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macOS High Sierra clean install and restore

I was wanting to know what would be the proper way to completely wipe my MacBook Pro and update to High Sierra and then restore my personal data from my Time Machine backup. I've never done this before and don't what to be up a creek without a paddle if I can't access my date after a clean install.

MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Dec 8, 2017 8:05 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Dec 8, 2017 8:57 PM

EDIT: Accidentally replied to the wrong person. Sorry! This is meant for the thread creator.


Well hello there, welcome to the Apple Support Communities.


Here's a funny story: I went through a whole week long process to do exactly this because I was misinformed on the use of the Time Capsule. I'm going to make sure I write a complete guide for you so you don't have to go through the same pain I did.


Alright, let's start from the beginning.

Step 1:

You're going to want to update to MacOS High Sierra first.

Open the App Store, download MacOS High Sierra, then install.


Step 2:

Create a Time Machine Backup now. This way, it'll be on the latest version of MacOS to prevent any problems regarding OS version.

Open System Preferences, hit Time Machine, and then Backup.

Also , do one more thing. This may help you during the next few steps. Click the Apple logo in the top left, click About This Mac, and click Storage.

User uploaded file

Remember the name of your disk, and if you want you can even keep a record of the amount of storage you've got. Just trust me. The name of my disk is, "Macintosh HD", as seen written next to the image of the disk.


Step 3:

Once you are 100% sure your backup has completed, go ahead and restart your MacBook Pro. As soon as the screen goes pitch-black, hold the keys Command and R at the exact same time until you see an Apple logo on the screen. At that point, you may let go. It may take a little bit to load up. Once the loading has completed, you should see a menu with 4 options. One of the options should allow you to enter Disk Utility.


Step 4:

Now it's time to say goodbye to your precious data until we restore it later. You should see a sidebar. It'll show you the various disks located on your Hard Drive or SSD, as well as the data on outside sources, like an external hard drive, memory card, or flash drive. Here's an image JUST to make sure we're on the same page.

User uploaded file

As you can see, I've only got 1 disk. Whatever your main disk is, whether it be called Macintosh HD, or disk, or whatever you have the name set to, is the disk with all your data. I told you to check the name of that disk in Step 2, so if you had it written down somewhere, you can confirm which disk has all your data on it. Now comes the important part. Erasing the disk. You simply have to click Erase, which is right under where it says Disk Utility at the top of the window. It will ask you a format, but it'll already have an option selected in it. It will also ask you for a name, as it will recreate the disk so that you can use MacOS on it. It's best to keep it as the same name your disk was already named. For the format, I believe it should say APFS, but if not, don't panic, it doesn't really matter. Don't click any other format option, just stick with the one that was there when you clicked Erase. Then just hit OK and erase the disk. Once done, it will recreate the disk. Hit the red dot in the top right corner to close the window once the disk is erased. You'll return to those 4 options again.


Step 5:

Now it's time to re-install MacOS. As listed in that list of options, hit Reinstall MacOS High Sierra, or install a new copy, or whatever it says at the very top. It should run you through a brief and basic setup process, then install the software. This might take quite some time. Once this has been done, you're going to be welcomed by another setup process. You will get to a point where it will ask you to restore from the Time Capsule, transfer data from a PC, or set up as brand new. You can do one of two things:

One: You can restore from Time Capsule right now and get the job done.

Two: You can set up as new, then restore later. This is what I would do, as it would make me feel as if I'm truly clean installing.


From this point on this guide, I'm going to assume you went with option two since if you went with option one, I really wouldn't have anything to tell you. You would just select your backup from the Time Capsule, it would download your data, and you would have all of your data.

Step 6:

So, assuming you went with Option 2, we will now go through re-installing your old data. First, open the App Store and check for any updates. It's best to get them out of the way right away. Once you're done, click Command and Space at the same time to open Spotlight Search. Search for Migration Assistant. Once it pops up, hit enter and it will launch. Alternatively you could just click on it. Now, hit continue, and then you should be greeted with that menu from earlier which asked if you wanted to restore from Time Capsule. You're basically doing that now. You will hit Restore from Time Capsule, choose your computer, choose what your want to restore, and then restore!

This might take a while.

If all goes well, your data should easily be recovered. I know someone else replied and it looked fairly simple. The last time I tried to do this, it was not as simple as a condensed list of 8 actions in one sentence each. I wanted to make sure all people who need a good guide on how to do this are well informed by this thread. If ANYTHING goes wrong, PLEASE DO NOT FEEL AFRAID TO REACH OUT. The more time you waste trying to figure it out, you may as well have someone on the support communities reply in that same time. I made the mistake of waiting a long time to get some help with the issue and so it took me forever to get my data back. Reply if you need anything.

I hope I helped out!

3 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Dec 8, 2017 8:57 PM in response to Kappy

EDIT: Accidentally replied to the wrong person. Sorry! This is meant for the thread creator.


Well hello there, welcome to the Apple Support Communities.


Here's a funny story: I went through a whole week long process to do exactly this because I was misinformed on the use of the Time Capsule. I'm going to make sure I write a complete guide for you so you don't have to go through the same pain I did.


Alright, let's start from the beginning.

Step 1:

You're going to want to update to MacOS High Sierra first.

Open the App Store, download MacOS High Sierra, then install.


Step 2:

Create a Time Machine Backup now. This way, it'll be on the latest version of MacOS to prevent any problems regarding OS version.

Open System Preferences, hit Time Machine, and then Backup.

Also , do one more thing. This may help you during the next few steps. Click the Apple logo in the top left, click About This Mac, and click Storage.

User uploaded file

Remember the name of your disk, and if you want you can even keep a record of the amount of storage you've got. Just trust me. The name of my disk is, "Macintosh HD", as seen written next to the image of the disk.


Step 3:

Once you are 100% sure your backup has completed, go ahead and restart your MacBook Pro. As soon as the screen goes pitch-black, hold the keys Command and R at the exact same time until you see an Apple logo on the screen. At that point, you may let go. It may take a little bit to load up. Once the loading has completed, you should see a menu with 4 options. One of the options should allow you to enter Disk Utility.


Step 4:

Now it's time to say goodbye to your precious data until we restore it later. You should see a sidebar. It'll show you the various disks located on your Hard Drive or SSD, as well as the data on outside sources, like an external hard drive, memory card, or flash drive. Here's an image JUST to make sure we're on the same page.

User uploaded file

As you can see, I've only got 1 disk. Whatever your main disk is, whether it be called Macintosh HD, or disk, or whatever you have the name set to, is the disk with all your data. I told you to check the name of that disk in Step 2, so if you had it written down somewhere, you can confirm which disk has all your data on it. Now comes the important part. Erasing the disk. You simply have to click Erase, which is right under where it says Disk Utility at the top of the window. It will ask you a format, but it'll already have an option selected in it. It will also ask you for a name, as it will recreate the disk so that you can use MacOS on it. It's best to keep it as the same name your disk was already named. For the format, I believe it should say APFS, but if not, don't panic, it doesn't really matter. Don't click any other format option, just stick with the one that was there when you clicked Erase. Then just hit OK and erase the disk. Once done, it will recreate the disk. Hit the red dot in the top right corner to close the window once the disk is erased. You'll return to those 4 options again.


Step 5:

Now it's time to re-install MacOS. As listed in that list of options, hit Reinstall MacOS High Sierra, or install a new copy, or whatever it says at the very top. It should run you through a brief and basic setup process, then install the software. This might take quite some time. Once this has been done, you're going to be welcomed by another setup process. You will get to a point where it will ask you to restore from the Time Capsule, transfer data from a PC, or set up as brand new. You can do one of two things:

One: You can restore from Time Capsule right now and get the job done.

Two: You can set up as new, then restore later. This is what I would do, as it would make me feel as if I'm truly clean installing.


From this point on this guide, I'm going to assume you went with option two since if you went with option one, I really wouldn't have anything to tell you. You would just select your backup from the Time Capsule, it would download your data, and you would have all of your data.

Step 6:

So, assuming you went with Option 2, we will now go through re-installing your old data. First, open the App Store and check for any updates. It's best to get them out of the way right away. Once you're done, click Command and Space at the same time to open Spotlight Search. Search for Migration Assistant. Once it pops up, hit enter and it will launch. Alternatively you could just click on it. Now, hit continue, and then you should be greeted with that menu from earlier which asked if you wanted to restore from Time Capsule. You're basically doing that now. You will hit Restore from Time Capsule, choose your computer, choose what your want to restore, and then restore!

This might take a while.

If all goes well, your data should easily be recovered. I know someone else replied and it looked fairly simple. The last time I tried to do this, it was not as simple as a condensed list of 8 actions in one sentence each. I wanted to make sure all people who need a good guide on how to do this are well informed by this thread. If ANYTHING goes wrong, PLEASE DO NOT FEEL AFRAID TO REACH OUT. The more time you waste trying to figure it out, you may as well have someone on the support communities reply in that same time. I made the mistake of waiting a long time to get some help with the issue and so it took me forever to get my data back. Reply if you need anything.

I hope I helped out!

Dec 8, 2017 8:20 PM in response to ldurch

If you have a Mid-2011 or later model then do this:


Clean Install of El Capitan or Later on a Clean Disk


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command-Option-Rkeys until a globe appears.
  2. The Utility Menu will appear in from 5-20 minutes. Be patient.
  3. Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
  4. When Disk Utility loads select the drive (usually, the out-dented entry) from the side list.
  5. Click on the Erase tab in Disk Utility's main window. A panel will drop down.
  6. Set the partition scheme to GUID.
  7. Set the Format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
  8. Click on the Apply button, then click on the Done button when it activates.
  9. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  10. Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.


Jan 1, 2018 9:15 AM in response to Brazilian.Waffle

Hi Brazilian.Waffle and Hello to everyone,

I have tried all that you enumerated above and still my Imac won't restore. I even try to erase the Macintosh HD and it wont erase. It came up with the message that " it could not unmount because disk is in use"

Nothing seems to work... Command +R... Diagnostic internet start-up etc nothing.

All this started when I tried to install High sierra from El-capitan. I was able to download it from the App store but the installation has consistently failed. Unfortunately I did not back-up to a time machine and now I cant even restore as it kept going back to the failed installation and stopping there.

Please help!! I have not been able to work for weeks now!

Many thanks

macOS High Sierra clean install and restore

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