First fresh install, need help.

[lJoSquaredl]

I've had my rMBP for over a year now, and I feel it could use a fresh install. It came with Mountain Lion, and now i've upgraded to Mavericks. Does anyone know where the proper directions for this process are located? I think I have to install to a USB stick for the fresh install and complete wipe, but how does that work if the computer came with Mountain Lion, and isn't the Mavericks download on the app store only an upgrade version? Or do I somehow reinstall Mountain Lion and then just reupgrade to Mavericks from the app store? Honestly just really confused on what to do, if anyone know how to do this properly i'd be very grateful.

 

[vmachiel]

I've had my rMBP for over a year now, and I feel it could use a fresh install. It came with Mountain Lion, and now i've upgraded to Mavericks. Does anyone know where the proper directions for this process are located? I think I have to install to a USB stick for the fresh install and complete wipe, but how does that work if the computer came with Mountain Lion, and isn't the Mavericks download on the app store only an upgrade version? Or do I somehow reinstall Mountain Lion and then just reupgrade to Mavericks from the app store? Honestly just really confused on what to do, if anyone know how to do this properly i'd be very grateful.

You can clean install Mavericks. My Mac came with Snow Leopard, but I clean installed Mountain Lion at some point. Make sure all data is back up of course. Between Lifehacker's guide on how to make a bootable USB (what you need to clean install), and OSXDaily's guide on how to do the install, I think all will work out.

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-create-an-os-x-mavericks-usb-installation-drive-1450280026

http://osxdaily.com/2013/10/26/clean-install-os-x-mavericks/

 

[Weaselboy]

I've had my rMBP for over a year now, and I feel it could use a fresh install. It came with Mountain Lion, and now i've upgraded to Mavericks. Does anyone know where the proper directions for this process are located? I think I have to install to a USB stick for the fresh install and complete wipe, but how does that work if the computer came with Mountain Lion, and isn't the Mavericks download on the app store only an upgrade version? Or do I somehow reinstall Mountain Lion and then just reupgrade to Mavericks from the app store? Honestly just really confused on what to do, if anyone know how to do this properly i'd be very grateful.

You don't need to make a USB key. Since you already have Mavericks on there, you can just command-r boot to the Mavericks recovery partition. You will get this screen.

Just start Disk Utility and erase Macintosh HD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then quit Disk Util. Now click reinstall OS X at the top there and the ~5GB OS will download and install. This will give you a clean install with nothing but the OS on there.

 

[lJoSquaredl]

You don't need to make a USB key. Since you already have Mavericks on there, you can just command-r boot to the Mavericks recovery partition. You will get this screen.

Just start Disk Utility and erase Macintosh HD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then quit Disk Util. Now click reinstall OS X at the top there and the ~5GB OS will download and install. This will give you a clean install with nothing but the OS on there.

Thank you. I did this method (altho I did put the Mavericks install on a USB just to be safe) and everything went well. Didn't realize how much stuff I had customized/setup tho, been taking forever to get all files/settings back in order