Erase and Reinstall without Restoring Junk?

[Aragornii]

I plan to erase and reinstall Yosemite as a last ditch effort to get rid of some major issues after installing Yosemite. I will then restore from a Time Machine backup.

My question is, I'm sure I have collected a lot of junk in my OS over the years (long unused prefs files, etc.) and I'd rather not restore any of that junk back to my computer.

When restoring from a Time Machine backup, does it include all the junk system files, and if so is there a way to get a clean reinstall?

 

[dsemf]

I plan to erase and reinstall Yosemite as a last ditch effort to get rid of some major issues after installing Yosemite. I will then restore from a Time Machine backup.

My question is, I'm sure I have collected a lot of junk in my OS over the years (long unused prefs files, etc.) and I'd rather not restore any of that junk back to my computer.

When restoring from a Time Machine backup, does it include all the junk system files, and if so is there a way to get a clean reinstall?

Take a look at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1813080/

This is my take on a truly clean install. It is more work, but worked for me.

DS

 

[Bruno09]

Hi,

for what you want to do, Time Machine is not the right tool.

Do a clone of you Mac, then erase and re-install, reinstall your apps.

Then connect the clone and import your data, NOT your settings.

This is much more easy than restoring selectively from Time Machine.

And this is a true clean install.

 

[Aragornii]

Hi,

for what you want to do, Time Machine is not the right tool.

Do a clone of you Mac, then erase and re-install, reinstall your apps.

Then connect the clone and import your data, NOT your settings.

This is much more easy than restoring selectively from Time Machine.

And this is a true clean install.

I also keep a Carbon Copy Cloner backup (using the old freeware version). I take it that will work for this purpose?

 

[Bruno09]

Exactly.

I use Time Machine AND CCC (on two different external drives) to backup my Mac.

For a true clean install I use the clone to import my data.

 

[randomgeeza]

I also keep a Carbon Copy Cloner backup (using the old freeware version). I take it that will work for this purpose?

Not necessarily...

CCC has gone to version 4, which is Yosemite / Mavericks compatible. You might need to investigate further as to whether your free version (trial) will work before proceeding.

Version 4 offers a free 30 day trial. My advice would be to use that to clone your current setup as a fail safe.

Erase and install Yosemite, and then install each app that you use with the original developer installer... Once that is done, set up your system and app preferences one by one.

This IMHO, will take time but is a true clean install.