High Sierra Clean Install

How to do a High Sierra clean install

Sometimes the iMac behaves a little bit strange. I wonder if I should do a nuke and pave install of the latest operating system. When I got this new iMac I used that Apple facility to copy everything across from the old one. It’s quick, it’s easy and pretty painless. I did think when the new OS came along shortly after getting my new iMac I would do the High Sierra clean install. Then when the time came I just did an install over the top. I went for the quick and easy rather than the long and good way of doing an operating system upgrade. The good thing about having a clean install is that it really does make it feel like a completely new computer. When you add a lot of applications to your computer you are adding in extra complications and settings. There’s a possibility things will slow down on your computer over time which is why it’s good to do a proper spring clean in High Sierra clean install from time to time. Depending upon your computer usage it could be every new major update to an operating system or it could be just every other one.

High Sierra clean install

Sorting through the Apps

Before starting the High Sierra clean install, I’ve started going through some of the applications in the applications folder to see if I can do some pruning before I get started. I also need to go through the list of applications and identify which ones are not from the Mac App Store. Anything from the Mac App Store I can download without any problems whatsoever and without the need for messing with program serial codes. I do have some applications bought directly from the developer and with these I need to make sure I have the serial numbers available. I do tend to be quite fastidious in making sure that I record all serials in 1Password at the time of installing the new software. Even so, it’s always good to to a double check and make sure everything is going to be waiting for me when I start reinstalling all of my applications.

I do have a backup of my main computer hard drive. I think before I take the jump with the High Sierra clean install I will make a second backup of the drive. There is a possibility I might need to buy a new hard drive to use for this purpose. It’s always good to have lots of backups. If you only have got one back up, then it’s just the same as not having any backup at all. If your one backup doesn’t work then you are completely and truly stuffed! All part of the planning to have multiple backups.

The bits and pieces to remember

I’ll have to make sure I have a copy of all of the certificates for security. It’ll be necessary to do a separate backup of things like GPG Keychain. I don’t want to lose the automations created in Keyboard Maestro so those will have to be kept safe too. Then you have the TextExpander snippets to put into a safe place in case they get lost during the update of the operating system. I still worry I have forgotten something with this High Sierra clean install.

Setting up the Photo Library

My photo library is on an external drive so I only need to reconnect that after I’ve got everything freshly set up. My Dropbox drive location needs to be noted. I have already moved my bitcoin to make it impossible for me to lose any money during the operating system upgrade. Not losing any money is vitally important! When we get to the other side of the upgrade process we want to be happy that everything is working properly and that he should be. It is going to take some time to get the job done. Some applications will need to be reinstalled and it won’t be just a case of copying the application into the applications folder. It’s all quite time-consuming, but I think it’s well worth it in the end. I will be able to take full advantage of the new iMac bought in June and if there is any weird behaviour then I’ll have to blame something else.

One thought on “High Sierra Clean Install

  1. DavidAllenWizardgold says:

    Just put in the order for the Hard drive to use as a second back up of the system disk on the iMac. Have to wait a couple of days now to use it with Super Duper to make a clone of the main disk.

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