do you periodically format your macbooks?

[silk186]

I typically format my windows machine once every 1-2 years. I formated recently to windows 10 and when I do an upgrade I will likely format again to retail win10 if it's out by then.

My fiance has a 2013 macbook air. Is it benificial to format it every few years to keep things running smoothly? I don't like working on it but I make sure it is up-to-date, keep her connected to the shared folders on my computer (she only has 256GB SSD for storage). I've been thinking if it is worth it to do a fresh install or if it isn't worth the trouble.

 

[Brian_B]

I've never seen the benefit on OS X as far as performance goes. Then again, I stopped seeing the benefit on Windows largely after XP SP2. But it can reclaim some disk space, that much I will admit - as OSes accumulate a lot of junk files over the years that seem to just get forgotten in place.

For my Macbooks, I'm still mostly using the same restore I created on my first laptop, a new TiPBG4 - with the only "formats" being where I actually got a new computer and transferred over (again, largely using Apple tools - Target Disk Mode early on, and more recently Time Machine restores).

I did kind of reformat an iMac once - because I replaced the HDD with an SSD.

 

[Elledan]

I just moved from a mid-2012 MBP to a current (early-2015) MBP (both 13"). The former had been constantly in use since early 2013, receiving all OS updates including Yosemite's. After switching to the new MBP with Yosemite freshly preinstalled, I can definitely say that I appreciate having a fresh OS X system. Upgrades really just aren't as clean as a fresh install.

That said, I do use my MacBook Pros pretty heavily (they're my work laptops), with a lot of development work, VMs and what not, so I'm probably not your typical Mac user

 

[Archer1212]

For performance reasons I have never had to wipe my mac.

 

[munkle]

I do it on major os updates just because I personally have no reason not to. I do the same with windows. It's probably not necessary for either windows or osx now days, but I just like the warm fuzzy feelings I get knowing I have a clean fresh install.

 

[UnknownSouljer]

Unix based OS's don't have a registry and don't "benefit" from clean installs for performance reasons. Unless you have some issue, it's generally not necessary to format.

 

[silk186]

good to know, saves me the trouble.

 

[brentsg]

The occasional permissions repair, and properly removing old apps that I don't use.. that's it for me.

 

[voklskier4452]

I will occasionally do a reinstall in order to get a clean slate as far as programs go.

 

[mope54]

You can get a clean slate without reformatting as long as you understand UNIX file structure.

More most cases, though, you can get a clean slate or one very close to clean, by simply removing the app from the Applications folder and/or re-installing the latest combo update over your live install.

If all that fails you can simply move your user folder to a new installation, but by then I'd be looking in those user folders for the source of the issue.

 

[Liver]

You can get a clean slate without reformatting as long as you understand UNIX file structure.

More most cases, though, you can get a clean slate or one very close to clean, by simply removing the app from the Applications folder and/or re-installing the latest combo update over your live install.

If all that fails you can simply move your user folder to a new installation, but by then I'd be looking in those user folders for the source of the issue.

What if you don't understand UNIX. Can you elaborate for me? I'm a user, not a guru. I'd like to perform a very close to clean install. I've not done one since 2005.

 

[mope54]

use this app
http://www.freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

then you can manually open terminal (hold command+space, type "terminal")
then check for any leftovers by (commands you can cut/paste into terminal):
cd /Library/Application\ Support
cd /Library/LaunchAgents
cd /Library/LaunchDaemons

cd /user/[Liver]/Application\ Support

finally look for any hidden files/folders in your user directory
cd /user[Liver]
ls -lah

you can remove any items you find with
rm [name of file]
rm -r [name of folder]

or you can open a finder window with
open .

 

[Liver]

Will do! Thanks.

 

[ozziegn]

Ive had my 27" iMac and I have never had to reformat the hard drive. Of course I've updated the OS with newer versions but I've never had to reformat.

That's the beauty of owning a Mac. they work, period.....

 

[Sprayingmango]

I would like to know how to secure erase the PCI-e SSD in the new MBPs. I have a 2013 Retina 13" MBP i would like to secure erase.

 

[mope54]

I would like to know how to secure erase the PCI-e SSD in the new MBPs. I have a 2013 Retina 13" MBP i would like to secure erase.

Turn the macbook off
hold command+R while you turn it on
keep holding command+R until it starts to boot into recovery mode
Inside recovery mode select Disk Utility
Inside Disk Utility select the partition to erase
Click on Erase, Security Options.

 

[swatbat]

I have the mid 2012 macbook pro(i7, usb 3, etc). I've had to format it to fix issues 2 times. The second time I swapped the drive to an ssd instead.

I had some really weird power issues that no one could figure out the second time(no matter what you set the power settings too it would hibernate and it pissed me off).