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rMBP with Lion -> 1st steps to ML, need advice please!

M

maximus72

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
3
0
Hi guys,
I need your advice as it is my 1st Mac:D.

I ordered a 2.3/16/256 rMBP, it will arrive tomorrow (waited incredible 1 month). It will be shipped with Lion. I have also a TC 4G for the backup. Here comes my question.

After downloading ML from the App store:
1. should I make a backup of the new MacBook with Lion before upgrading to ML?
2. 1st backup via Ethernet or WLAN?
3. should I install ML from a USB-disk (clean install)?
4. should I only install ML directly because the Lion-system is already clean?
Any other important information on this issue?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Dominic
 
You should always back up your system. You'll need an external drive either hooked up to ethernet, i.e., a NAS or more likely USB or thunderbolt.
 
Just download ML and click install.
Everything will be all right.
Jesus...:rolleyes:
 
maximus72 said:
Hi guys,
I need your advice as it is my 1st Mac:D.

I ordered a 2.3/16/256 rMBP, it will arrive tomorrow (waited incredible 1 month). It will be shipped with Lion. I have also a TC 4G for the backup. Here comes my question.

After downloading ML from the App store:
1. should I make a backup of the new MacBook with Lion before upgrading to ML?
2. 1st backup via Ethernet or WLAN?
3. should I install ML from a USB-disk (clean install)?
4. should I only install ML directly because the Lion-system is already clean?
Any other important information on this issue?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Dominic
Click to expand...
Install ML before you start using the Macbook and restoring your backups - as it's still brand new, there is frankly nothing to backup.
 
Personally whilst it's new I'd go with a clean install of ML.

You can install mountain lion once you've bought/got your download code it from the Mac App Store. Make sure Mountain Lion is in your purchased history in the store.

Then shutdown your Mac and restart using cmd + R. You'll see a recovery menu pop-up, from this select disk utility and then delete the main partition on the hard drive. Once complete, go back to the main recovery screen. From here you can install OS X it will ask you for your Mac App Store credentials, once you've entered it would promptly download the ML installation files and install.

Straight forward stuff.
 
Last edited:
The only reason I can think of to first create a Time Machine backup, then upgrade to Mountain Lion is to have a way to revert to Lion. Otherwise, if you wanted to go back to Lion, you would need to fine someone else with a Lion install volume. I don't think you can still download Lion from Apple's servers.

It's really not an issue though. I have upgraded my rMBP to ML and I don't see anything to worry about.

I did start using and backing up my machine before ML came out. I might reinitialize my Time Machine volume and start over - just to make things cleaner and save 5? GB in the TM drive.
 
Mac Rules said:
Personally whilst it's new I'd go with a clean install of ML.

You can install mountain lion once you've bought/got your download code it from the Mac App Store. Make sure Mountain Lion is in your purchased history in the store.

Then shutdown your Mac and restart using cmd + R. You'll see a recovery menu pop-up, from this select disk utility and then delete the main partition on the hard drive. Once complete, go back to the main recovery screen. From here you can install OS X it will ask you for your Mac App Store credentials, once you've entered it would promptly download the ML installation files and install.

Straight forward stuff.
Click to expand...
If I've saved the ML install file on an external hard drive and then delete my main partition as described above, will clicking on the file in the external hard drive allow me to do a clean install of ML? When I upgraded to ML I wasn't given the typical options (to do a clean install or just install over the existing OS) and so I'm wondering whether the free version I downloaded from the App Store was an upgrade version only or whether it would also allow me to do the clean install.
 
No need to backup but you will have to restore iLife '11 somehow because a clean Mountain Lion install from a USB drive will not install iLife.
 
One thing that is very important that you must do before you install ML on your computer is to log into the app store and accept the iLife apps (iPhoto, iMovie, etc..) if you don't do this before installing ML then they will not be there when you log back into the app store and you'll have to call Apple to try to get it fixed. As long as you accept them before hand you'll be able to download any time you want.
 
RMSko said:
If I've saved the ML install file on an external hard drive and then delete my main partition as described above, will clicking on the file in the external hard drive allow me to do a clean install of ML? When I upgraded to ML I wasn't given the typical options (to do a clean install or just install over the existing OS) and so I'm wondering whether the free version I downloaded from the App Store was an upgrade version only or whether it would also allow me to do the clean install.
Click to expand...
If you have Lion, have not yet upgraded to ML, and have an 8GB USB flash drive (USB 3.0 is best), this is what you want to do:By doing this, you will have a USB flash drive that can reinstall ML:

  • Basically, this gives you an easy way of installing ML. (Once you've made this, you should follow the normal upgrade procedure to get ML. This flash drive just gives you an easy way of reinstalling ML later if you ever need to do that.)

  • By using this flash drive, you don't have to wait another hour or more to re-download ML, as everything's on the drive. (Normally, if you want to reinstall ML, you have to re-download everything.)

  • This flash drive can supposedly be used to upgrade your other Macs to ML; unlike other backup procedures, this drive is supposedly not tied to the original Mac. No more waiting for long downloads. (Note: this assumes that you have licenses for ML for the other Macs.)
 
TLewis said:
If you have Lion, have not yet upgraded to ML, and have an 8GB USB flash drive (USB 3.0 is best), this is what you want to do:By doing this, you will have a USB flash drive that can reinstall ML:

  • Basically, this gives you an easy way of installing ML. (Once you've made this, you should follow the normal upgrade procedure to get ML. This flash drive just gives you an easy way of reinstalling ML later if you ever need to do that.)

  • By using this flash drive, you don't have to wait another hour or more to re-download ML, as everything's on the drive. (Normally, if you want to reinstall ML, you have to re-download everything.)

  • This flash drive can supposedly be used to upgrade your other Macs to ML; unlike other backup procedures, this drive is supposedly not tied to the original Mac. No more waiting for long downloads. (Note: this assumes that you have licenses for ML for the other Macs.)
Click to expand...
I assume this is only necessary if you want to do a clean install and NOT for an upgrade, right? When I upgraded I didn't have to do any of this. I have two new Mac laptops and rather than wait to download ML on each machine, all I did was copy the "Install OS X Mountain Lion" file from my applications folder to an external hard drive and then copied that file to the desktop of my second Mac. I then clicked the file and it installed. It seemed to install perfectly. Anyone see any issues with what I did?
 
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