Clean install of Yosmite

[dcs.79c]

I currently have Mavericks on both my mini & laptop. I frequently see the spinning beach ball & I frequently have to force quit applications. I want to nuke the hard drive & do a clean install of Yosemite.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that I have 3 choices for doing a clean install of Yosemite.

1) Delete the primary partition & the recovery partition & recreate them & do a clean install of Yosemite.

2) Erase both the recovery partition & the primary partition & do a clean install of Yosemite.

3) Erase only the primary partition & do a clean install of Yosemite.

I don't want to do the first option. It is too radical.

If I choose the second option, what happens to the recovery partition? Does it remain empty or does the installer fill it?

If I choose the third option does Mavericks remain in the recovery partition & Yosemite in the primary partition?

 

[pigoo3]

You didn't list the most obvious option. Just download Yosemite, double click the installer...and let the installer do the rest. There's no need to do any sort of erasing or deleting.

Also...assuming you are talking about installing a pre-release version of Yosemite. Why not wait until Yosemite is officially released? Then you will have a much more stable install.

Finally. I seriously doubt that your current install of Mavericks is the problem. The problem is probably something else. Worst case senario...reinstall Mavericks.

- Nick

 

[dcs.79c]

You didn't list the most obvious option. Just download Yosemite, double click the installer...and let the installer do the rest. There's no need to do any sort of erasing or deleting.

Would the Yosemite installer erase the partition?

Also...assuming you are talking about installing a pre-release version of Yosemite. Why not wait until Yosemite is officially released? Then you will have a much more stable install.

I plan to wait until the official release of Yosemite.

Finally. I seriously doubt that your current install of Mavericks is the problem. The problem is probably something else. Worst case scenario...reinstall Mavericks.

You're are probably right. I'm a Mac newbie. I'll have to learn how to do a clean install because hard drives will eventually fail. When a new hard drive is installed, does one use internet recovery to download OS X or does one boot from a flash drive?

 

[harryb2448]

Depends if one has a flash drive with the operating system on it. Personally always go this way and doing an erase and install. Then backup from latest SuperDuper clone, which is updated each week at least. You never told us what model Macs, how much free space on the hard drives and how much memory in each?

 

[dcs.79c]

Depends if one has a flash drive with the operating system on it. Personally always go this way and doing an erase and install. Then backup from latest SuperDuper clone, which is updated each week at least. You never told us what model Macs, how much free space on the hard drives and how much memory in each?

My mini is late 2012 with 16 GB of RAM & 441.32 GB free on a 500 GB drive.

My MacBook Pro is late 2012 with 4 GB of RAM & about the same amount of free space on the hard drive.

I have a 16 GB flash drive that I can use with Diskmaker to put Yosemite on.

 

[johnodd4]

it's kinda hard to do with yosemite let me explain.

in mavericks you could just right click the installer select show package contents open contents then open shared support then open the installesd.dmg and then use disk utility to restore it to a thumb stick however on yosemite right now you can't do that at all it just won't work the new installesd in yosemite is not a bootable installer hopefully they will fix this before launch

 

[chas_m]

My MacBook Pro is late 2012 with 4 GB of RAM & about the same amount of free space on the hard drive.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!! That is waaaay too little free space to be operating in! You are in imminent danger of losing data! You need to clear another 15-20GB off that drive RIGHT NOW.

Second thing: I'm running Yosemite on my machine, which is the same model as yours. I was miserable running Yosemite in 4GB of RAM. Eight GB would be the dead minimum for smoothly running Yosemite on that machine, I just put in 16GB and it made a huge difference!

 

[Slydude]

in mavericks you could just right click the installer select show package contents open contents then open shared support then open the installesd.dmg and then use disk utility to restore it to a thumb stick

Why jump through those hoops when you can create the install disk by running that process when the download has finished? IIn other words, at the point you are asked to continue the installation the file you need is on the drive and can be used with ought having to muck with package contents.

realize people sometimes forget to do this and the file gets deleted. Mucking with package contents can be a huge pain if you mess something up.

 

[Jima1]

Yosemite

Would the Yosemite installer erase the partition?


I plan to wait until the official release of Yosemite.


You're are probably right. I'm a Mac newbie. I'll have to learn how to do a clean install because hard drives will eventually fail. When a new hard drive is installed, does one use internet recovery to download OS X or does one boot from a flash drive?

You are very wise. Being a Mac user since 1992, I'm a beta tester for Apple and several other Mac software developers. When I beta test any Mac software, I do so from an external drive using Carbon Copy Cloner.

In my opinion in beta, Yosemite is not fit for purpose. I 'm currently beta testing the latest version of Mavericks OS X 10.9.5 which will be released via AppStore in next week or so

Unless, you're an experienced Mac user, I don't advise downloading beta updates unless you do so to an external drive.

Jim
England UK.
15'MacBook Pro late 2011 on OS X 10.9.5
13" Macbook Pro early 2010 on OS X 10.9.4
Mini iPad late 2013 on iOS 7.2
20" G4 iMac late 2001 on OS X 10.4.11

 

[dcs.79c]

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!! That is waaaay too little free space to be operating in! You are in imminent danger of losing data! You need to clear another 15-20GB off that drive RIGHT NOW.

Second thing: I'm running Yosemite on my machine, which is the same model as yours. I was miserable running Yosemite in 4GB of RAM. Eight GB would be the dead minimum for smoothly running Yosemite on that machine, I just put in 16GB and it made a huge difference!

Let me rephrase that!
I should have written "My MacBook Pro is late 2012 with 4 GB of RAM & about the same amount of free space on the hard drive as on my mini which is about 440 GB."
Sorry about that!
My mini came with 4 GB of RAM & I bought 16 GB of RAM from Crucial.com. It was easy to install. My MacBook Pro came with & still has 4 GB of RAM. I want to upgrade the RAM to 16 GB as well.
I'm a Mac newbie. I don't want to fool with Terminal commands. I want to keep it simple. You know, Yosemite installer for dummies! I hope that Diskmaker X is compatible with Yosemite.

 

[chas_m]

Thanks for clearing that up! Yes, I'd strongly recommend maxing out the RAM on that unit to 16GB. It is super-easy to do as long as you have a little plastic spudger and follow the directions on iFixit. The only other tool you need is a standard #00 Phillips screwdriver.

As for Yosemite, my advice is to just forget about it until it comes out. In fact, I'd forget about it until version 10.10.1 or 10.10.2 comes out. Mavericks is awesome, and will be way more awesome with the proper amount of RAM in there (I have 8GB on my Mavericks machine and it is lovely). Beta testing is for people who know the system super-well so they can discover and report bugs.

 

[dcs.79c]

This morning I reset the administrator password. I went to System Preferences, clicked on "iCloud", clicked on "Sign Out", put in the new password &, miracle of miracles, I was able to sign out of iCloud!

Now every time that I log on, I'm nagged for a lot of passwords. I went from bad to worse. Can I disable Keychain?

After I reset the administrator password, a window about Keychain popped up. It gave me 3 choices - continue login, update keychain & reset Keychain. The first time, I chose to update keychain & a lot of password windows popped up. I clicked cancel on every one of them. I restarted the computer & chose reset keychain & a lot of password windows popped up. I haven't tried continue login. It looks like my only choice is to nuke the hard drive & start over. I want to keep it simple. What is Keychain used for? Can it be disabled?

 

[Jima1]

Thanks for clearing that up! Yes, I'd strongly recommend maxing out the RAM on that unit to 16GB. It is super-easy to do as long as you have a little plastic spudger and follow the directions on iFixit. The only other tool you need is a standard #00 Phillips screwdriver.

As for Yosemite, my advice is to just forget about it until it comes out. In fact, I'd forget about it until version 10.10.1 or 10.10.2 comes out. Mavericks is awesome, and will be way more awesome with the proper amount of RAM in there (I have 8GB on my Mavericks machine and it is lovely). Beta testing is for people who know the system super-well so they can discover and report bugs.

I totally agree. Yosemite in beta is rather boring and adds little to Mavericks, except 5 applications I have won't work in Yosemite.

Mavericks in 10.9.4 (and 10.9.5 beta) is as you say superb. The only good thing I can say about Yosemite is that it proved to Apple that intermittent graphics problems in 10.9.4 be came permanent with beta Yosemite, and I had a new logic board fitted under AppleCare which expires on my MacBook Pro in October 2014, thank God I didn't have to pay, just collected by courier returned to Apple authorised service provider who also on my instructions upped the 2 x 4GB RAM to 2 x 8GB for under £100 inc of VAT. I know how to change RAM, being a Mac user since 1992, but I'm 73 years of age have chronic arthritis in my fingers, plus MS which causes hand tremor.

I'm not sure if forum members are aware, but to date Apple has had over 500,000 complaints about graphics in MacBook Pro's built early 2011. They ( Apple) are still dithering over whether to do a recall of MacBook Pro's built in early 2011.

If your early 2011 MacBook Pro is affected by graphic problems, i.e. lines on screen, colour bleed etc, I'd advise you to call Apple in your country even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty, including AppleCare Warranty.

Here in the UK, Apple have treated me very well since I had my old LCIII with 2 MB Ram, and a 160 MB Hard Drive.

Kind regards to all,

Jim
England, UK.

 

[dcs.79c]

When I do a clean install of Yosemite, do I have to enable iCloud & do I have to enable Keychain? I hope that both are optional. I know that Keychain is a password manager, but I find it confusing & it keeps nagging me for passwords. If I have a choice, I'd like to try life without iCloud AND Keychain.

 

[Jima1]

Yosemite.

Hi,

Since Yosemite hasn't had a public release, you must be a beta tester ? I've been using Macs since 1992, and beta test for Apple and other developers. It caused so many problems to my 15" MacBook Pro, I reverted back to Mavericks which has now been upgraded to OS X 10.9.5

There are more senior members that agree, for example chas_m who states in an earlier post

"As for Yosemite, my advice is to just forget about it until it comes out. In fact, I'd forget about it until version 10.10.1 or 10.10.2 comes out. Mavericks is awesome, and will be way more awesome with the proper amount of RAM in there (I have 8GB on my Mavericks machine and it is lovely). Beta testing is for people who know the system super-well so they can discover and report bugs."

My advice would be to downgrade back to Mavericks since with respect, you don't appear to have in-depth knowledge of Mac OS X. I certainly don't although I've had 22 years experience of using Macs. I've talked to senior Apple technicians who advised me to leave it alone, as if a Mac is in warranty or still under AppleCare, they are unable to provide tech support for beta versions of the Mac operating system.

Whatever you decide - good luck

FWIW.

Jim
England, UK.

 

[dtravis7]

I really do not understand what the poster above was saying that you can not at present make a bootable Yosemite install Flash Drive as I just did it the other night.

How to make a bootable OS X 10.10 Yosemite install drive | Macworld

 

[dcs.79c]

Hi,

Since Yosemite hasn't had a public release, you must be a beta tester ? I've been using Macs since 1992, and beta test for Apple and other developers. It caused so many problems to my 15" MacBook Pro, I reverted back to Mavericks which has now been upgraded to OS X 10.9.5

There are more senior members that agree, for example chas_m who states in an earlier post

"As for Yosemite, my advice is to just forget about it until it comes out. In fact, I'd forget about it until version 10.10.1 or 10.10.2 comes out. Mavericks is awesome, and will be way more awesome with the proper amount of RAM in there (I have 8GB on my Mavericks machine and it is lovely). Beta testing is for people who know the system super-well so they can discover and report bugs."

My advice would be to downgrade back to Mavericks since with respect, you don't appear to have in-depth knowledge of Mac OS X. I certainly don't although I've had 22 years experience of using Macs. I've talked to senior Apple technicians who advised me to leave it alone, as if a Mac is in warranty or still under AppleCare, they are unable to provide tech support for beta versions of the Mac operating system.

Whatever you decide - good luck

FWIW.

Jim
England, UK.

I'm not a beta tester. I'm a Mac newbie. I plan to wait until Yosemite comes out next month.

So, back to my questions.
When I do a clean install of Yosemite, do I have to enable iCloud & do I have to enable Keychain? I hope that both are optional. I know that Keychain is a password manager, but I find it confusing & it keeps nagging me for passwords. If I have a choice, I'd like to try life without iCloud AND Keychain.

 

[Jima1]

I'm not a beta tester. I'm a Mac newbie. I plan to wait until Yosemite comes out next month.

So, back to my questions.
When I do a clean install of Yosemite, do I have to enable iCloud & do I have to enable Keychain? I hope that both are optional. I know that Keychain is a password manager, but I find it confusing & it keeps nagging me for passwords. If I have a choice, I'd like to try life without iCloud AND Keychain.

Hi,

If you're a Mac newbie, then as I and others have said, I'd leave Yosemite until it's a official Apple release.. If you're not a beta tester how did you acquire Yosemite ? Here in the UK it's only available legally for approved beta testers

If you're intent on using Yosemite, see the post from dravis7 on doing a clean install onto a USB stick.

Good luck

Jim

 

[Slydude]

I think we are missing something important here. This question isn't about the Yosemite beta. It's about whether the final release of Yosemite sill be able to install without enabling/activating Keychain or iCloud.

You should be able to complete the installation without activating iCloud and I think without Keychain as well. The problem is, particularly in the case of iCloud, some features depend upon it to function well. My suspicion is that there is a setting or corrupted file somewhere causing the behavior described in the original post. Solving that issue will allow more complete access to all features in either Mavericks or Yosemite.

 

[chscag]

The syncing feature for contacts, calendars, documents, and so forth, will not be available without activating iCloud. And not activating Keychain will just mean more work and less security.

But I agree with "Slydude" that you will probably not have to activate either one.