question about clean install, please help

[madmartigan]

Okay so i am going to go ahead and do a clean install when installing ML. however this will be my first time doing so and I have a couple of questions.

1. Once i burn ML to a disk and format my hard drive will I have to download all the apps that came with my computer. I have downloaded no additional apps since buying this macbook pro. But will I have to redownload the ones that were already preinstalled on my mbp.

2. are their any additional things that I will have to do after I finish my clean install. the order i will do the clean install will be, 1, make ML disk 2. format and install ML,

3. what do I do about my backup from time machine, will it do all the work for me once I complete my clean install and launch ML for the first time. Or do i have to do anything manually.

4. really all in all I'm looking to see what i will have to manually do to get my computer back up to where it was before the clean install.

 

[madmartigan]

bump

 

[Monsoonmalabard]

1. Once i burn ML to a disk and format my hard drive will I have to download all the apps that came with my computer. I have downloaded no additional apps since buying this macbook pro. But will I have to redownload the ones that were already preinstalled on my mbp.

No. Not if you haven't downloaded any additional apps.

2. are their any additional things that I will have to do after I finish my clean install. the order i will do the clean install will be, 1, make ML disk 2. format and install ML,

You'll then have to recover all your files from a backup disc.

3. what do I do about my backup from time machine, will it do all the work for me once I complete my clean install and launch ML for the first time. Or do i have to do anything manually.

4. really all in all I'm looking to see what i will have to manually do to get my computer back up to where it was before the clean install.

You could boot from the ML installer disc that you made (hold down 'C' while booting up) and then select "restore from time machine backup" in the utilities menu. This is the least labour-intensive option where most of the work is done for you. But this would negate the point of doing a clean install: any system files that aren't as they should be will be copied over again.

To make the clean install worthwhile, you should manually copy over your files from the TM disc and then adjust all your settings to how they were before: e.g. energy saver, screensaver, desktop backgrounds... the list might be endless, depending on how much you have customized your MBP.

Let us know how you get on and good luck!

 

[madmartigan]

I really only have some games and then my itunes music and movies on my mbp. I only have a few documents on this laptop.

if I do a clean install of ML then can i get all my stuff that i need from icloud minus the games?

and my safari settings like bookmarks and menu bars should be unchanged as well?

 

[Monsoonmalabard]

If you have bought the stuff from iTunes, you should be able to get it (minus games) from the cloud by signing in to iTunes after the install.

Safari settings will be gone after a clean install. But you can get bookmarks back easily by exporting them to a file (in safari: file -> export bookmarks). Back up the file to Time Machine, then import them back (file -> import bookmarks, then select the file) from it once you've installed ML.

What do you mean by 'menu bars'? Are you talking about Safari extensions?