Comments on: Erase and Install vs Archive and Install

By: Krishna

Krishna — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:09:13 +0000

Hey Julian – thanks for the props! Loving the new MBP and iPod Touch. I’ll write more about them in the next week or so, once I’ve had a chance to play with them more.

By: Julian

Julian — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:38:30 +0000

Man Krishna, you’ve been macin’ it up this week haven’t you? But nice story. Erase and Install is the way to go, although most people may not have the patience. hehe see ya in class

By: Kevlar

Kevlar — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:41:44 +0000

I usually “Erase and Install”, even when I get the hankering to simply re-install for no real reason except to clean out the cruft. I usually make my own back-up, in addition to my Time Machine disk, and subject any restored program or file to a “how often do I use this” requirement, (usually once a month or more) before restoring. Old stuff gets archived to DVDs or a backup drive, and I do make exceptions for digital photos and whatnot.

I also find it helps because I’ll usually learn a lot about the OS and what apps I need since the last re-format, and starting fresh lets me undo the consequences of some applications that aren’t easily removed (such as MacFUSE and Ntfs-3g, or rEFIt), and I can start fresh.

I haven’t done this in probably 5 months now, having found that kind of “sweet spot” where everything is as it should be, and tends to stay that way, no matter what I throw at it.

By: Krishna

Krishna — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:15:13 +0000

I totally forgot about iDefrag. I have that application as well. In the end, wiping the drive probably made the most sense for me, as the MBP will be used by Aarti. Her computer needs are much more modest than mine.

By: qka

qka — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:58:20 +0000

Despite what Apple says, it may be worthwhile to defrag your disk every now and then, especially if you frequently create and then delete large files.

I use iDefrag. Along with defragging files, it can also rearrange them, placing the system files at the top (faster access) part of the disk.

A free alternative is to clone the disk with Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper, delete the original, and then clone back. I use CCC, and looking at the resulting clone with IDefrag, it seems pretty clean.