[vharris528]

Okay, this os is based on unix and unix is supposed to take care in not causing disk fragmentation. So why do I keep reading on this forum that a clean install will improve system performance???

[superlarry]

because an update install might not clean up all the stuff it should (like 3rd-party additions) and that could mess up operations in the future. also it'll give you a clean set of preferences - bad preference files can be a really big problem, and if anyone here is having problems specific to certain apps i'd recommend trashing/backing up their preferences for that app and trying again.
~/Library/Preferences/
and
~/Library/Application Support/

[suthercd]

I second what superlarry said. I have done both many times and a clean install is always better...faster...the System always performs better. I make all all kinds of promises that I have learned to keep about not installing a lot of third party apps. I now have a mouse driver, and that's it for thrird party pref panes. A package for loading mysql, FrontBase for WEbObjects and in /Library/StartupItems. Bells and whistle are interesting, but they all take some cycles and affect performance.

I have a good back-up/archive strategy that I've devloped over time because I get developer seeds and have to re-install frequently. Clean install start to finish with 95% of apps and functions restores takes about 3 hours.


Craig

[Dale Sorel]

I did an Archive and Install and have had ZERO problems. If you keep up with maintenance on your computer (DiskWarrior and Cocktail), you shouldn't have any problems with an A and I