Concerned about 10.5.6? Do this first...

[jmxp69]

Fortunately for me, I didn't have any problems installing 10.5.6. It worked fine on both of my machines, but I've been seeing a number of posts where people haven't been able to use their machines after attempting the update. If you are concerned about losing access to your machine there are a number of things you can do to ensure you don't lose your data.

1) Time Machine works. Protect your data by backing up with Time Machine before you start.

2) Install OSX to your external HD. I don't believe this violates any licensing agreement because you can still only use the OS on one drive at a time for the machine which the license came with. In the event of a 10.5.6 failure, you can boot from your external drive and OSX will mount your internal drive. While this won't prevent issues with the 10.5.6 install, you won't be left without any access to your machine if something goes wrong.

To take this a step further, when I first tried this, I booted off of the external drive and took an image using disk utility of my internal drive and stored that image on the desktop of the external drive. After installing Mac Pilot, my machine wouldn't boot. I was able to boot off the external drive and image my internal drive. The whole process took 20 minutes. After booting to the newly installed image, I imported from Time Machine and voila, back to where I started.

If you don't have an external HD, I recommend getting one.

Happy Holidays,

J

 

[MacUser2525]

Sensible advice I always upgrade on my external drive that has a freshly cloned image of my install first then my main drive second after confirming no problems with the upgrade.

 

[naersjoen]

1) Time Machine works. Protect your data by backing up with Time Machine before you start.

Does Time Machine actually allow the user to return to a version of the OS they had previously installed on their machine? I've been wondering about this since the 10.5.6 update came out, but have not been able to find an answer yet. (I am not actively using TM at the moment.)

 

[MacUser2525]

Does Time Machine actually allow the user to return to a version of the OS they had previously installed on their machine? I've been wondering about this since the 10.5.6 update came out, but have not been able to find an answer yet. (I am not actively using TM at the moment.)

It will restore your machine to the state it was in on the date you choose to restore from.

 

[naersjoen]

Very nice. I might just hold off installing 10.5.6 then, until I have my Time Capsule. (Not that I've ever had any problems with a MacOS update.)

 

[jmxp69]

It will restore your machine to the state it was in on the date you choose to restore from.

I haven't tried to restore the entire machine, only my personal data. Anybody with experience on a full system restore from Time Machine?

 

[lhotka]

Resulted in an unstable machine that I eventually had to rebuild.

I'd suggest cloning the drive.

 

[Live Steam]

My install worked too - for half the day and then BLUE!

So for anyone thinking they're safe after they've been running for a while, well don't count on it. I updated this morning using the Software Update feature. Everything was fine until about 30 minutes ago. The graphics started to get a little jerky, then the beachball arrived and then soon after the screen locked. I tried to reboot and then the blue screen happened. I would like to safe boot and roll back. Anyone got info on doing this? It would be greatly appreciated.

Fortunately for me, I didn't have any problems installing 10.5.6. It worked fine on both of my machines, but I've been seeing a number of posts where people haven't been able to use their machines after attempting the update. If you are concerned about losing access to your machine there are a number of things you can do to ensure you don't lose your data.

1) Time Machine works. Protect your data by backing up with Time Machine before you start.

2) Install OSX to your external HD. I don't believe this violates any licensing agreement because you can still only use the OS on one drive at a time for the machine which the license came with. In the event of a 10.5.6 failure, you can boot from your external drive and OSX will mount your internal drive. While this won't prevent issues with the 10.5.6 install, you won't be left without any access to your machine if something goes wrong.

To take this a step further, when I first tried this, I booted off of the external drive and took an image using disk utility of my internal drive and stored that image on the desktop of the external drive. After installing Mac Pilot, my machine wouldn't boot. I was able to boot off the external drive and image my internal drive. The whole process took 20 minutes. After booting to the newly installed image, I imported from Time Machine and voila, back to where I started.

If you don't have an external HD, I recommend getting one.

Happy Holidays,

J