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ojm

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 12, 2012
9
0
Hi, I'm a newish mac user currently running OSX ML and I was wondering when OSX is available to the public I want to do a fresh install without losing any of my documents and files that are on my mac now. Any idea on how to do this? Thank you very much
 
Hi, I'm a newish mac user currently running OSX ML and I was wondering when OSX is available to the public I want to do a fresh install without losing any of my documents and files that are on my mac now. Any idea on how to do this? Thank you very much

You can't do a clean install and keep your precious ;) unless you have a backup.
 
Make sure you have a good Time Machine backup and use the Migration Assistant app in the Utilities folder to bring back your documents after you do the clean install.

Make more than one backup to be extra safe.
 
IMO, anytime you keep any of your existing data, it is not a true "clean install".

It is normally not really needed any way. I've updates from 10.6.8, with just about every beta update, incremental update, developer preview, etc... without any significant issues.
 
thanks for everyone who replied, much appreciated !
 
Hi, I'm a newish mac user currently running OSX ML and I was wondering when OSX is available to the public I want to do a fresh install without losing any of my documents and files that are on my mac now. Any idea on how to do this? Thank you very much
In short: a normal OS upgrade installation will retain all your data, apps and preferences. But you should have a backup anyway.
 
Make sure you have a good Time Machine backup and use the Migration Assistant app in the Utilities folder to bring back your documents after you do the clean install.

Make more than one backup to be extra safe.

Using Migration Assistant or Setup Assistant completely eliminates the point of a clean install. When doing what is termed as a clean install on a Mac you should transfer your data back on to the internal hard drive by drag and drop or by using the Time Machine interface if using Time Machine as a backup. Applications should be installed by downloading the installer or installing new from a DVD.
 
Using Migration Assistant or Setup Assistant completely eliminates the point of a clean install. When doing what is termed as a clean install on a Mac you should transfer your data back on to the internal hard drive by drag and drop or by using the Time Machine interface if using Time Machine as a backup. Applications should be installed by downloading the installer or installing new from a DVD.

Not if you only recover documents. You have the option to leave apps off from the migration.
 
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