My Tiger installation quessys!

john_satc said:

First, I want to do a clean install of Tiger on my iBook (about 3 months old) what do i need to do before installing - like repair permisssions etc.

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If you want to do a truly clean install, in the Windows world sense, where you format / erase the HD, then *nothing*. What's the point in repairing the permissions of files you're about to delete? When you install, you'll be booting off the cd anyway, so any issues with those files will not impact your install. You will get the options of how you want to erase the drive, etc, when you boot off the Tiger CD.

Second, can you but external hard drives from the Apple Store (plan to get one on the 29th when Bull Ring store opens)

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I don't remember seeing any in the Apple stores I've been to, but not sure.

Third, what should I do once I have installed Tiger? Such as repair permissions etc ??

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I guess you could. Definitely do it, though, after you've re-installed your additional software.

john_satc said:

Second, can you but external hard drives from the Apple Store (plan to get one on the 29th when Bull Ring store opens)

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Yeah. They have LaCie and Maxtor ones in Regent St at least.

Nice I might phone up and try and get student discount. I am nearly 18 and go to a sixth form college , do they think students under the age of 18 are rich or something?

Clean install = waste of time, IMO.

As for repairing permissions, maybe Tiger will have fixed that problem. Nah, never mind.

My local apple store carries a few external HDs. However I HIGHLY recommend doing some shopping around online. Chances are you'll find the same HDs for considerably less money. For the most part Apple stores are not the cheapest when it comes to 3rd party hardware. Be aware that you student discount doesn't apply to non-apple products!

john_satc said:

Just bug them until they agree. i told them i go to 6th form and he still woudlnt let me. i said i spoke to someone y'day who said i could get it for the edu. price (which is true) and he came back and said fine you can have it at that price.

thanks for everyones help in answering my questions! cheers!

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all u need to do is flash your NUS card , thats what i do....

Question pt. 2

Perhaps a bit off topic, but I also had an installation question--
I recently bought a new powerbook (after having my last one stolen ) and ended up with the new iLife suite as a part of the Panther install DVD. Am I going to be able to do a clean install of Tiger and then install the iLife suite off of my Panther installer without any problems?

-Kush

Good question, I think my iLife is on panther as well - i got an iMac G5.

I did an upgrade from 10.3.9 and didn't have any problem whatsoever. No permission errors, all my Ilife application runs smoothly.

You can buy external HDs at the apple store. When I got mine about a year ago, their prices weren't that bad. If you include shipping from the online stores, the prices were only a few dollars difference. It might be different now, though. You can compare prices from other places at the store since they have free internet there. I'v done this a few times.

Kushiro said:

Perhaps a bit off topic, but I also had an installation question--
I recently bought a new powerbook (after having my last one stolen ) and ended up with the new iLife suite as a part of the Panther install DVD. Am I going to be able to do a clean install of Tiger and then install the iLife suite off of my Panther installer without any problems?

-Kush

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you shouldnt have any problems. Now are you talking about formatting. If so once you install tiger you will need to put in the second disc that came with your computer, the one that says extra applications or something and use that to install just ilife.
hope that helps.

Riot_Mac said:

you shouldnt have any problems. Now are you talking about formatting. If so once you install tiger you will need to put in the second disc that came with your computer, the one that says extra applications or something and use that to install just ilife.
hope that helps.

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My powerbook came with two disks, one for OS X and one for OS 9, so to install iLife I will need to install it off of the OS X installer.

I assume that it will allow me to install programs from within the disk without doing a full install, but I am afraid that it might think I am trying to install Panther over Tiger and either say 'no way!' or only allow a full install of Panther.

I'm off to check the installer now.

In a pinch, I'll just do the limited install that saves everything on the disk (I did read that option right, right?), but I would prefer to do a wipe/clean install, if possible.

-Kush

Edit--A quick check of the install disk suggests that it souldn't be a problem. If you don't beet from it, it offers a 'install bundled software' option where you can decide what to install. Hopefully Tiger won't have a problem with it.

-Kush

IJ Reilly said:

Clean install = waste of time, IMO.

As for repairing permissions, maybe Tiger will have fixed that problem. Nah, never mind.

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Clean install is NOT a waste of time when you're going to a totally new OS. You just wait and see how many people start bitching and complaining about how buggy their system is after the installation of Tiger. 8 out of 10 will say they just did an upgrade and install. You usually end up doing a clean install in the end anyways.

Mac OS X.3 and OS X.4 takes 30 minutes max to install. My iMac G5 only takes 15 minutes to install Mac OS X.3.8. So its not like Windows where you spend an hour or so formatting, and installing the OS. Its a great time to do it. You weed out all of the old junk files that aren't needed anymore, such as old preference files. You'll have a complete clean system with only the stuff needed to run the OS and OS X apps. It only takes just a small change in an OS file to screw something up big time for you. Then of course you blame Apple when its really the users fault.

mklos said:

Then of course you blame Apple when its really the users fault.

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Face it...if no one's system got b0rk'd, MR wouldn't be nearly as much fun as it is.

I agree, though, that there's value in clean install...good excuse to learn more about OS X's structure, while we're at it!

Speaking of which...importing libraries over to a new account...

1. iTunes - copy the library into the music dir and set the directory in prefs. Check
2. iPhoto - copy the library over to the Pictures folder, maybe with a name other than the default, run iPhoto for the first time with no library and it will prompt you to locate yours. Check.
3. iCal - Calendar .icf files are in ~/library/calendars. Check.
4. Mail.app - should basically be able to copy the mail folder over, re-import mailboxes using the import tool. It seemed like you have to do it twice, once choosing the mail folder to get the inboxes, and once choosing the mailboxes folder in the mail folder, to get the On My Mac stuff. But seems ok. Might be a case where copying a couple of plist files over would be advised? Semi-check.
5. Address Book...hmmm.... Do you just export everything to a single VCF by highlighting all contacts, or what's the best way to do this?

mkrishnan said:

Face it...if no one's system got b0rk'd, MR wouldn't be nearly as much fun as it is.

I agree, though, that there's value in clean install...good excuse to learn more about OS X's structure, while we're at it!

Speaking of which...importing libraries over to a new account...

1. iTunes - copy the library into the music dir and set the directory in prefs. Check
2. iPhoto - copy the library over to the Pictures folder, maybe with a name other than the default, run iPhoto for the first time with no library and it will prompt you to locate yours. Check.
3. iCal - Calendar .icf files are in ~/library/calendars. Check.
4. Mail.app - should basically be able to copy the mail folder over, re-import mailboxes using the import tool. It seemed like you have to do it twice, once choosing the mail folder to get the inboxes, and once choosing the mailboxes folder in the mail folder, to get the On My Mac stuff. But seems ok. Might be a case where copying a couple of plist files over would be advised? Semi-check.
5. Address Book...hmmm.... Do you just export everything to a single VCF by highlighting all contacts, or what's the best way to do this?

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I wouldn't see any problems with transferring things like your Documents, Music,Photos, Movies folder over. As far as the Mail folder goes, well I'd just import the mail boxes over and let Mail 2.0 retrain for the Junk Mail folder just to be safe.
For the Address Book do a back up database (if you're using Panther), and then when you install Tiger, do a revert to database backup and that will put your addresses back into the new Address Book in Tiger. If you're using Jaguar, you may not get away with this so you might want to do an Export vCards and put them in a folder. Then do an Import and select v-Cards.

Be careful with importing in preferences and things like that from an older OS X to Tiger. Its the little things like these that makes for a smooth transition from an old OS to a new one.

mklos said:

For the Address Book do a back up database (if you're using Panther), and then when you install Tiger, do a revert to database backup and that will put your addresses back into the new Address Book in Tiger.

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Thanks! Somehow, having noticed the import and export options, I never realized there were backup and revert options below them in the list!

mkrishnan said:

Thanks! Somehow, having noticed the import and export options, I never realized there were backup and revert options below them in the list!

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You may just want to do an export v-Card as a general back up to keep. This will allow you to import your addresses into anything that accepts v-Cards on any OS.

i take it you are in the uk. if you want an external hdd - get it from jigsaw24.com they are one of the cheapest online that i have found and were pretty friendly when i had probs with my shipping address. oh and it came really quick