New Seagate Momentus XT: clean install or restore from time machine?

[rex3]

I just got my new Seagate Momentus XT, which is going into a late 2007 MBP. I got it because I'm running out of hard drive space and wanted a performance boost. My question is: should I just restore from Time Machine, or would I get a bigger performance boost with a clean install of 10.6, and reinstalling only the apps I currently use?

I know back when I used XP a clean install was a big perfomance boost itself, but with a mac, is it necessary or worth the hassle?

Thanks!

 

[iLog.Genius]

If you don't mind the hassle, I would do a fresh install and then reinstall the applications you use. I know some will say there shouldn't/wouldn't be a difference, but I like to have a clean install rather than dragging files over from an old installation.

 

[macagain]

I just restored from time machine

I just got my new Seagate Momentus XT, which is going into a late 2007 MBP. I got it because I'm running out of hard drive space and wanted a performance boost. My question is: should I just restore from Time Machine, or would I get a bigger performance boost with a clean install of 10.6, and reinstalling only the apps I currently use?

I know back when I used XP a clean install was a big perfomance boost itself, but with a mac, is it necessary or worth the hassle?

Thanks!

I just got done installing by restoring from time machine. *Everything* moved over just the way it was. Including mysql which was installed in /usr/local... which was a pleasant surprise.

Boot time to logon screen went from about 1:05 down to about 0:38. Time to spinning wheel stayed about the same - about 0:22, which is I guess the hardware, efi, etc. starting up. Which means spinning wheel, which I guess is the os actually booting, went from 43s down to 15s... nice!

The last time I got a new mac, i used migration assistant (which is the same thing restore from time machine goes through) to transfer from old machine to new machine. About a month after that, I did a clean install and reinstalled everything from scratch. Frankly, I did not notice any performance diff between the two methods.

Apple seems to do a really good job with migration and upgrades. (Unlike windoze where I *always* do clean installs and reinstall everything)

good luck.

 

[DoFoT9]

i say just restore from TM - if nothing was wrong with the other HDD then whats the harm?

post some benchies

 

[okkarl]

Re-install Snow Leopard

I was told by Apple Tech that if I did a reinstallation of Snow Leopard that I would have to restore files from my Time Machine backup. I did the re-install, but all my files were already there. Did I not do a full install? I just put disc in and followed the prompts. It took about an hour. Even my desk top settings returned. I didn't have to do anything with my backed up files. What gives?

 

[Brammy]

The defualt install for SL is Archive and Restore, which keeps all your files intact -- assuming, of course, that you had a previous install already.

 

[Philflow]

I always do clean install. It's best for performance.

 

[rex450se]

I have this drive in my 2011 13" and am loving it. Super quick boot times, quiet, bigger than the stock 320 and a little quicker on read write speeds. I don't know what version of firmware the drive is running but I believe mine came with SD23. I upgraded to SD25 and haven't had any issues. I have heard of some issues with SD26,SD24 and SD23. I have heard of some with SD25 but not nearly as many. So you may want to check to see which firmware your drive is running, just a heads up. But like I said, I am loving mine.

Victor

If your unsure of how to check firmware version. Go to the Apple logo at the top left and click "About this Mac". Then click Serial-ATA on the left column and choose the Chipset for the hard drive. One will be for the hard drive and the other for the disc drive. When you choose the correct one look at the Revision number. You may already know all this but I was just preventing a how do I check post and then a follow up post with this info.