If an old OSX works for most general purposes there isn’t a need to upgrade immediately and you can always wait and decide later if upgrading is right for you. And for those fearing upgrading – it’s usually not a bug issue, but more of a will your computer’s hardware keep up with the new system demands / performance consideration.
Just wanted to share that for some people, this might be a good reason to try a clean install. Read on the web that a clean install might be a possible solution so here I am. I couldn’t quite figure out if it’s a particular application x OSX combo that’s causing it or what not… spent a few weeks not using various apps trying to isolate the issue but no pattern. Ever since installing Yosemite my computer has been crashing a few times a day. Yosemite was the first time something seemed to be amiss. I’ve upgraded OSX several times without any issues. I can’t get in to create any backups or reinstalls. Logging in as a guest worked at first (though still very slow) but now that has the same never ending wheel spinning going on. I’ve booted in safe mode and still can’t access my account as it doesn’t get passed the ‘thinking about it’ stage.
I felt like throwing the Mac out of the window! Next thing to go was my ability to open safari followed by my ability to do anything at all on my log in / account. It got to a point where clicking on ANYTHING was resulting in a 5-10 minute wait watching the wheel. This wasn’t something I’d really experienced before. but then it started to run slower and slower with the lovely wheel spinning for longer and longer. I’d hesitated for months because of the bad experiences people were having, but a website I need to use now only works properly with Yosemite so I went for it. I upgraded to Yosemite on my Mac at the end of April.
Remember, no data will be on the volume aside from the fresh Yosemite installation, so it’s up to the user to re-install necessary apps, adjust preferences, and most importantly, recover or transfer over again their important documents and files. When installation has complete, the Mac will reboot into OS X Yosemite and go through the normal new setup process. Nonetheless, the Yosemite installation may appear stuck, but it’s probably not, and waiting it out is usually the right choice. Because the drive was formatted first, no existing operating system will be updated, and no other contents on the drive will be brought over.Īs covered in a separate article, installing the newest version of OS X can take quite a while, though clean installs are generally faster than upgrades. OS X Yosemite will install a completely clean slate version of itself on the blank destination drive, giving the user a fresh start. Click through the Terms of Service and basics, and select the freshly formatted “Macintosh HD” or “Yosemite HD” drive to set as the destination for the fresh install of OS X.Now from the “OS X Utilities” menu, select “Install OS X”.When the drive has finished formatting, quit Disk Utility to return to the OS X Utilities menu.Choose the Format type as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”, name the drive something obvious (like Macintosh HD or Yosemite HD), and then choose “Erase” – this will format the drive / partition and all contents on it.Choose the hard drive (or partition) from the left side menu which is the destination for the clean Yosemite install, then choose the “Erase” tab.When the “OS X Utilities” screen appears, choose “Disk Utility”.During boot down the OPTION key until a boot selection menu appears, choose “Install OS X Yosemite” as the drive to boot (this is the USB installer).
Attach the OS X Yosemite bootable installer drive to the Mac, then reboot as normal.Back up the Mac with Time Machine or by manually copying your most important data to an external drive – never skip backing up your important data.
How to Perform a Fresh Installation of OS X Yosemite on a Mac Be sure you have your important files backed up before attempting this. Important: A clean install of OS X Yosemite requires formatting the Mac hard drive, meaning all contents on the disk will be removed and erased.
If you haven’t made one of these yet, do that first An OS X Yosemite bootable installer drive – usually this is a USB disk but it can be whatever so long as the drive is bootable, the installer by itself is insufficient unless you’re fresh installing onto a different partition or volume.A Mac which can run OS X Yosemite – in terms of system requirements, the machines which support Yosemite are the same as that which can run Mavericks.The requirements for fresh installs are fairly straightforward: For those who are interested in performing a clean install on their Mac, which basically makes OS X Yosemite appear as if it was brand new, without any settings, preferences, apps, or anything else carried over from before, we’ll cover the process thoroughly in this walkthrough.