Will I need to reinstall everything?

[marty1990]

Having only had a Mac since November, I've never had to upgrade the OS. Since Mountain Lion is coming out this month, or so I've heard, I'm going to want to upgrade.

When I was on Windows I used to have to do a reformat, install the latest OS and then reinstall everything. Is that the case with OS X? There's some apps I have that came preloaded on my Mac - I bought it from a different supplier over Apple - and I don't have the serial numbers any more, and don't want to lose the software.

How will installing Mountain Lion be?

 

[danb77]

The easiest OS upgrade you have done in your life. Will take 25 minutes or so, will preserve all apps and settings, and "just work".

People on this forum talk about clean installs, but this is totally unnecessary in 99% of cases!

 

[ps3zocker]

You just go to the Mac App Store, buy & download Mountain Lion and it upgrades your system. No format and reinstallation needed

 

[Bobby.e]

You don't have to format windows when upgrading. Especially if you buy the upgrade version. However you can just upgrade. No need to format unless you want a clean install.