How to do clean install and install lion

lets forget about cloning becasue if your hard drive dies and you need to replace it your S.O.L, now if this happens and I install a new hard drive, will i be able to re-install Lion if i have the recovery usb key i made with the recovery disk assistant?

KennyPowers69 wrote:

lets forget about cloning becasue if your hard drive dies and you need to replace it your S.O.L,

No, you're not.

You can run from the clone until you get a new internal HD.

Then install the new drive, start up from the clone, format the new drive, and "re-clone" back to the new drive.

will i be able to re-install Lion if i have the recovery usb key i made with the recovery disk assistant?

Yes, but that only gets OSX reinstalled -- you still need everything else; your user account(s), data, preferences, apps, etc. All that will be on the clone.

KennyPowers69 wrote:

lets forget about cloning becasue if your hard drive dies and you need to replace it your S.O.L, now if this happens and I install a new hard drive, will i be able to re-install Lion if i have the recovery usb key i made with the recovery disk assistant?

You use the Recovery USB first and install both Lion and the Lion Recovery Partition

Then option boot from the Lion clone and clone that to the Lion internal partition.

While your waiting for the drive to arrive, you option boot and run off the clone, no downtime. 🙂

There is rarely a reason to do a clean install for most mac user. But don't be deluded, the lion upgrade is far from flawless if you look closely.

I won't hijack this thread, just click on my username to see the other discussion I started. It suffices to say that a clean install fixed it.

The entire upgrade process is way more microsoft-like than I'm comfortable with.

If you know your way around Dtrace just do a syscall trace, filtering on su and sudo (if you use those).

As for mac users who never touch the unix levels, you probably won't notice any broken parts.

I also had the same problem that many other users had, when I installed Xcode on the upgraded Lion the installer window (with the progress bar) got stuck on 99% even though Xcode was finished installing. This did not happen on the clean Lion install.

It is true that upgrading the OS should be fine for most people. But due to the complexity of operating systems, there can be problems with the upgrade process. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do a clean install, but obviously the risk of data loss is greater if you don't know what you're doing.

Clean installing an OS is not a "Microsoft thing", it comes down to the fact that any modern operating system is incredibly complex. I imagine a clean install would be easier to code than an upgrade install. I've personally encountered weirdness due to OS upgrades on Linux and Windows. Obviously some people have had problems with OS X too (see above post). I think clean installing the OS is sensible, but not strictly necessary. In the case of Lion, if you clean install from the start, you miss out on it identifying any incompatible software you have installed. Not hard to get around though, just install Lion over the top of Snow Leopard, and if you want to clean install then do it using the recovery partition like it says at the start of this thread 🙂

To those who say that a clean install is rarely if ever necessary on a mac, let me pose my case. My MacBook Pro was working fine under Snow Leopard. As soon as I upgraded to Lion, I've been having random freezes either during sleep or during login that are driving me nuts. Nothing ever works but hard shutdown. I've done hardware test, repaired permissions, Disk Utility disk repair, reset PRAM, reset the SMC, but no problems found and nothing works. I spend half of my time with the computer recovering from freezes and restarting.

At this point, what other option is there than a clean install?

Dessicator wrote:

At this point, what other option is there than a clean install?

You can try a

Restoring OS X 10.5 10.6. 10.7 - simple overwrite OS method

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3358920

See if that clears your issue up, if not you will have to

Restoring OS X - 10.6 "fresh install method"

and update to 10.6.8, then upgrade to Lion again or

Restoring OS X - 10.7 - wipe and install

I've had to have the clean install done on my iMAC after upgrading to lion. After weeks of trying to get many issues resolved, I took it to my local Apple store. The geniuses asked me to purchase a $75 USB stick for them to do a CLEAN install. They could not resolve several issues and then after a day or more it got stuck trying to do the upgrade again. It got stuck in the internet part somewhere where. I did not see the error or problem to describe it well. They mention it was stuck in some loop for downloading the upgrade...?

FYI: My Internet upgrade was refunded so I only paid for the USB Lion.

All in all, stay away from these types of upgrades as a clean install is always the best way to go. My iMac is back and flying as it should be. Never again will I do an upgrade. there is so much untested stuff to go wrong.

You have to laugh at the people in this thread just not listening and making silly comments about why on OS X not needing to do a clean install... One person here said"That might be best practices for Windows but not OS X. So I have never done an erase and install yet for any reason on my Macs. I really hate the term, 'clean' install because it is not clean." but he never said what it is... & "Or Restore from your Time Machine or clone backups." Doo! and the problem is in the TimeM and Clone image.

People are just not listening to what is being said here. Genuien problems with the upgrading of the OS.

The problems, albeit an array of different ones, a sure fix is to clean install Lion. No arguing and no questions about it. Mine was proof of that. If there is another way, the Guniuese couldn't find it. before you question there technical skills, how do you know better than them?

@ Dessicator:: go to Apple.com/xx and buy yourself a USB stick with Lion on it. It is a similar process to doing the clean install off the old DVD. As I found, and I'm sure you will, it will solve alot of problems.

Tmemphis wrote:

. . .

You have to laugh at the people in this thread just not listening and making silly comments about why on OS X not needing to do a clean install...

On the contrary: what most of us have said is similar to my post: There is rarely a reason to do that on OSX.

Kindly slow down and follow your own advice. Note the word rarely. Most folks do just fine with the normal "upgrade" install, likely one reason Apple removed the Erase and Install option, effective with Snow Leopard.

I'm one who has never needed to erase and reinstall everything. There are many, many threads in these forums where folks who thought they had to do that to fix their problems were advised to do other things first. Nearly always, we we able to help them fix the problem with less drastic solutions.

But yes, on occasion, as a last resort, the "nuclear option" may be required.

" Or Restore from your Time Machine or clone backups." Doo! and the problem is in the TimeM and Clone image.

Not necessarily. It depends on when backups were done and when the problem started. In many cases, if a problem started with a "point" upgrade, and reinstalling it from the "combo" update didn't fix it, restoring from an earlier backup usually will.

I think drleper above said it all as it is...

"It is true that upgrading the OS should be fine for most people. Butdue to the complexity of operating systems, there can be problems with theupgrade process. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do a cleaninstall"

Pondini, you possibly "rarely, Nearly always" crack me up 😁

There is nothing wrong with wanting to do a cleaninstall"

I'd agree with that in principle, but most users may not realize that it can be a very large, daunting, time-consuming and error-prone task, depending on the situation.

Some applicaltions ("simple" apps that were just dropped into /Applications) can be copied, but "complex" ones (that came with their own installers) must be reinstalled from the original discs or re-downloaded.

Purchase keys or serial numbers will have to be re-entered.

Data files must be found and copied.

Settings and preferences must be re-entered or the files found and copied.

Needless to say, many users don't have a handy list of their 3rd-party apps; may not have all their original discs or know where to download things from (it may have changed or no longer exist); and may not have a record of each and every serial number; and may have considerable difficulty finding all the data and preference files.

Thus the advice to avoid the "nuclear option" in most circumstances unless and until there's no other choice.

Pondini wrote:

Purchase keys or serial numbers will have to be re-entered.

Data files must be found and copied.

Settings and preferences must be re-entered or the files found and copied.

Needless to say, many users don't have a handy list of their 3rd-party apps; may not have all their original discs or know where to download things from (it may have changed or no longer exist); and may not have a record of each and every serial number; and may have considerable difficulty finding all the data and preference files.

Thus the advice to avoid the "nuclear option" in most circumstances unless and until there's no other choice.

This is correct. It's a completely manual approach, rather time consuming (depending on your setup), and not necessary (most of the time) to get a working system. Computer geeks may prefer it, but it's overkill for the average user. I like it, but wouldn't recommend it unless (a) you know what you are doing, and (b) have the time and inclination to do it.

Pondini wrote:

. . . most users may not realize that it can be a very large, daunting, time-consuming and error-prone task, depending on the situation.

Oh, I hear you man. Believe me, I'm dreading doing a clean install, and wouldn't except as a last resort. Having started with macs back with System 5 or 6, I've had to do it a few times, and know it can take a month or more to fully recover. And it has become worse than it used to be.

So I'm just going to wait a week or so and hope for a miracle.

Dessicator wrote:

. . .

So I'm just going to wait a week or so and hope for a miracle.

Unlikely to help. 😉

The first thing I'd recommend is downloading and installing the 10.7.2 "combo" update, per Installing the ''combo'' update and/or Reinstalling OSX. The chances of that helping aren't great, but it's relatively quick and easy.

If that doesn't help, try reinstalling OSX via the same link (that won't disturb anything else), as also recommended by ds_store. The downside to that is, you have to download Lion again (if you didn't make a Lion Install disc or partition when you upgraded).

After downloading Lion, but before installing it, I'd strongly recommend making an install disc or partition. See Making a Lion Install disc or partition for instructions.

Pondini wrote:

Dessicator wrote:

. . .

So I'm just going to wait a week or so and hope for a miracle.

Unlikely to help. 😉

Maybe this is the miracle I was hoping for:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1469 (MacBook Pro Video Update 1.0)

Oh ye of little faith . . . ;-)

Of course, it did freeze again while logging in after the update restart. Not a good sign. But still there is hope.