Format

Sometimes its the best. You start over the relationship with your Mac and this time it will be better.

First thing you should do is to follow a format checklist.

I always think to myself if I'm forgeting something when I'm formatting. To avoid that, here's a nice pretty format checklist with everything a developer (can) backup.

• Documents and Files:
  • ~/Documents
  • ~/Pictures
  • ~/Music
  • ~/Downloads - I usually clean this folder beforehand
  • ~/Dropbox - optional
  • ~/Library/ - I usually backup the whole folder and over time copy settings from it.

• Applications:

  • No need to backup all the applications, just keep a file with the apps you are currently using. Run this bash comand to get a txt with all the apps you have:

    $ ls ~/Applications > ~/Desktop/apps.txt
    

  • If you manage any "legal" software, you might want to backup those patchers. I keep all of those in a folder in Downloads.