Clean install - not migrating

[golfgirlgolf]

I'm moving to a new 2019 machine and am doing the clean install approach vs migrating. This should clear a lot of clutter and things potentially slowing the system down.

OSX installs all the default programs - but I have a ton of others in my existing iMac. Not sure how many can be as easy as drag copy (from backup/clone external HDD) - or I need to run new installations on each? Is there any way to tell?

I was thinking of just drag copying the entire current applications folder into a new sub folder in new iMac's applications root folder - and then moving them out of that one - one at a time - to the applications root directory - only if I use them again. Make sense?

 

[Fishrrman]

Smaller apps can usually just be "moved" by copying. They're pretty much "self-contained", in that they don't rely on other "support files" that are installed in locations other than the applications folder.

Some "larger" apps (think MIcrosoft, Adobe, etc.) install many components to many different locations. If you try to move ONLY the app itself (into the applications folder), it's probably not going to run.

In this case, you probably have to completely "re-install" them using the installer apps they came with. But then you'll have to re-register them again, as well.