Delete All Files On Comp!?

[TenderBranson]

While glancing through the boards I've noticed that many people have advised to do a "clean install" when upgrading to Panther instead of using the "upgrade" method.

Suppposedly the system performs better this way. I suppose this wouldn't be too hard for someone who has an external hard drive (Saving all information to hard drive, and reinstalling everything afterwards), but even then, and even more so to those who don't have an external drive, how does this make any logical sense?

I'm looking to "switch" over, but I like to keep my computers for years (I don't really mind if it's considered "Obsolete" after a couple months). Do I truly have to delete all my files, settings, old calender notes to use have a well performing OS upgrade?

 

[edesignuk]

I presume you are a current Windows user? Are you telling me you've always done the upgrade option from one MS OS to another? I hope not for your sake! OS upgrades of any sort never work well and will not give you the best performance, the only thing to do with any major OS update of any type is format and clean install. That's just the way it is, Mac or x86.

 

[TenderBranson]

Indeed I am. I'm currently running Windows 2000 upgraded from 98.
It works fine.
Also, with MS, updates do not come nearly as frequent as they do with macs. I might be wrong, but didn't Jaguar release just a year ago?

It's irrelevant though. It's hypocritical to claim it's normal for macs to do this because PCs do, when mostly everyone here goes on and on and on about how they are superior in every way.

 

[simX]

If you don't mess around with your computer that much (i.e.: muck around in the system files, etc.) and basically just install software and run it, an upgrade install is perfectly fine. Apple has always supported upgrade installs, and continues to do so with Mac OS X.

The only reason that many people suggest doing clean installs is because often after installing software, you get a bunch of files strewn all over your hard drive. Also, sometimes hidden problems can crop up just after you do an upgrade install that didn't pose a problem before. So with a clean install, you're 100% sure of getting a top-performing system with no problems whatsoever.

 

[bousozoku]

I have two machines and when I went to 10.2, I did one upgrade and one archive and install. Both went successfully and I found there to be no problems or enhancements for one method or the other.

I would not suggest clean install, but archive and install since this does carry your user accounts with associated preferences, etc.

 

[TEG]

I went from 10.1 to 10.2 as an upgrade. It worked great. Its not a nessitiy to reformat, its just nice, it clean's the HD, and allows you to audit your files.

However I plan on doing a clean format for 10.3, I may want to use the Journaing File System.

TEG