11-13-2011, 12:30 PM

I have MBP that is 5 years old with lots of partitions, apps, etc..

Lion install has produced really weak performance and several people have told me "clean install" the LION in order eliminate possible source of problems being "messy" drive, etc.

So I really need to know how to do clean install of Lion over Lion...

Concerned that I can't (or shouldn't) restore to clean install from the clone backup of the current lion installation. don't know if I should downgrade back to Snow Leopard and then clone that and do clean Lion install?

Not sure how to proceed at all and have searched for "Lion over Lion" feedback everywhere and just can't get reliable info or process.

THANKS in advance! I'm obviously only journeyman skill level so lay-level explanations are much appreciated.

11-13-2011, 03:53 PM

A clean install is just that after formatting and wiping the hard drive. You can download Lion again from the App Store by going in, holding down Option and hitting Purchases and then the Lion icon. Use the search to find out how to burn Lion to a USB thumb drive, boot from that and go into Utilities > Disk Utilities and Run Erase, partition GUID, and start re-install.

With the external connected use Migration Assistant to transfer folders, Applications, Network Settings across. Cloning and re-installing that may well take the problems with it. Clean install has been found to work better with the laptop models.

11-13-2011, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by maxcanoe

Lion install has produced really weak performance and several people have told me "clean install" the LION in order eliminate possible source of problems being "messy" drive, etc.

Personal experience has shown me that a clean install of Lion is much faster than an upgrade. If you are experiencing performance issues, I would have to agree with what you've heard.

Remember to back up your personal data first.

11-14-2011, 10:19 AM

thanks for these answers. I certainly have backups and thumb drive already prep'd with bootable lion disk

where might i find more detailed info on exactly which folders (network settings, app's, etc) that are beyond just my data folders that i should bring over...or more on point, what should I be aware NOT to migrate over?

Also, where does "migration assistant" live? disk util's? thanks again for the info!

11-14-2011, 04:11 PM

Migration Assistant resides in the Utilities Folder.

After wiping the drive and installing Lion, connect an external drive and run Migration Assistant. You get the option of what you wish to transfer over.

11-14-2011, 04:17 PM

thanks for that. last thing in my mind is what to EXCLUDE from a migration. is the main idea to do as many fresh application installs as possible? anything else to think about??

I will obviously leave any system type files out. is migrating of browser profiles a potential problem? is it your opinion that simply exporting bookmarks to files and then reimporting into clean browser install the best process? what other browser migration tips and other application migration tips might be good practice?

for us mid-skilled users this type of info is really helpful. thanks again!

11-16-2011, 11:15 AM

article below does good description of migration strategy I think....so I amended this thread for benefit of others. Hope its helpful to others.

Manually Migrating to a new Mac - Matt Legend Gemmell