copy of OSX without the applications that were installed? Or they want what's on the iMac just under their user profile?

Doing a fresh install is as simple as booting to the USB installer and choosing 'reinstall osx' from he options. That's it. All previous apps, settings, files, are all carried over. In fact, you can just create a new user profile, switch to default and delete the old one and you're done, no need for a reinstall if that's what you're after.

 

[Markverhyden]

What are the motivations for this? I know you are new to this so documenting things may make it easier for you. But I think you are over complicating things.

1. Beginning with 10.7 a recovery partition is created by the OS install so you just need to boot up holding down command + r to access the recovery partition. But having a bootable USB stick is necessary for general troubleshooting. Even if you are replacing the drive this function is there since it is part of the firmware.

2. Apps. Things have changed a lot in the Apple world. With the implementation of the App Store most software fulfillment is handled by downloads via the Store. But it requires an Apple ID. If the existing machine is changing hands then the old Apple ID should not be used for licensing reasons. A new one needs to be made if they don't already have an iTunes account. Even if nothing is going to be purchased you need a account to properly update the machine.

3. Backups. Doing two is over kill but if you have not tested the TM backup it is a wise decision. To test the TM back you need a second USB drive. Boot into recovery mode, select restore from TM, when it comes to choosing a drive you select the second USB drive. Complete the restore, reboot holding down the option keep to select the newly imaged second USB drive as the boot device.

 

[PaulTech]

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like I did do this a little bit the long way. I erased the drive before doing the re-install of the OS. Some questions:

1. I noticed that even though I changed the Account name the computer used the original name. Did this occur because the recovery downloaded from Apple and the account is linked to the MAC address?

2. In restoring some settings can I drag and drop. For example; at System > Library > InternetAccounts can I drag and drop that to the same location on the new install?

 

[Markverhyden]

What name? Machine name or user account name? The default machine name is based on the machine type. So you will always see ***'s MacBook Pro, etc. There should be no account name if you properly erased the drive. That being said I have yet not done a nuke and pave on a 10.8 machine

My 13" MBP is almost 3 years old and having issues so I broke down and bought a new MBP Retina today. Restored it from a TM backup of the MBP 13" so the name is the same as my 13" MBP. Of course I changed that.

Restoring settings? That is a tricky situation. After all we are dealing with a *nix flavor here. Just doing a copy/paste usually has problems unless you know what you are doing. There are all kinds of .conf files all over the place in a regular *nix. But OS X uses .plist files for configs as a store.

 

[johnrobert]

Congrats on your new Mac I just got one also an early 2008 MBP it booted faster with 10.5
Than 10.8 but I love it and can see why people get Macs far superior.
It’s a lot of money to pay for a glorified Linux computer, that’s my opinion anyway.

If Micro$oft build a car you would have to take a mechanic with you on every trip