New User question: How to upgrade to Tiger?....

Joeytpg said:

ok, i'm a new mac user (3 months) and i really don't know how to make the switch from panther to Tiger.........how should i do this when Tiger comes out?....should i install Tiger over Panther...or is there such thing as "uninstall Panther" ???

can someone address me on this matter......'cause i'm interested in purchasing Tiger when it comes out.



Another thing: Is it reliable to upgrade to the first TIGER??? or should i wait a little bit after its release?

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Its an interesting question for me as well. I haven't been through an OS upgrade. I think they have an install/upgrade option which just upgrades your system and replaces the previous OS....but then I have heard its best to do a clean install... Wonder whats best and how to do a clean install using my external HDD to keep my accounts etc...

Beuller?

Joeytpg said:

ok, i'm a new mac user (3 months) and i really don't know how to make the switch from panther to Tiger.........how should i do this when Tiger comes out?....should i install Tiger over Panther...or is there such thing as "uninstall Panther" ???

can someone address me on this matter......'cause i'm interested in purchasing Tiger when it comes out.



Another thing: Is it reliable to upgrade to the first TIGER??? or should i wait a little bit after its release?

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Just install Tiger over your existing OS after it is officially released. If you install a prerelease version of Tiger, then you had better take more precautions.

Duff-Man says...when Tiger is officially released and you go purchase a copy I would recomment using the "archive and install" option - this basically installs a completely new "clean" system but also keeps your old system in a "previous system folder" so you can get to any little bits you still may need from the previous - note that this is *only* for the system - your apps and accounts etc will remain intact...oh yeah!

And as for waiting until updates to Tiger, I wouldn't bother. I got Jaguar (I think) and Panther immediately, and they were fine. You can always make a quick backup of your stuff if you're worried that it'll erase your hard drive or something.

But also, remember it is not totally necessary to upgrade. Panther will be supported for a while after Tiger is out. (I'll be upgrading though. 😀)

Gotta agree with Duff-Man on this one. Archive And Install is definitely the way to go - clean system without the hassle of backing everything else up first. Plain old "Upgrade" installs are notorious for having the most frequency of problems since bits of the old system are still scattered about everywhere and might conflict with the new system. This is especially likely if you have any 3rd-party extensions installed.

I've been doing Archive And Install since the 10.1 -> 10.2 upgrade on several machines and it's worked beautifully every time. 😎

bankshot said:

Gotta agree with Duff-Man on this one. Archive And Install is definitely the way to go - clean system without the hassle of backing everything else up first. Plain old "Upgrade" installs are notorious for having the most frequency of problems since bits of the old system are still scattered about everywhere and might conflict with the new system. This is especially likely if you have any 3rd-party extensions installed.

I've been doing Archive And Install since the 10.1 -> 10.2 upgrade on several machines and it's worked beautifully every time. 😎

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Can you explain a bit more what "archive and install" does?

Do all my 4 accounts remain the same, keychains, etc using it?

What bits get archived?

Everyone moans on about the "Upgrade" option. However, I upgraded like that from Jaguar to Panther and I had no problems whatsoever. I might try for the erase and install option next time though because I'm soon to get an external HD and I want to flush my system out to clear the clog away (there's not much clog mind).

aswitcher said:

Can you explain a bit more what "archive and install" does?

Do all my 4 accounts remain the same, keychains, etc using it?

What bits get archived?

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Archive and Install archives EVERYTHING if the "Preserve Users and Network Settings" box is NOT checked. If it IS checked, everything except all the user folders and several global networking-related preferences gets archived. That means that if you want your keychains etc. preserved so you don't have to retrieve them from the archive folder, check the box mentioned above. This is true for Panther - I'd assume Tiger's installer will be similar.

johnnyjibbs said:

Everyone moans on about the "Upgrade" option. However, I upgraded like that from Jaguar to Panther and I had no problems whatsoever. I might try for the erase and install option next time though because I'm soon to get an external HD and I want to flush my system out to clear the clog away (there's not much clog mind).

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I have come to the conclusion that many of the people complaining about the "Upgrade" option are omitting some important information. I suspect that their bad experiences are a result of using pirated prerelease software or some poorly written hacks. To believe that they are on the up-and-up, I must also believe that MacOS X is the most unreliable OS ever released by Apple. I am a Mac user since 1989. I have not done as many clean installs in 15 years (System 6.0.3 to MacOS X 10.3.5) as these people recommend in a year.

After every major release (10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3) I backed up all of my data to an external firewire hard drive and formatted my hard drive and did a fresh install of the new OS. I plan to do the same when Tiger is released.

I back up my mp3's to the fire wire drive, then I use Backup and iSync to backup my Address Book, iChat setting, Safari, etc to my iDisk. After the install, I restore those settings to the new OS. Works very well for me.

johnnyjibbs said:

Everyone moans on about the "Upgrade" option. However, I upgraded like that from Jaguar to Panther and I had no problems whatsoever. I might try for the erase and install option next time though because I'm soon to get an external HD and I want to flush my system out to clear the clog away (there's not much clog mind).

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Heh. I thought about putting a disclaimer in my post like "the Upgrade option does work flawlessly for many, but ..." because I knew someone would come back to defend it. 😛

From reading many, many forums and message boards I've come to the conclusion that the majority of upgrade problems occur with people who've either installed some sort of hacks (Unsanity's Haxies, for example) which muck up the system's internals, or people who've installed poorly written 3rd party hardware drivers. Doing the Upgrade install in this case is almost bound to fail in some strange way. There's just no way that Apple's installer can detect every change of this sort to the original system and account for it with the upgrade. So you're left with a hack installed on a new system that doesn't work the same way as the old system, so weird things happen.

For many who don't install these sorts of things and keep their systems clean, Upgrade works like a charm, I'll give you that. 😉 My point was simply that Archive & Install does it right regardless of what you've done to your previous system, so in my mind it's the only way to go. Think about it - if you've installed a ton of 3rd party stuff that's in the system and want to preserve it, you'd naturally pick the Upgrade option. But that's a bad idea since weird things can happen (usually all that 3rd party stuff needs to be updated to account for the new OS anyway). You're going to go through a lot of hassle cleaning that up. If you do Archive & Install, you'll spend some time anyway putting your 3rd party stuff back in, but at least it'll be cleaner. And if your system was clean to begin with, there's no real advantage to the Upgrade vs. Archive & Install.

If you love Upgrade, then go for it. I'm just trying to say that Archive & Install seems like it's easily the best choice by my logic. 🙂

MisterMe said:

I have come to the conclusion that many of the people complaining about the "Upgrade" option are omitting some important information. I suspect that their bad experiences are a result of using pirated prerelease software or some poorly written hacks. To believe that they are on the up-and-up, I must also believe that MacOS X is the most unreliable OS ever released by Apple. I am a Mac user since 1989. I have not done as many clean installs in 15 years (System 6.0.3 to MacOS X 10.3.5) as these people recommend in a year.

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7.5.2 through 7.5.5 were much less reliable than X ever was. I had more Type 11 errors and more problems connecting to the net than I could shake a fist at!