I’m fairly certain my current Mac is a Migrated and updated install from my 2004 white plastic MacBook.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
How many times have you format your mac?
- Thread starter Mardiel8128
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
To add to the contrary v, I’ve „formatted“ my MacBook Pro 2017 many, many times.
I don’t know how much it helped though. I’ve had weird problems where reformatting didn’t do anything. Some times it had to be serviced by certified Apple service providers, albeit the found the hardware to be the problem.
Once the PRAM messed my Mac up over months. Even after reinstalling different versions of macOS without any backup or anything one thunderbolt port continued not to work. I thought the hardware was broken.
Nope. PRAM doesn’t get reset when macOS is reinstalled…
Usually macs are reliable tho and don’t need to be „formatted“
I don’t know how much it helped though. I’ve had weird problems where reformatting didn’t do anything. Some times it had to be serviced by certified Apple service providers, albeit the found the hardware to be the problem.
Once the PRAM messed my Mac up over months. Even after reinstalling different versions of macOS without any backup or anything one thunderbolt port continued not to work. I thought the hardware was broken.
Nope. PRAM doesn’t get reset when macOS is reinstalled…
Usually macs are reliable tho and don’t need to be „formatted“
I have been using MS-DOS and Windows for about 30+ years now, and have never formatted a hard disk. I have been using Mac computers since Snow Leopard, and have never formatted a hard disk. I believe I see a pattern.
12 times in 10 years. Every new version of macOS, old habit from my Windows days, as you referenced. 😂
I went 3 years without a wipe when Win8 came out, it was crawling at the end ☠️😵🪦
I did skip Sierra and High Sierra though, stayed on Mojave.
I did a full wipe when I tested out 2 versions of Linux though, Mint and Ubuntu just recently (just to have a proper look-see at them natively).
just gives me peace of mind personally ✌️
I went 3 years without a wipe when Win8 came out, it was crawling at the end ☠️😵🪦
I did skip Sierra and High Sierra though, stayed on Mojave.
I did a full wipe when I tested out 2 versions of Linux though, Mint and Ubuntu just recently (just to have a proper look-see at them natively).
just gives me peace of mind personally ✌️
Typically only wipe/restore when I sell them on. Although my M1 Mac Mini I've done a few times in the last week as I'm trying to setup it up to replace my old 2011 Mac Mini web server and keep changing my mind on how I want to set it up (and subsequently it's easy to wipe/rebuild). In fairness to Windows, my work devices on Windows 10 have been solid and not required any re-imaging - o.k. I've had to fix them a few times after Windows updates has broken things, but no total rebuilds.
LOL, last my 2011 15" MBP was formatted was the factory, same applies to the the rest including the M1 MBP. PC's are the same, clean installing is just a load of nonsense. This Windows machine is pushing 5 years and would be a real headache to rebuild it's SW image and what would I gain? a few MB here and there at best...
Q-6
Q-6
Last edited:
I've been using Macs since 1996 and have never formatted one except to sell it.
well years ago, I would reformat it every time a new big update came out.
But that was when I had either a Mac with a spinning hard drive, or a Mac with a small SSD.
These days, with the yearly updates being relatively minor in scale, with documents and desktop folders being in the cloud, with the majority of my music and movie/TV library being available for streaming, and with the fact that my Mac has a decently sized one terabyte SSD, reformatting has much less of an actual noticeable improvement/function anymore.
On top of all that, now that the system settings just has a “ erase and restore to defaults” button built-in, reformatting and reinstalling is a bit redundant and useless now.
Unless you’re having an actual issue that requires something like that, but… that is really rare and unlikely.
But that was when I had either a Mac with a spinning hard drive, or a Mac with a small SSD.
These days, with the yearly updates being relatively minor in scale, with documents and desktop folders being in the cloud, with the majority of my music and movie/TV library being available for streaming, and with the fact that my Mac has a decently sized one terabyte SSD, reformatting has much less of an actual noticeable improvement/function anymore.
On top of all that, now that the system settings just has a “ erase and restore to defaults” button built-in, reformatting and reinstalling is a bit redundant and useless now.
Unless you’re having an actual issue that requires something like that, but… that is really rare and unlikely.
Probably a dozen or less instances, excluding before selling, over a span of a few decades.
Windows has definitely improved. However, I’ve still had to reinstall Windows much more frequently, primarily for a driver-related corruption/failure/incompatibility. Additionally, for me, System Restore is far less useful/reliable in Windows 10 than any other version.
In my experience, reinstalling Windows 10 on a (semi-)modern PC (i.e., with SSD) is oodles faster than the days of 98/2000/XP. Well… That is, unless you want a local/offline user account.
As long as you use the latest Windows Media Creation Tool or ISO, there should only be the recent monthly/weekly/minor updates.
My Intel MacBook Pro 2015 originally came with OS X Yosemite and I have done in place upgrades all the way up to Big Sur, never formatted once.
My Surface Pro 3 came with Windows 8.1, but I had partitioned it dual boot with Windows 10. I used Windows 10 mostly on it and would periodically boot into Windows 8.1. Something happened after a cumulative update to Windows 8.1 and became unbootable. So, I installed Windows 10 Pro and eventually upgrade it to Windows 11 Release Preview.
My history of formatting my Windows PC's is honestly rare, I can actually remember each time I have done.
An IBM Aptiva from 2000, formatted it in 2001, we had upgraded from Windows 98 SE to ME and it caught a W32 virus. We eventually downgraded it to Windows 98 SE using the recovery CD's and upgraded it later to Windows 2000 Professional in 2002.
My AMD Sempron custom build, I was always formatting because I experimented with it so much, it was part hackintosh, Windows Vista beta machine, tested Windows XP Professional x64.
My Surface Pro 3 came with Windows 8.1, but I had partitioned it dual boot with Windows 10. I used Windows 10 mostly on it and would periodically boot into Windows 8.1. Something happened after a cumulative update to Windows 8.1 and became unbootable. So, I installed Windows 10 Pro and eventually upgrade it to Windows 11 Release Preview.
My history of formatting my Windows PC's is honestly rare, I can actually remember each time I have done.
An IBM Aptiva from 2000, formatted it in 2001, we had upgraded from Windows 98 SE to ME and it caught a W32 virus. We eventually downgraded it to Windows 98 SE using the recovery CD's and upgraded it later to Windows 2000 Professional in 2002.
My AMD Sempron custom build, I was always formatting because I experimented with it so much, it was part hackintosh, Windows Vista beta machine, tested Windows XP Professional x64.
I feel if updating from older m\Mac you have to get the saved email boxes, picture and saved videos! However don't bring over such old software! Just write down the names of the programs and the serial numbers of those programs for cheaper upgrades over the years!
Reformat my Mac? sure, every time I sell one. 
Latest was last year, my (now ex) rMB 12" (early 2015).
I've dabbed into Macs since the late '80s, and in the earlier days of Mac OS, OS X and macOS, reformatting the drive was a common procedure. Because the upgrade process often generated lots of instability. A straightforward way to solve these issues was to do a "clean install" and reinstall everything from scratch. I remember working for a while in a small company that provided support to individuals, freelancers, etc. Every time there was a major OS release I'd do the rounds, reformatting drives, installing the fresh new OS and reconfiguring all those Macs. Customers were happy and I made a living out of it for a few years.
Since then things have changed a lot, I'd say for the last 10 years or so the macOS upgrade process has become remarkably stable, much cleaner and less bug-prone.
I formatted a hard drive once on my (now ex) iMac 2007 (in 2014) because the hard disk failed from a day to the next and I had to swap it for a new one. Thank God for Time Machine in a situation like this.
I think I've reformatted the Fusion Drive on my current iMac late 2015 once, for a clean install of a new macOS version.
But I have very few third party stuff on my Macs, therefore the risk of malfunction is extremely low, and hence, the need for reformatting on a regular basis is almost nonexistant.
Latest was last year, my (now ex) rMB 12" (early 2015).I've dabbed into Macs since the late '80s, and in the earlier days of Mac OS, OS X and macOS, reformatting the drive was a common procedure. Because the upgrade process often generated lots of instability. A straightforward way to solve these issues was to do a "clean install" and reinstall everything from scratch. I remember working for a while in a small company that provided support to individuals, freelancers, etc. Every time there was a major OS release I'd do the rounds, reformatting drives, installing the fresh new OS and reconfiguring all those Macs. Customers were happy and I made a living out of it for a few years.
Since then things have changed a lot, I'd say for the last 10 years or so the macOS upgrade process has become remarkably stable, much cleaner and less bug-prone.
I formatted a hard drive once on my (now ex) iMac 2007 (in 2014) because the hard disk failed from a day to the next and I had to swap it for a new one. Thank God for Time Machine in a situation like this.
I think I've reformatted the Fusion Drive on my current iMac late 2015 once, for a clean install of a new macOS version.
But I have very few third party stuff on my Macs, therefore the risk of malfunction is extremely low, and hence, the need for reformatting on a regular basis is almost nonexistant.
I only formatted my Macs when I sell them. MBA first one formatted to sell off and then iMac last year formatted to sell off and never on my current Mac and mostly likely only need do it once to sell it many years in future. Basically I never need format my Mac for any reason except to wipe it clean before to sell them. Mac nothing like Windows with maintenance. Windows need quite lot of maintenance keep it running fast and smooth otherwise slow down over time.
Exactly that. I do set up every new Mac fresh since all the files are stored on network storage, sharepoint, cloud and so on anyways. If my main Mac dies right now, I can boot up the desktop or replacement Macbook and just wait a couple minutes for nextcloud to restore the recent data. There is some customization to be done of course, but that's all relatively minor things, like running the brew setup, and a script to set up the terminal mulitplexer, ssh keys and so on.
I figure Steam has made it easier to nuke and pave a typical gaming machine. It'd certainly be easier in my desktop's case.
