Should I do a clean install of Lion?

Abazigal said:

I am currently using a 27' 2.7ghz imac with 8gb ram.

I recently upgraded to Lion, and while I haven't experienced any problems with it thus far, I did notice that my boot and shut-down timings do seem a tad slower. It may be my paranoia, but some programs like ms office do seem a bit more sluggish in opening as well.

As such, I am wondering if there are any benefits to doing a fresh install from a USB, and how I would determine if my imac needs it or not? I am not really very tech-savvy with this sort of thing. Also, I am aware that programs like iphoto won't automatically get reinstalled. Do I need to download them again from app store, and if so, do I need to pay any extra charges?

Would really appreciate if you all could walk me through this. Thanks in advance for your assistance in this matter.

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https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1200359/

In reality, if you do a fresh install you will probably notice a performance boost because you've got no apps installed, but once you've got the Mac back to the way it was with everything re-installed the boost will probably be negligible and not worth the effort.

Remember that Apple designed Lion specifically to be installed in-place.

I have no proof of this of course other than experience with previous OS upgrades, so hey I could be wrong and you'll see a huge boost, but I doubt it!

This is probably the first time I ever NOT done a fresh install as I like the benefit of wiping out all the old junk, so if you do end up doing a fresh install let me know how you get on.

If you don't have an actual problem, I'd say leave well enough alone ...
(i.e. no - don't do a fresh upgrade)

"Clean" installs are wastes of time for most people. And in fact I've seen people get themselves into lots of trouble doing them. It's overkill, and consumes way too much time. You'll notice people saying things like "my computer's slow because it's got lots of old documents so I need a clean install." Sheesh. If you have some special situations, and you really know how to manually install software, and lots of time, then go for it.

If you've got a good backup then it's much better to try the regular install; you can always chuck the whole thing and start anew, but you probably won't have too. I have a very utility-laden 27" iMac and it went beautifully. And you still have to tweak some applications, clear some caches, etc etc no matter what kind of install you have do. And a "clean" install is likely to kill your Time Machine backup, in that you cannot do an incremental update on it; one of the cool new features in Lion is that you can upgrade the system and continue to use your Time Machine backup. I'm not sure it will be able to do that if you erase and install again.

I think you see a dispproportionate number of people doing them here because they think they've got a better idea than Apple's engineers, and some leftover voodoo from days gone by. One of the truly beautiful things about Lion is its speedy and robust installer; you really should do yourself a favor and try it.

Rob

rangen said:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1200359/

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Why do you feel the need to directly point the OP to another thread without even saying a word? How rude...

Abazigal said:

Also, I realised I can't redownload Lion (I had the free upgrade, but in my haste, neglected to make a backup copy before installing).

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Hold down "option" and click on the App store icon, then on the "purchased" option. You can now install lion again, which means you can redownload it.

klamse25 said:

Why do you feel the need to directly point the OP to another thread without even saying a word? How rude...

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Rude?? the other thread seems relevant and chock full of useful information. what more do you need?

ExcelonGT said:

Rude?? the other thread seems relevant and chock full of useful information. what more do you need?

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Seemed logical to me that you posted a thread to the info he needs. Good work.