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Restore Files After Clean Install

I have done a 'clean install' on a new external boot hard drive for my 2017 iMac.


What is the best way to restore all my files including:


Saved Mail - saved on the hard drive

Programs (Applications & Utilities)

Safari Bookmarks (and Firefox)


Documents, Music and Photos are easy - drag and drop.

I could just copy my old user over.

I suspect I can go back into the old drive and export Safari Bookmarks - although they are sync'ed in iCloud so that may not be necessary.


One of the options is to restore from Time Machine. But doesn't that bring back all the clutter and no longer needed stuff in Library / System, etc.?


Is my original 'user name' the display name or the name under Users? I want my user on the new drive to be identical to that on the old drive.


This is all I have found and it is out of date.


Restoration after a clean installation - Apple Community



iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 12.6

Posted on Nov 9, 2022 5:30 PM

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Posted on Nov 10, 2022 12:30 AM

> One of the options is to restore from Time Machine. But doesn't that bring back all the clutter and no longer needed stuff in Library / System, etc.?


Yes, but it is easier and works for most people (unless there is some old user setting etc causing problems).


...the manual hard way:


> Saved Mail - saved on the hard drive


a) Mail > File > Import Mailboxes... > Apple Mail > choose old macOS ~/Library/Mail folder > choose all Items. I move all mail to ~/Library/Mail and zip it as a backup in the old macOS.


On the new Mail.app: On the left-hand-side under "On My Mac" > Import, ..., look for and move "Local" and all mailboxes inside it up under "On My Mac". Right-click and delete "Import" folder (it has gmail mailboxes that are online).


b) Or optionally in Apple Mail > Mailbox > Export Mailbox... But for some weird reason Mail.app can then export only up to 2.15 GB mailboxes so old messages are silently ignored! BTW, remember to choose "Export all subfolders" option, if necessary!


> Programs (Applications & Utilities)


Reinstall the latest compatible version (test mission critical apps and devices on a bootable external drive with the new macOS before upgrading). Make sure you have a copy of the licenses available. I copy & paste some old preference files from ~/Library/Preferences for some apps that I have fine-tuned.


> Safari Bookmarks


Import from iCloud. The same for Notes, Contacts etc iCloud items.


> Music and Photos are easy - drag and drop.


Copy the libraries and then Option-start Photos.app and Music.app and open Photos.library and Music Library.musiclibrary


> I could just copy my old user over.


Keep user folder tidy so you know what you want to preserve and copy.


> Is my original 'user name' the display name or the name under Users? I want my user on the new drive to be identical to that on the old drive.


Carefully pick the same old username and drive name when doing the clean install. Changing them later is messy.


I use Carbon Copy Cloner to backup the old bootable macOS for a few weeks/months in case I forget to copy something.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 10, 2022 12:30 AM in response to Lawrence Hammer

> One of the options is to restore from Time Machine. But doesn't that bring back all the clutter and no longer needed stuff in Library / System, etc.?


Yes, but it is easier and works for most people (unless there is some old user setting etc causing problems).


...the manual hard way:


> Saved Mail - saved on the hard drive


a) Mail > File > Import Mailboxes... > Apple Mail > choose old macOS ~/Library/Mail folder > choose all Items. I move all mail to ~/Library/Mail and zip it as a backup in the old macOS.


On the new Mail.app: On the left-hand-side under "On My Mac" > Import, ..., look for and move "Local" and all mailboxes inside it up under "On My Mac". Right-click and delete "Import" folder (it has gmail mailboxes that are online).


b) Or optionally in Apple Mail > Mailbox > Export Mailbox... But for some weird reason Mail.app can then export only up to 2.15 GB mailboxes so old messages are silently ignored! BTW, remember to choose "Export all subfolders" option, if necessary!


> Programs (Applications & Utilities)


Reinstall the latest compatible version (test mission critical apps and devices on a bootable external drive with the new macOS before upgrading). Make sure you have a copy of the licenses available. I copy & paste some old preference files from ~/Library/Preferences for some apps that I have fine-tuned.


> Safari Bookmarks


Import from iCloud. The same for Notes, Contacts etc iCloud items.


> Music and Photos are easy - drag and drop.


Copy the libraries and then Option-start Photos.app and Music.app and open Photos.library and Music Library.musiclibrary


> I could just copy my old user over.


Keep user folder tidy so you know what you want to preserve and copy.


> Is my original 'user name' the display name or the name under Users? I want my user on the new drive to be identical to that on the old drive.


Carefully pick the same old username and drive name when doing the clean install. Changing them later is messy.


I use Carbon Copy Cloner to backup the old bootable macOS for a few weeks/months in case I forget to copy something.

Nov 10, 2022 9:07 AM in response to Matti Haveri

A perfect answer. Thank you.


I am lucky in that I am doing this replacement on a brand new drive, while keeping the current boot drive.


I had not thought about making certain that the drive name is the same. Not sure why, but it will make it more difficult to tell between the two. They are both connected via USB-C and both SSD.


I also have a CCC copy of my current drive, in case I mess up anything.


I hesitate to use Time Machine. I am having issues on Monterey since I upgraded from Big Sur. I don't want to bring back the garbage that maybe in that drive. I have been using a Mac and upgrading since 1990. I see files from at least 20 years ago in the Library.

Nov 10, 2022 9:12 AM in response to Lawrence Hammer

1) A follow up on keeping the two hard drives the same name:


a) Is this necessary?


b) Since these are APFS drives, do those names apps to the base level (the first level displayed in the Disk Utility), the Container disk name (which is one number different), or the last level name which is what appears on the desktop / Finder?


2) Can I just copy over the entire Users folder? Not sure if those Users would appear then when booting to that drive. I am thinking that since that is all documents, there should not be any 'garbage' files in those? Except maybe in Photos that has an iPhoto file.

Nov 10, 2022 10:19 AM in response to Lawrence Hammer

> keeping the two hard drives the same name


No, but if you rename the data-disk, then the system-disk might not be renamed accordingly - a possible minor cosmetic annoyance but really a not big issue.


> Can I just copy over the entire Users folder?


Yes, but then you must also copy other user's data-files and their extra possibly important ~Library files to the cleanly-installed system also while logged as them! ...happily I have only 5 other people in the household and only one of them is currently semi-actively using the "main" Mac...


Migration assistant might do all this for you more easily but with some silly mistakes.

Restore Files After Clean Install

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