Want to improve performance? Clean install ML

[SR45]

Using the Diskmaker program, the process of wiping the hard drive, and installing from a USB thumb drive took about 15 minutes, plus an additional 7-12 minutes to install all my stuff from another USB thumb drive + iCloud. 27 minutes tops. Doing a Recovery takes about 45 minutes. First time, its a bit slow to get the OS X onto a thumb drive, but after that and anytime one needs to do a Recovery or Clean install, the OS X on a thumb drive is just plain nice.

I never had lag in Safari or scroll lag. Not even after doing a clean install. Might be something else wrong with your system or programs installed Zach23.

 

[RobT]

I do a clean install when a new OS comes out not only to hopefully have a better install but to get rid of stuff that accumulates over time (apps I no longer use, remnants of deleted apps).

I don't restore from Time Machine; I just re-enter things like e-mail settings and re-install apps back from scratch. The only thing I really back up to external disk and restore is my iTunes library (music files, movies, iOS apps).

This takes another hour or so of work after the OS install finishes but I find things run very smoothly and I always end up with recovered disk space.

Best of all for me, I don't keep thinking "Maybe I should have done a clean install."

 

[snowydog]

I have no idea how to do a clean install?

If I back up my documents, music, pictures and apps on an external hard drive and then download ML and install ... then copy everything back from my external hard drive?

My MBP is only 8months old so I haven't really got that much stuff on it atm...

 

[callan37]

I tried to simply upgrade - I had all sorts of problems with wifi, battery life, email settings. I started going through to clean up keychain and delete old certificates, which was helping. However, clean install has fixed all these problems and I think the system is running much smoother. +1 for clean install in my experience.

 

[iLog.Genius]

Went from Leopard > Snow Leopard > Lion > Mountain Lion, all upgrades and zero problems.

I think everyone should go the upgrade route and then resort to clean installs if they experience any problems. There's no evidence that suggests doing a clean install is better than doing an upgrade.

 

[scottsjack]

My ML installation is working pretty good, still too much beachballing for a MP. Since I need an additional drive anyway so I'm going to do a totally fresh install, apps and everything, when 10.8.1 gets released. With 10.6 and 10.7 there were a few early bugs that required a relative quick fix so I might as well wait until 10.8.1 is downloadable.

 

[thatoneguy82]

Went from Leopard > Snow Leopard > Lion > Mountain Lion, all upgrades and zero problems.

I think everyone should go the upgrade route and then resort to clean installs if they experience any problems. There's no evidence that suggests doing a clean install is better than doing an upgrade.

Yes. That's my philosophy. If ain't broke, why fix it?

 

[kylera]

As others said, I find a clean install worth doing when there is so much junk (unnecessary apps, documents, system prefs, etc.) that it is easier to wipe and reinstall the stuff you know you need than wading through everything.

As such, I plan to zap my iMac, but did an upgrade on my Air because all I have in my Air is Office, iWork, Dropbox and Chrome, and my documents are synced via Dropbox.

 

[MacAndMic]

I upgraded to ML the day it came out on my i7 iMac and the speed was comparable. I had some issues with WiFi that I worked out but then I ran into some mail issues. When sending attachments, it would send 3 copies of the same attachment, odd.

Today I decided to go the clean route just because I had migrated from a MacBook with SL, upgraded to Lion and now ML. I was Really surprised to see the amount of space I saved just because I got rid of dead files and elected not to bring back programs I do not use anymore. I ended up going from 299gb to 99gb used space. Yep, lots of worthless stuff!

The machine definitely feels quicker, back to clicking an icon and having instant results and now no errors in mail or WiFi. But I also think I am the extreme when it came to having stuff around that I did not need.

I'd say it was well worth doing a clean install for me.....and I did preserve my Bootcamp....but now I am getting the itch to clean that as well.

 

[ntrigue]

I always clean install. It takes a bit more mental friction throughout the year but when the new OS lands it only takes about two hours versus 25 minutes.

Made my 2011 MBA feel like new!

 

[colloc]

Can anybody say that a clean install fixes UI lag or safari scroll lag, or that stuff? If so, I will definitely do a clean install!
thanks

If your Mac didn't lag when scrolling in Lion then it shouldn't in ML.

There must be something wrong with your OS upgrade. Either try creating a new user account and see if it fixes the lag or do a complete clean install. Let us know if that fixes the lag for you

 

[Zach23]

If your Mac didn't lag when scrolling in Lion then it shouldn't in ML.

There must be something wrong with your OS upgrade. Either try creating a new user account and see if it fixes the lag or do a complete clean install. Let us know if that fixes the lag for you

Finished doing the clean install earlier tonight. Did not help the lag whatsoever. The lag I experience happens when switching spaces from dashboard to the desktop, scroll lag on every browser, and lag opening mission control when there is a **** load of stuff open. I'm probably gonna swap to see if a different machine makes a difference. I'll let you guys know for sure.

 

[Tander]

Like many others, I do did an upgrade rather than a clean install.

My 2010 MB had SL on when I got it and I did a clean install of Lion last year. Since then I did an upgrade from Lion to ML. Why?

Because I didn't feel like resetting up everything again - and if I were to do a TM restore - what would be the point of a clean install then?

So, I upgraded and I have not noticed the machine being any slower or faster for that matter, really.

I've got a MacBook 7.1 with 8GB of ram and she's going along very nicely.

As to weather it's better to do Clean Vs Upgrade - I think in most cases - there is little difference. Unless the Mac is running really slow / sluggish, due to either corrupted settings / configs / misc items, etc, etc - then sure, a clean install is definitely the way.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[kodeman53]

"I think it's faster." after a clean install, with 'think' being the operative word. I did all this work, so it must be faster. The 'experts' on MR said their Macs were faster and snappier, so mine must be, too. The Lemming Effect.

 

[50548]

Upgrading OSes is NEVER a good idea. Clean install is always preferred.

There is absolutely no scientific basis for that; otherwise the "upgrade" option shouldn't even be there. If we are all obliged to do a "clean install" to have the intended performance, there is already a problem with the install process.

If/when I decide to upgrade to ML, I do NOT intend to do a clean install, especially considering the number of symlinks and dependencies that I have between the SSD boot disk and the HDD...too much of a hassle for little to no improvement.

 

[daneoni]

I can't imagine a single legit technical reason a computer would run slower due to an upgrade, or conversely, faster on a clean install

The logic just isnt there.

Old corrupt preferences, screwed up permissions, geriatric caches. Mostly the first one though.

 

[egraphixstudios]

I removed the default lion from my 1 day old rmbp and installed MT lion freshly. re-dont partition to suite my needs while I was at it...

Working very smooth so far.

 

[50548]

Old corrupt preferences, screwed up permissions, geriatric caches. Mostly the first one though.

Permissions can be fixed, caches deleted...the risk of corrupt preferences is marginal, and these can also be deleted after installation. There is no reason to do a clean install.

 

[Badrottie]

Will ML clean install recovers lost space on SSD? I have no issues upgrading to Lion from Snow Leopard last year. I asked because I lost 40GB space by restoring to SSD from TM last weekend.

 

[daneoni]

Permissions can be fixed, caches deleted...the risk of corrupt preferences is marginal, and these can also be deleted after installation. There is no reason to do a clean install.

To each his own but i've always found it gave me less headaches. I upgraded from Panther to Tiger and it was horrible till i did a clean install and then it flew. I upgraded my brothers machine from SL (cleaned out cache, repaired permission etc beforehand) and it was also slow and cumbersome till i wiped it clean.

*shrug*

 

[hafr]

OS file fragmentation.

So the argument for why one should do a fresh install instead of an upgrade is really an argument to reinstall one's OS every once in a while?

 

[Mr. McMac]

I upgraded from Snow Leopard instead of a fresh install on my '09 iMac with no issues so far. It actually seems to be a bit snappier now

 

[rangen]

I upgraded from Snow Leopard instead of a fresh install on my '09 iMac with no issues so far. It actually seems to be a bit snappier now

amen

 

[rangen]

I just did a clean install on an iMac, boot time halved. Three instances now.

 

[hafr]

I just did a clean install on an iMac, boot time halved. Three instances now.

Anecdotal evidence isn't really evidence though, is it?

Do a clean install of Lion, benchmark it. Then upgrade to Mountain Lion, benchmark it. Finally, do a clean install of Mountain Lion, benchmark it.

When you show me those three benchmarks, and that they clearly state clean install beats upgrade, I will gladly agree with you. As of now, there seem to be no proof what so ever that a clean is better than an upgrade.

Yes, the risk of having problems diminish. But the only real argument to doing a clean install as of now is the same argument as formatting your drive every once in a while no matter what.