Will you be clean installing Lion?

Okay, so we know that this Snow Leopard requirement is a relative one, given that the InstallESD.dmg file in the package we download from the App Store can simply be put on a DVD or flash drive and installed cleanly onto a bare hard drive from there. Or such is my understanding.

I've always tried to keep things "clean" across larger software updates, so I'm just wondering if anyone else is planning on doing a clean install even though an in-place upgrade as intended through the App Store would probably be perfectly fine functionally. Maybe I should just forget it and install Lion over my current 10.6.8 install?

 

I always do a clean install and never an upgrade. Reason being is I just have a lot of old files lying around and I want the "best" experience so I just install onto an empty drive. I will say this, I'm running the GM and upon doing the install Apple gives 3 install options. Restore from Time Machine Backup for when you want to restore select files. Install Lion onto an Empty drive (it's called Reinstall Lion) which lets you choose which drive you want to install it on. The 3rd option to upgrade to Lion from Snow Leopard. Lastly there's an option to take you to Disk Utility to do a full reformat so you install Lion to an empty drive. I will still create a DVD from the InstallESD.dmg but that's only for a backup. You don't need it for a clean install upon downloading Lion.

I'm excited for next week.

 

I always do the same... I do a clean install, then use Migration Assistant to get all my Apps and settings and such from Time Machine. Its pretty much just like an upgrade, but always seems to be a bit cleaner and less problematic.... but not quite as clean as doing a clean install and then manually reinstalling all your stuff and setting it how you want.

 

I will probably do things Apple's way (ie just upgrade) and see how they go from there. I would always do a clean install with Windows but under OS X, I don't really feel the need to.

 

I usually perform a clean install, and have done some quite often for various reasons. However, the Lion release was very simple and everything works the same in Lion as it did in SL. Only thing was I was not updated on Adium and a simple download fixed that. Most apps have been prepared for the Lion release and so far no issues have creeped up on doing an "upgrade".

 

so... apple does give the disk image to us? I likely justdo an upgrade. but would like to keep the image of Lion as a backup incase of disk failure etc.

 

Well, sort of. The installer that we'll apparently be downloading from the App Store has the .dmg for Lion inside of it. Just have to right-click > Show Package Contents to get to it, afaik.

 

I have heard mixed messages regarding Lion's ability to perform a clean install (at least the version of Lion that consumers will be downloading from the App Store). One website published "e-mail" from "Steve Jobs" saying that we won't be able to perform a clean install with our download of Lion and that we would have to revert back to our Snow Leopard disc if we wanted to do so (and then upgrade to Lion).

These types of e-mails have been published before and were not really from Jobs himself (the infamous "you're holding it wrong" e-mail comes to mind) but rather faked just so websites could get hits and garner advertising revenue. I guess we will know in <20 days when Lion is released. I guess I would perform a clean install if I could just boot from the Lion disc (that I burned) and go from there. I don't know, I haven't had any experience upgrading from one version of OS X to another so I don't know how smooth the process goes. I know that things are completely different under Windows and performing a clean install is always the best option when upgrading the OS.

 

You will probably need to burn it onto a disc/move the image to an external hard drive in order to do a clean install. I have no idea how you can do a clean install on the same hard-drive that all the installation files are on.

 

My understanding from various posts on MacRumors and the like is that it is pretty straightforward -- just have to extract that .dmg and either burn a boot DVD with it, or format a USB drive as GUID boot with HFS+ for a filesystem and use that.

 

Can someone summarize how to cleanly install Lion?

 

Right, I understand that. You can't completely erase and reformat a partition using a utility located on the partition that you want to erase and reformat.

From what I have read, that is not the way it is going to work. Apple wants current Mac owners to use their Snow Leopard disc to perform a clean install and then upgrade to Lion. As I said, those e-mails could be completely wrong and we won't truly know anything until Lion actually comes out. I hope you are right though. This wouldn't be the first time that "leaked e-mails" were incorrect or when something on MacRumors was wrong (whether it was a news or forum post).

 

Same here. With Windows I've tried upgrading once, never again (Win 2K to Win XP, ended up with windows 95 instead performance-wise )

Since using OS X I've upgraded from Tiger to Leopard to Snow Leopard without any issues. So I'll try an upgrade to Lion now, and if needed -or if I ever find the time and will to do so- I'll do a clean install.

 

I think the thing is that those e-mails are supposed to be from Steve himself, who of course would mention the supported, "official" way to get Lion -- as an installer from the App Store, which requires a recent Snow Leopard build anyway.

Doesn't mean that there's a technical limitation to keep the actual Lion image from installing onto a fresh hard drive.

 

out of curiosity now... how are machines that ship with Lion supposed to get it back if a disk crashes? does apple have a plan for that?

 

Restore from the USB stick of course.

 

Yes they do.

 

i never did a clean install in like 4 years. Its working rather perfect.
I just have too much stuff and i am not sure how to sort it if i decide to go clean.

 

+1 Its been a long time and there must be a trail of old file crumbs...

 

I'm going to clean install for sure, I find things always go more smoothly that way. I've been running the same install since I got my '2010 MBP in September.

 

Yep, just follow this (From TUAW), I've tried it for DP3, 4 and GM and it works perfectly:

Mac OS X Lion will debut in July, and this handy set of instructions from Egg Freckles will let you create a boot disc for installation. OS X Lion will be distributed via the Mac App Store, and you can download the installer files to your hard drive. Once you have the installer files, follow these steps to create your very own boot disc:

1. Use Finder to locate the Mac OS X Lion installer, right-click and select "Show Package Contents."

2. Find the SharedSupport folder and look for a file named "InstallESD.dmg." This is the Lion Boot Disc image.

3. Copy the "InstallESD.dmg" file to another folder, such as your desktop.

4. Launch Disk Utility and click the burn button.

5. Select the "InstallESD.dmg" copy as the image to burn, insert a DVD, and in a few minutes, you will have a brand new Lion Boot Disc.

 

Lion has rescue Partition by default - and it has option to install Lion from there or to repair it.

 

which is great if your hard drive is still working and available.. if it died, or otherwise isn't available... it would stink to have to install Snow Leopard again then have to do an upgrade. Maybe booting from the Snow Leopard disc would still let you do a Time Machine restore of Lion... but no idea for sure.

 

I hate when PC manufacturers do this now. Typically I swap out the drive whenever I get a new laptop whether PC or Mac with an SSD and it would suck to have no install media.

 

I hate having a rescue partition as well especially now that I use Time Machine with my external USB hard drive (whose sole purpose is Time Machine). My 16GB netbook came with an 8GB rescue partition. I had to boot off of one of my Windows XP discs to delete it and reformat my system. My nettop with a 160GB hard drive also has an 8GB restore partition. Again, I had to boot off of a Windows 7 disc to delete the partition and reformat the system (it came with too much crapware like my netbook).

Hopefully Apple gives us the option to remove the partition and assimilate it into the primary partition (I have Windows installed) as I don't need to have any backup data stored on my already small 350GB OS X partition.

 

Im looking to just upgrade. Cant be bother to re-do all my settings etc.

If I did decide to go clean, could I use migration assistant to copy files and settings across from my SuperDuper image, which is on an external FireWire800 drive??

 

What settings do you want to copy? I ended up copying setting from my core 2 duo and my fan would start up on high speed at boot up etc so I just took copied the applications the next time around when I reset it.

 

After installing the GM, and discovering that 10.7 still doesn't support TRIM natively for 3rd-party SSD drives, I'm not in such a rush. Considering all the random login 'freezes' I was having, I'll probably purchase it at launch, but not install till a few updates come out.

From my tinkering, it seems that Lion doesn't always create a recovery partition. The first initial upgrade install I did created the partition, however subsequent clean installs, where I partitioned the drive after booting from a USB flash drive, did not.

 

Considering the fact that Lion is available for download only when purchasing what would be the point in you purchasing at launch and not installing it? It's not like there will be a limited amount available for download and the price isn't going up after a certain time. Just purchase it when you're ready to install it, otherwise it makes no sense.

 

Because I want to? Because I can? I don't recall asking for advice or opinions.

Honestly, why must you always seem as though you're on some sort of offensive?

 

I think they asked the question because they were curious, I didn't see anything in their post coming off as being negative or as if they were on the "offensive" about this. They asked a pretty legitimate question and then followed up with "Just purchase it when you're ready to install it, otherwise it makes no sense" and I pretty much agree with that. The only real reason to wait would be the discovery of some bug in Lion that Apple is able to patch with later downloads. Given the extensive amount of testing time for Lion, I doubt there will be very many launch bugs of that magnitude.

Even then the copy that you paid and downloaded will only be patched after the fact, you won't have a copy of the new updated version (though, if Lion is treated like other apps, you will be able to update the installer over time for free). Either way, I don't see the logic in buying something, downloading it, and then waiting a few weeks/months before installing it. Simply saying "because I want to and because I can" are not valid reasons. You don't have to get on the defensive here and fire back with lowbrow remarks.

 

It was simple question. Calm yourself. This is an open discussion forum and if you're going to post publicly you should expect responses, nobody needs your permission to offer an opinion. You're actually on the defensive and you're being overly dramatic. Noobs.