Clean Install Of Mavericks.

[SOLLERBOY]

Hi, I really want to do a clean install of Mavericks, this is for a few reasons.

1. I have purchased a Creative Cloud subscription and need to remove all the rubbish Adobe has installed. I now use app cleaner but before that I would just bin the app so there are some rogue files.

2 My late 2012 iMac has been getting noticeable slower.

3. I need to change my username/ home folder name. This one was made a few years ago when I got my first mac and is annoying me a bit.

My question is : Is the only way to clean install to create a bootable USB and transfer just the data ( I want to re install apps manually) from either time machine or copy them to a usb 3 external and copy them back?

Thanks.

 

[maflynn]

I would think if you boot into the recovery partition and then reformat the drive, you can install OS X cleanly that way.

Restoring a backup of course will undo the clean install, so you will need to reinstall your apps manually.

 

[robgendreau]

A "clean install" isn't really an Apple thing. Usually people who wanna do that really want to reformat and install system software all over again on the now blank drive. Then you use Setup or Migration assistants to transfer over stuff. Setup ass't runs first after you boot up your "new" Mac, and will create a user even if you don't migrate right then. You can sort of finesse the creation of a new user name and ID that way; if you create a user after the installation it will probably be 501, then migration will create 502, etc. The Pondini site has some info on doing that.

And BTW, just copying applications will work with some, but certainly not with more complex stuff, like Adobe applications. Even some fairly simple ones will be unhappy. Ditto for simply copying from TM; it's meant to restore. And if you've changed user names and/or IDs your permissions will get all out of whack.

I like using a Mavericks installer on a thumbdrive if your recovery partition isn't up to it.