iMac Pro Clean Install

[kcrossley]

Hi guys, I have an iMac Pro going in for service in a few days. The AASP is going to replace the display and upgrade my RAM from 32GB to 128GB. It's been a few years since I've done a clean install, so I'm prepping my iMac for that. In the past, I've cloned the main drive, did a clean install of all my apps, and pulled the preferences from the clone—effectively eliminating years of corrupt files and apps I no longer use or need.

When I explained my plan to the AASP tech, he said I would be better off making a Time Machine backup and using that for the clean install. Wouldn't that have the potential of restoring old and corrupt files into an otherwise clean system?

What am I missing here? What's the best way to do this? Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Bigwaff]

No wrong answer. I’ve used Migration Assistant for years transferring accounts and data to new Macs and have never had any issues. MA let’s you pick which apps to transfer. That being said, clean install, manual reinstall of apps and cherry-picking files to copy is reasonable approach, although way more time consuming. I ain’t gots time for that.

 

[Significant1]

Does the technician require a clean system to test? Because the drive is already encrypted and impossible to read without your password.

If you go ahead, better read apples guides.

 

[Fishrrman]

I have to ask, even though I realize it's an iMac Pro.

Is it really worth the $$$ to do that (which is certainly not going to be cheap) on a now-7-year-old iMac...?

 

[jeremz1ne]

Should just buy a new one...

 

[pshufd]

I did a clean install on my iMac Pro and that's the way I like to go as well. But my main system is an Apple Studio and I push out data from that system, either physical files or cloud storage.

 

[kcrossley]

I have to ask, even though I realize it's an iMac Pro.

Is it really worth the $$$ to do that (which is certainly not going to be cheap) on a now-7-year-old iMac...?

It's under AppleCare+, so the screen is covered. I just have to pay for the additional RAM, which I desperately need under Sonoma. I'm holding out for the new iMac Pro, which is rumored to be released next year.

 

[kcrossley]

Should just buy a new one...

I will when Apple comes out with the new iMac Pro.

 

[kcrossley]

Does the technician require a clean system to test? Because the drive is already encrypted and impossible to read without your password.

If you go ahead, better read apples guides.

No, I'm doing this for me. The system has been running slow for a few months. I think it's all the garbage I've accumulated over the past two years.

 

[fuchsdh]

Hi guys, I have an iMac Pro going in for service in a few days. The AASP is going to replace the display and upgrade my RAM from 32GB to 128GB. It's been a few years since I've done a clean install, so I'm prepping my iMac for that. In the past, I've cloned the main drive, did a clean install of all my apps, and pulled the preferences from the clone—effectively eliminating years of corrupt files and apps I no longer use or need.

When I explained my plan to the AASP tech, he said I would be better off making a Time Machine backup and using that for the clean install. Wouldn't that have the potential of restoring old and corrupt files into an otherwise clean system?

What am I missing here? What's the best way to do this? Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated.

Not missing anything, I think, it's just preference. Like you, I vastly prefer starting from scratch; the hassle of spending half a day adjusting stuff to get back just so is to me outweighed by not importing a bunch of crud, apps I've forgotten about that I never use, etc. Copy over the home folder, reinstall some apps and I'm good to go. Plus, the few times I've tried Time Machine backups (for my dad, from an old iMac to a Mac Studio) I ran into issues where it just failed or tried to use Wifi when it was connected by a Thunderbolt cable. Rather have the same experience each time.

I have to ask, even though I realize it's an iMac Pro.

Is it really worth the $$$ to do that (which is certainly not going to be cheap) on a now-7-year-old iMac...?

I just bought one off eBay (still has AppleCare.) When I factor in the money I get from selling my Mac mini/eGPU setup and the fact that I want a computer that is a) more performant than my old rig, and b) can run Mojave and all my legacy apps, it was a pretty easy buy. I wouldn't be stuffing more RAM in it (it came with 64GB) but some people are happy riding with old dependable tech for longer.

 

[pshufd]

I just bought one off eBay (still has AppleCare.) When I factor in the money I get from selling my Mac mini/eGPU setup and the fact that I want a computer that is a) more performant than my old rig, and b) can run Mojave and all my legacy apps, it was a pretty easy buy. I wouldn't be stuffing more RAM in it (it came with 64GB) but some people are happy riding with old dependable tech for longer.

There's a 10-core with 64 GB RAM and 2 TB SSD for sale in NYC for a nice price. I'd buy it if I were close. I like my base model but wouldn't mind upgrading, and then selling. I don't think that these are hard to sell these days.

 

[fuchsdh]

There's a 10-core with 64 GB RAM and 2 TB SSD for sale in NYC for a nice price. I'd buy it if I were close. I like my base model but wouldn't mind upgrading, and then selling. I don't think that these are hard to sell these days.

Yeah the 8 and 10-core models seem quite plentiful and good deals (and, if you really wanted, you could always upgrade); finding the higher-specced GPUs are tougher (or the people are asking way too much) but I was pleasantly surprised. Intel prices have definitely cratered, which makes picking them up these days quite affordable.