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leopard clean install checklist

I

icedtea1996

macrumors newbie
Original poster
hey there,

the moments here, tiger goes, leopard comes.

now since i want to do a proper clean install, and am relatively (1 year) new to macs, how do you prepare the "switch" other than doing a carbon copy cloner image of the whole disk?

so, what preferences or files do you backup (and how) that cannot be easily extracted onto the new leopard disk from the tiger image?

given my amateur status, i could only thing of notes, ical and addressbook backups - even though you can probably kind of extract it from the tiger image later on.

off the top of my head i can only think of the passwords (where do i find them again?) and firefox backups - do i get my preferences back by simply copying the library onto the new leopard disk from my tiger image? but then again, wouldnt simply copying the library destroy the whole clean install idea?

do you know of or have a checklist you use to not forget any important details?

looking forward to feedback, thanks!!
 
This may sound crazy, but it worked for me - albeit not intentionally. My first Leopard install was an upgrade, but I had problems with system hangs and application issues, etc. BUT, I did get a good Time Machine backup on my external HD. After much trial and tribulation I did a clean install of Leopard, and at the end of the install routine it asked if I wanted to restore applications, settings, users and files from my Time Machine backup. It was a beautiful thing. I got the benefit of a clean install with all of my stuff put perfectly back in place.

So, although quite unorthodox, I would say that an Upgrade/Time Machine Backup/Clean Install is a pretty cool way to get 'er done. Obviously the TM backup is critical. You must make sure that everything is getting backup up. Kind of scary, I know. Do some research on the Apple Discussion forums for more opinions on the subject before you take the dive if you decide to go this route.
 
The number one question on your checklist should be, "Why am I doing this?"

If you are new to the Mac, you may not realize that clean installs are almost never necessary.
 
I agree with IJ Reilly.

I don't get the obsession with clean installs that seems to be going on around here. I always upgrade as it is faster and easier, but if you don't want to do that, why not just do an Archive and Install, which will give you a "clean" install of Leopard and keep all your apps and user settings in place?

This is one of those things that is hard to get used to coming from Windows, but in my opinion, the effort required for a clean install is not worth it. What do you get out of it? If you don't have any of the 3rd Party utilities that allow you to customize the OS, then to me a clean install is a waste of time.

But hey, to each his own. If it makes you happy, then by all means go for it.
 
well, unfortunately my mac osx experience hasnt been quite as rosy, more bugged than my windows xp experience to be honest.

its little things like getting a message that my superdrive does NOT need a firmware update everytime i reboot - whatever that is about.

rebooting takes much longer than it did a year ago, on and on.

so its become pretty much i no brainer as it used to in pc world to me.
 
I'll be upgrading my parents' iMac over christmas and was planning to upgrade it. Then I remembered they're using APE (for ClearDock) on Tiger and don't want to risk it blue screening and so on. An archive & install will do the job though won't it? (I'll have backed up first of course)
 
icedtea1996 said:
well, unfortunately my mac osx experience hasnt been quite as rosy, more bugged than my windows xp experience to be honest.

its little things like getting a message that my superdrive does NOT need a firmware update everytime i reboot - whatever that is about.

rebooting takes much longer than it did a year ago, on and on.

so its become pretty much i no brainer as it used to in pc world to me.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of the Superdrive firmware issue, but if I were you, I'd research that issue, because whatever the problem is, reinstalling OSX is unlikely to be the solution. The same goes for rebooting taking longer. It may be simply that you've added login items. This is easy to check.
 
no more login items - im not sure that mac is THAT far from windows that a clean install doesnt speed up booting.
 
I think that clean install really makes it better overall, so it's worth the trouble. As someone already pointed out it's good to first do the upgrade install and launch all applications (so they update their preferences and such), then back up the user library and such, then do the clean install & restore stuff back.

Though last time I did this I forgot to copy my iWeb "domain" file so I had to redo my site again. Doh! It pays off to be careful...
 
icedtea1996 said:
no more login items - im not sure that mac is THAT far from windows that a clean install doesnt speed up booting.
Click to expand...

It is, and it does not. You really need to get rid of that Windows mindset. You switched to the Mac for good reasons, and one of those reasons is that reinstalls are almost never necessary.
 
icedtea1996 said:
now since i want to do a proper clean install, and am relatively (1 year) new to macs, how do you prepare the "switch" other than doing a carbon copy cloner image of the whole disk?
Click to expand...

A proper clean install is only one done when it's necessary, which is only when there's a problem. If you're just doing an upgrade from one OS to the other, you're creating a lot of headache and not gaining anything by doing an Erase and Install. Save yourself the trouble and do an Archive and Install. It has the same basic result (a fresh "virgin" OS) without losing your files and settings. It's the only way I'd ever recommend doing a system install, unless you're reinstalling to solve a (major) problem.

jW
 
My opinion on the subject changed with Leopard. From Panther to Tiger I did an archive and install and everything was great. As mentioned above *my experiences* upgrading from Tiger to Leopard were not so great. Take a quick look at discussions.apple.com and you'll find that although we may be in the minority, there are a bunch of Apple customers experiencing problems with the upgrade path to Leopard that are seemingly corrected with a clean install. I can and have testified to that first hand.

Not sure what is going on at Apple - maybe too much. But in days past, they would never release an update - let alone a major system release with as many bugs as Leopard. Leopard felt like beta software to me - still does. But to a much lesser degree since I did a clean install.
 
Archive and Install

I believe archive and install performs a "clean" install; unlike Upgrade. When it is convenient for you, you can delete the archived folder and reclaim some hard drive space. You gain the benefit of keeping your settings and such in tact. Two cents from Las Vegas... good luck...
 
I don't have any Leopard upgrade experience yet, but I have upgraded from every other Mac operating system going back to the beginning of time, with few issues, and some of these upgrades were pretty buggy! I generally agree that an archive and install is far safer than an erase and install, especially for a novice. I always worry when I hear someone talking about reaching for the blunderbuss to deal with any and all problems, especially when the person admits that they really don't know what they are doing.
 
IJ Reilly said:
It is, and it does not. You really need to get rid of that Windows mindset. You switched to the Mac for good reasons, and one of those reasons is that reinstalls are almost never necessary.
Click to expand...

I beg differ. Clutter builds up over time and and upgrade only helps accumlate it. If you've ever used a straight UNIX machine (with like... Fedora on it) you'll know that startup items, downloads, and otherthings actually do effect UNIX, which your golden macosx is based on.

No offence, but Mach is good but it isn't immune to filesystem clutter.

Statements like yours just make more knowledgeable people shriek in anger. 😛 🙂
NO FLAMES PLEASE, IJ REILLY!
 
rhyndu said:
I beg differ. Clutter builds up over time and and upgrade only helps accumlate it. If you've ever used a straight UNIX machine (with like... Fedora on it) you'll know that startup items, downloads, and otherthings actually do effect UNIX, which your golden macosx is based on.

No offence, but Mach is good but it isn't immune to filesystem clutter.

Statements like yours just make more knowledgeable people shriek in anger. 😛 🙂
NO FLAMES PLEASE, IJ REILLY!
Click to expand...

File system clutter -- what exactly does this mean to those us who don't know enough to know better?
 
thanks, rhyndu. i went for an upgrade, and of course my macbook worked even worse, so clean install is on the way now.

reilly, i see you like your mac, but ive been using windows with a lot a headaches, and much fewer with xp, but those xp headaches did not really vanish with mac osx, sometimes quite the contrary. you basically have the same problems, including the screen freeze that supposedly never happens on mac as claimed in those condescending "hi im a mac" ads.

if my windows mindset is so wrong, i dont see why programs like onyx and applejack even exist. even mac osx clutters with time and yet i wanted to believe your advice, but again: clean install had to step in now.
 
IJ Reilly said:
File system clutter -- what exactly does this mean to those us who don't know enough to know better?
Click to expand...

So here is what basically happens:

Say Mr. Joe owns a computer running Mac OS X. He never installs any 3rd Party Applications, and only uses Pages and Keynote and Safari. But, he restarts his computer once a week.

If you don't know, all Applications (including OSs like Mac OS X) create huge amounts of temporary files that they use to store data etc etc etc. Although apps are supposed to, often apps "forget" to remove these files. When an OS does this, things start to run more slowly. (And yes, before you start, OSX's Disk Utility Verify/Repair Permissions/Disk doesn't really help.)

So, every few years, a reinstall helps get rid of these files.

That is an atypical situation though, because most Mr. Joe's run lots of third party apps. One of the reasons Windows computers run so slow after a bit of time is that people install so many third party apps that they are all running at the same time, all creating temporary files, all using up memory, and all eating away at disk space. The same happens to Mac OS X.

For instance, I have Microsoft Office 2004 on my MB right now. Everytime I run it, my machine runs a bit more slowly because it is a) a poorly written app that 1) eats up tons of memory and 2) NEVER deletes its temp files and b) because it uses Rosetta which does a very hard job very mediocrly. If you want more details about this, Google it.

--

Also, there is the fact that many Macs slow down graduly over the years because of lack of consolidated disk usage. What basically happens is that files get spread out all over the disk and it takes it longer to find them than if they were all put together.

--

So all in all, you have all these things polluting your HD. And upgrading pollutes it even more. Do you really think that an upgrade just replaces the System Folder, like in OS9? Think again.

An upgrade really does some very complicated file tinkiering with everything - and doesn't always do it correctly. It also forgets sometimes to remove old system files.

--

A clean install really helps everything.

(And sorry for the long post 🙂)
 
Going from Tiger to Leopard on my MacBook, I did a clean install and didn't encounter any "headaches" that some have mentioned. Of course, it's probably because I keep my system backed up. So, all I did was use SuperDuper! and make a full backup of my Tiger system onto a FireWire drive. Then, ran a clean install with Leopard. Once Leopard was finished and I updated, I then copied over my iTunes, iPhoto, whatever documents, iCal, and Address Book files I needed. Everything has been running fine now for a week.

Bottom line: just keep an up-to-date backup of your system and it won't matter what you choose to do when installing an OS.
 
rhyndu said:
So here is what basically happens:
Click to expand...

IOW, nothing of interest or use to the non-technical. None of the conditions you describe warrants a reinstall, even remotely.

The Mac I have used every day for the last seven years has been upgraded from OS 9 to every version of OSX up to 10.4.10. It has never been reinstalled, even once. Performance has not degraded. Anything I don't want, I throw out. The same is true on all the other Macs I own and maintain.

Some will try to convince the credulous that life must be more difficult and complicated, and that if it isn't, then it must be made more difficult and complicated in ways that only technical people can really understand.
 
icedtea1996 said:
thanks, rhyndu. i went for an upgrade, and of course my macbook worked even worse, so clean install is on the way now.

reilly, i see you like your mac, but ive been using windows with a lot a headaches, and much fewer with xp, but those xp headaches did not really vanish with mac osx, sometimes quite the contrary. you basically have the same problems, including the screen freeze that supposedly never happens on mac as claimed in those condescending "hi im a mac" ads.

if my windows mindset is so wrong, i dont see why programs like onyx and applejack even exist. even mac osx clutters with time and yet i wanted to believe your advice, but again: clean install had to step in now.
Click to expand...

Isn't that action just what we tried to save you from. Archive and install is a clean install, then you just delete the saved folder. Live and learn.
 
IJ Reilly said:
IOW, nothing of interest or use to the non-technical. None of the conditions you describe warrants a reinstall, even remotely.

The Mac I have used every day for the last seven years has been upgraded from OS 9 to every version of OSX up to 10.4.10. It has never been reinstalled, even once. Performance has not degraded. Anything I don't want, I throw out. The same is true on all the other Macs I own and maintain.

Some will try to convince the credulous that life must be more difficult and complicated, and that if it isn't, then it must be made more difficult and complicated in ways that only technical people can really understand.
Click to expand...

Ummm... not really. I tried to make my explanation as untechnical as possible. You are used to your machines speed. I'm sure you would be amazed at what your speeds would be like if you did a clean / archive install.

And btw people, I am NOT demoting Archive & Install - thats what I always use. I just don't reccomend update.
 
rhyndu said:
Ummm... not really. I tried to make my explanation as untechnical as possible. You are used to your machines speed. I'm sure you would be amazed at what your speeds would be like if you did a clean / archive install.

And btw people, I am NOT demoting Archive & Install - thats what I always use. I just don't reccomend update.
Click to expand...

Umm, really. The problem is, your explanation didn't make much sense, and you also didn't make an actual argument for reinstalling. I'd be amazed if I heard one that was factual.
 
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