Leopard Install

God, can't anyone get it right? It's Mac, not MAC! It's not a friggin' acronym.
I kid.

Congrads on the Mac.

 

I've never upgraded Mac OS's before - with leopard, will we have to install all of our software again? Or can we just install leopard on top of tiger and everything else will 'migrate over'?

I'm used to windows, where installing a new OS means installing EVERYTHING all over again.

Thanks.

 

How come when I pronounce it, it comes out sounding more like MAC though?

 

Typically an OS X install disc has several options:

- Upgrade the installation -- basically overwrites things as necessary and you keep everything you have installed, your documents, etc.

- Erase and install -- delete everything off the HD and install the new OS.

- Archive and install -- this is something different from Windows. There are two versions of this; one of them puts all the system and user files from the old installation in a root folder called Previous Systems. You can pull anything you want out of it and then delete it when you're done. The other does the same except it doesn't move user folder contents or installed applications. The difference between this and the upgrade is that no files are deleted; the old files are placed in this "safekeeping" folder.

When Panther was replaced by Tiger, there was a mixture of all three being done by MR members. Usually any of them is fine (and there are extended threads debating them), to some extent depending on what you've installed and what you've done with the computer. The more complex the installation, realistically, the more likely that something will end up messed up with the upgrade installation or archive and install with preservation of user content (the second half of the arch and install description I gave).

If your top priority is stability, your best course is to do an erase and install and be very selective about what you reinstall. But most average users will end up being fine just upgrading.

 

Thanks for the info. Upgrade and Install sounds quite enticing as I'd rather not mess with all of my programs, docs, and settings that are already on my notebook.

Cheers.