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Do I need to format a disk drive before reinstalling my OS?

I've ran into a problem with XCode where it keeps crashing on startup, and I thought of reinstalling macOS Sierra but I'm actually nervous that it might screw things up. I've seen videos on Youtube but they format the drive then reinstall. Should I reinstall macOS Sierra only without formatting my drive?

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Sep 16, 2019 9:54 PM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 16, 2019 10:15 PM

It is a bit extreme to delete your OS and reinstall just because Xcode isn't starting up. Have you booted to your Recovery HD

and run Disk Utility> First Aid. Or you could install the Combo update, https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1931?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US install it over what you have got it'll reset some system files and caches.

Or you could delete Xcode and then re-download and install it.

Reinstalling an OS should be a last resort.

22 replies

Sep 17, 2019 7:56 PM in response to Eau Rouge

I restarted into recovery mode and was only able to first aid the APPLE SSD SM0256G Media HD (macintosh HD didn't let me first aid), do I also first aid the OSX Drive as well that also appears?

Sep 21, 2019 11:45 AM in response to Community User

Forgot to add on one more thing. Since it's usually a one time thing to upgrade, can I just copy my macintosh HD to my 1TB hard drive? Or should I format my drive just to do time machine

Do I need to format a disk drive before reinstalling my OS?

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