Here is something I posted on another Forum that can help
Being a fairly new user myself, and having had these same questions, perhaps I can explain.
In case you are not aware, the way to install is to boot from your Install CDs. You do this by inserting the CD, going to the Apple Logo on the top left, select Restart. When the screen turns black, hold down the C key till the Apple Logo comes up and the spinning wheel starts. You will then be starting the Install. The first screen presents you with a Language Selection.
Note that the default install for Leopard is Upgrade. To select Archive and Install or Erase and Install, click on the Options Button early in the Install. Make sure that you don't start Time Machine during the Install, it will slow things down. I used Archive and Install and it worked very well.
What you want to do first is create a backup prior to installation in case something goes wrong.
Since SuperDuper is not yet Leopard Compatible, and costs around $27, get Carbon Copy Cloner for now as its shareware with a $10 Donation. You can get it here.
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html. If you don't already have an External HD for backup, get one. The LaCie USB/FW400/800 types are good.
IN CCC all you have to do is select your Macintosh HD as the Source and your Backup Drive as the Target and it will go ahead and Clone your Macintosh HD. You can test that it has worked well by setting your Startup Disk in System Preferences to the Backup Drive and restart. To get back to Startup from your main drive, set it again as the Startup in System preferences and restart.
If you have done an Archive and Install or an Erase and Install, use Migration Assistant which is found in Applications/Utilities to help you migrate applications and data from your backup. Once you are satisfied that everything you need is there and working well, then you can make a decision how to structure your backups. For most people, just having a CCC or SuperDuper backup on an external is fine. If you want more granular backlup, you can use Time Machine as well. What I do is I have 2 partitions on my Backup Drive, one for Cloned Backup with CCC and the other using Time Machine. You create these partitions using Disk Utility which is again found in Applications/Utilities.
I schedule my CCC backup for once a week, and Time Machine does it every hour.
You can also set scheduled backups with CCC. A note. CCC will not backup if the computer is asleep, so go to System Preferences and Energy Saver and set it to wake a minute before your scheduled backups.
Don't worry about Time Machine for now, your CCC backup will be fine at first.
Hope this helps.
I am hoping the gurus here can help me out. This is my first time upgrading an OS on an Apple machine, and I have been an Apple/Mac OSX user for only 3 months. That being said, I'm not a computer or software n00b by any means.
Here are my questions, and I'll try to keep them short and simple.
1 - Erase & Install or Upgrade? How do I force Erase & Install if that is the preferred method. As a Windows user, I am conditioned to NEVER do an upgrade, only clean installs.
2 - What do I need to back up, how should I do it, where are the items located, and how do I transplant them after an Erase & Install?
I have installed:
- Toast 8 (I can simply re-install)
- Paralells (Only one image exists on the local HD, and I need to keep it and transplant it)
- iLife08
- NeoOffice
I use:
- Mail, iWeb, Paralells, iChat, iCalendar, Contacts, iTunes, .Mac w/ Sync
3 - Is there anything else I should be aware of? Of course I will do a FULL backup (how do I do that BTW) before any attempt.
