Forward with Tiger or backwards? please help

[rapidj]

I have a 4-year-old emac and for the past week been having serious system problems that include not being able to use software installer, repair permissions, access users in system prefs, or start ichat and safari. It began without notice which makes me wonder about a virus. I ran repair permissions off panther disk. I tried to re-install Panther from Disk but it would not let me archive install (buttom was greyed out), and it told me i was running a later version (10.3.8) so it would not let me install. My choices seem to be upgrade to Tiger and try to archive install or straight upgrade, or go backwards to original system software (Jaguar) and perhaps wipe the drive and start from there re-installing all the original software. If I end up wiping the drive and reinstalling everything, is that a daunting task or even unsafe for the computer? If I go with Tiger, should I do a straight install or a archive install. Normally I would say archive install but with my system so buggy, it seems a straight install might be better. Im confused and could use a little guidance.

thanks in advance
Kory

 

[Nutter]

If I were you, I would do a clean install of Tiger.

Back up all your important files first, then boot off the Tiger and use the Disk Utility to completely erase your Hard Disk. Perhaps even "zero" it.

Then install Tiger on to your virgin disk, and finally copy your files back. I would avoid copying any of your old Preferences or Applications back. Reinstall things wherever possible.

This may be overkill, but it is the only way to make <i>sure</i> that your problems will go away.

You could do the same thing with Jaguar or Panther, but you might as well do this now with Tiger. Upgrading to Tiger won't fix your problems in itself, but it's a good idea upgrade at the same time as making a fresh start.

 

[snickelfritz]

I clean-installed Tiger and have had no problems at all.
Phenomenal upgrade for me so far.
Be sure to watch the Apple Tiger "exclusive online seminar" to fully appreciate many of the new features.

 

[rapidj]

Ok,thanks, is 'zeroing' the hardrive an option i willfind when i upgrade to Tiger? my other question will a 4 year old emac, 700Mhz, 1 gig of memory be adequate for Tiger?

thanks again

 

[snickelfritz]

I think you'll have to use disk utility to actually "zero" the drive.
The "erase and install" option is probably sufficient, unless you intend to sell the computer and don't want any recoverable traces of your files and settings left on the drive.
BTW, I used the Erase and Install method, and it completed the installation extremely quickly.

1gig of RAM is more than sufficient.
The main RAM hog I've noticed is Dashboard; active widgets consume large amounts of RAM. Not a problem though if you have more than 512MB.
I have a feeling that restarts are going to be more necessary in Tiger when working with large complex projects, unless you have an enormous amount of physical RAM installed.

 

[fedora]

Ok,thanks, is 'zeroing' the hardrive an option i willfind when i upgrade to Tiger? my other question will a 4 year old emac, 700Mhz, 1 gig of memory be adequate for Tiger?

thanks again

I installed it on a 500 Mhz PM G4 with 512 Mb RAM (with upgraded graphics card) and it runs nicely, quite fast and seens very stable so far. So your eMac should be fine