Wiping Snow Leopard & Reinstalling

F

franco265


Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hi everyone,

I've been having real major performance issues with my MBP running snow leopard. Long story short, took it to the Apple Store and after various checks, they said the best thing to do would be to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Snow Leopard. They offered to do it, but I didn't have a full backup, so I decided to do it myself.

Have since made a bootable copy of my hard drive on an external drive using Super Duper. BUT I'm not sure what is the best thing to do next...

Could anyone advise as to the best process from here on in.. e.g. should I just now erase my hard drive using disk utility?

And once erased, do I need to use the Snow Leopard disks and reinstall snow leopard and then use Super Duper to put back all my files?

Or can I just use Super Duper to put everything back once my hard drive is erased?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just a little lost as to the next steps as I'm much more used to PCs...

Many Thanks

Franco
 
chscag

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Normally we do not recommend wiping a drive and reinstalling because of performance issues. I don't know what the Apple store folks found out about your machine when they checked it out but if you wish to wipe it and start over.....

First, if you install the SuperDuper clone to your hard drive all you'll do is copy everything as it was before. If you were having software issues of any kind, you'll have them again. I would recommend not using the SuperDuper clone but keep it handy just in case.

The first thing you should do is boot your machine with your Snow Leopard DVD and run Disk Utility from the DVD. Do a verify and repair on the hard drive to see if it has any errors. If the drive is OK, reboot back to Snow Leopard the normal way and make a Time Machine backup of all your data. Do not exclude anything.

After making the TM backup, boot your machine once more with your Snow Leopard DVD and erase the hard drive. Format it as HFS+ Journaled, GUID scheme. Install Snow Leopard. If everything is OK, restore your data with the Time Machine backup you made.
 
OP
F

franco265


Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks so much for this, I will give it a go. Re the Apple Store they did some diagnostic checks on it, which took quite a while - I was there for nearly an hour, but they said the machine itself was ok...

Interestingly, they didn't like the fact that I had a popular piece of performance improvement software on my machine (won't name names in case that causes any issues here), but I was very surprised they didn't advocate it and suggested it could be contributing to performance issues. I also had an antivirus which they didn't like too.

They tried to remove the performance software, but it didn't go brilliantly, so they suggested wiping the machine and starting over but not putting those two pieces of software back.

Thanks again for your help and advice - I'll give it a go now.

Best

Franco

chscag said:
Normally we do not recommend wiping a drive and reinstalling because of performance issues. I don't know what the Apple store folks found out about your machine when they checked it out but if you wish to wipe it and start over.....

First, if you install the SuperDuper clone to your hard drive all you'll do is copy everything as it was before. If you were having software issues of any kind, you'll have them again. I would recommend not using the SuperDuper clone but keep it handy just in case.

The first thing you should do is boot your machine with your Snow Leopard DVD and run Disk Utility from the DVD. Do a verify and repair on the hard drive to see if it has any errors. If the drive is OK, reboot back to Snow Leopard the normal way and make a Time Machine backup of all your data. Do not exclude anything.

After making the TM backup, boot your machine once more with your Snow Leopard DVD and erase the hard drive. Format it as HFS+ Journaled, GUID scheme. Install Snow Leopard. If everything is OK, restore your data with the Time Machine backup you made.
Click to expand...
 
bobtomay

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
The majority of the long timers here would also recommend you not put those 2 pieces of software back on the machine. I would recommend uninstalling both of them properly to see if they are causing your issues &/or setting up a test user account where those apps are not running.

Since you've had this machine for several years, it could also be a matter of the free space on your drive being heavily fragmented - this will cause slow downs which can be taken care of by using either iDefrag or a reinstall per chscag's recommendation.
 
OP
F

franco265


Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks very much for the advice, I definitely won't be putting those back onto the machine. I have followed chscag's advice (made a backup in Time Machine, wiped the hard drive and reinstalled snow leopard).

I realise this may sound silly, but I don't know how to put all my files back from the time machine backup. Do I use the Migration Assistant??

If anyone can help tonight, I would love to set this in motion before I go to bed, so it can try to put them back overnight.

Thanks so much for reading.

Franco


bobtomay said:
The majority of the long timers here would also recommend you not put those 2 pieces of software back on the machine. I would recommend uninstalling both of them properly to see if they are causing your issues &/or setting up a test user account where those apps are not running.

Since you've had this machine for several years, it could also be a matter of the free space on your drive being heavily fragmented - this will cause slow downs which can be taken care of by using either iDefrag or a reinstall per chscag's recommendation.
Click to expand...
 
OP
F

franco265


Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks again for your help. I just left another post as I am confused as to how to put all my files back from the Time Machine Backup - do I use the Migration Assistant?

Thanks

Franco


chscag said:
Normally we do not recommend wiping a drive and reinstalling because of performance issues. I don't know what the Apple store folks found out about your machine when they checked it out but if you wish to wipe it and start over.....

First, if you install the SuperDuper clone to your hard drive all you'll do is copy everything as it was before. If you were having software issues of any kind, you'll have them again. I would recommend not using the SuperDuper clone but keep it handy just in case.

The first thing you should do is boot your machine with your Snow Leopard DVD and run Disk Utility from the DVD. Do a verify and repair on the hard drive to see if it has any errors. If the drive is OK, reboot back to Snow Leopard the normal way and make a Time Machine backup of all your data. Do not exclude anything.

After making the TM backup, boot your machine once more with your Snow Leopard DVD and erase the hard drive. Format it as HFS+ Journaled, GUID scheme. Install Snow Leopard. If everything is OK, restore your data with the Time Machine backup you made.
Click to expand...
 
harryb2448

harryb2448


Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
If TM was attached when you did the format and install you shoulad have been asked at then if you wanted to migrate. If that did not happen, open Migrate Assistant in Utilities and proceed. Make sure your AV and what ever this 'magic' software was, sounds like that cursed MacKeeper, are not on your TM backup or you will be starting all over again.....
 
OP
F

franco265


Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks for your reply harryb.... Aaaarrggghhhh at the time I made the Time Machine Backup, those pieces of software were installed)... The backup took hours to complete (USB2). Is there anyway to still use the backup I have made??? (without putting back those bits of software!)

Any tips for me?

Thanks

Franco


harryb2448 said:
If TM was attached when you did the format and install you shoulad have been asked at then if you wanted to migrate. If that did not happen, open Migrate Assistant in Utilities and proceed. Make sure your AV and what ever this 'magic' software was, sounds like that cursed MacKeeper, are not on your TM backup or you will be starting all over again.....
Click to expand...
 
OP
F

franco265


Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
No idea if this is the right way to go but I used the migration assistant and excluded my applications from the migration process but left everything else ticked....

Is that a bad idea???

I was hoping the only downside would be that I have to put back all the program's manually??

Any other potential issues?

Thanks

Franco

harryb2448 said:
If TM was attached when you did the format and install you shoulad have been asked at then if you wanted to migrate. If that did not happen, open Migrate Assistant in Utilities and proceed. Make sure your AV and what ever this 'magic' software was, sounds like that cursed MacKeeper, are not on your TM backup or you will be starting all over again.....
Click to expand...
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top