Format and reinstall

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Format and reinstall

I’ve had several iMacs since 2012 and with each replacement I’ve ‘recovered’ the system from my time capsule, through every software update since then. There is also an abundance of software I tried and didn’t like, but these never seem to fully uninstall, so I have a plan…

I’m thinking about reformatting the SSD, installing a fresh version of the OS and reinstalling the software I actually use.

Does anyone have any thoughts about why this might be a bad idea, please?

Most of my data is stored on a NAS, with the exception of my Photos - and I would be in real trouble if I lost that database, so would copy the data file to the NAS temporarily.

For info, the iMac is backed up to a Time Capsule and the NAS is backed up to a Cloud storage server.

Thank you

iMac Pro, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 27, 2023 5:47 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,770 points

Mar 30, 2023 12:25 PM in response to Nightowl4933

If everything is in iCloud, you just sign in with the same AppleID. If it is no in iCloud, then you should not have any problems

If it is an Apple Silicon Mac or a T2 Mac, you should Erase all Contents and Settings.

If it is an Intel Mac without T2 chip, you can format the whole drive.

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Answer 2

Nightowl4933 Author

Level 1

18 points

Mar 30, 2023 1:18 AM in response to Nightowl4933

Does anyone have any thoughts on this, please?

I have all the software and licenses I would need to reinstall the apps and any software subscriptions are current, but I'm more concerned about losing access to my Photos and/or Music libraries, i.e. are these linked via a unique account identifier that will change if I format and reinstall everything...

Thanks

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,770 points

Mar 30, 2023 6:39 AM in response to Nightowl4933

Are you talking about the Music and Photos app and storing their media in another location?

The metadata is stored for the external library on the internal startup drive.

I can't tell you if you back that up and restore, and set the Music and Photos apps to the external media libraries if that will restore the metadata correctly (playlists, keywords, faces, etc).

Someone else may have done that and can explain the process.

It sounds like you have your photos stored in the default location in your home folder on the startup drive. Backing up the entire thing and restoring it should not lose anything.

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Answer 4

Nightowl4933 Author

Level 1

18 points

Mar 30, 2023 12:09 PM in response to Barney-15E

Not really. I was concerned reformatting etc. would leave Apple thinking I was someone else and prevent me accessing the Photos and Music data files. A similar thing happened to me with Windows many year ago, and it was a faff getting everything back - and I don't remember if I actually did get it all back! That had something to do with MS providing a unique identifier for each user, which is, by definition, unique, so reformatting and reinstalling that OS coloured the air blue, a little!

I'm not too concerned about the data on the NAS because it's fairly straightforward reconnecting to it, but I really, really don't want to lose my Music or the Photos.

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Format and reinstall

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