iATKOS | United Kingdom

Newbie to OCLP: I'm going to install Sequoia on my mid-2012 MBP, currently running Catalina.

The video tutorial I've watched mentioned that erasing the hard drive and doing a fresh install would give a better experience than opting for the "Install Sequoia" option after booting from the USB installer. They didn't expand on the reasons for this, but I'm inclined to do the same.

However, there are certain files, folders, media libraries (Photos and iTunes Media), Apps, and settings that I would ideally like to retain without setting them up afresh (for example, all my browser settings, Karabiner-Elements settings, Logitech App settings etc).

If I have a Time Machine backup of my current Catalina set up (I might also copy my hard-drive onto a spare HDD too), will it be possible to do the hard-drive erase and clean install, and then get the Catalina Time Machine backup to get the things I want across to the new install?

And as a side note, does this seem the better way of doing it, rather than just going with the "Install Sequoia" option and keeping everything as it is...