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leopard upgrade or fresh install

M

milenkod

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
78
0
Dublin, CA
considering upgrading to Leopard over the holiday weekend. I have quite a few programs already installed in 10.4 so I'm considering an upgrade. Coming from the Windows world recently, a fresh install was always better. What about OS X, same thing?

Also, can you load the install disk/image onto a USB stick, boot from it and install from it? Is that easy/possible?
 
milenkod said:
considering upgrading to Leopard over the holiday weekend. I have quite a few programs already installed in 10.4 so I'm considering an upgrade. Coming from the Windows world recently, a fresh install was always better. What about OS X, same thing?

Also, can you load the install disk/image onto a USB stick, boot from it and install from it? Is that easy/possible?
Click to expand...
For Mac OS X, upgrades usually work just fine. The nice thing is, for the times they don't, you can perform an Archive and Install, which usually fixes the problem, and isn't an option on Windows. The equivalent of a completely 'clean' install on Mac OS X is the Erase and Install option.

As for your second question: It might be. I've never tried it, but I wouldn't recommend it.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
For Mac OS X, upgrades usually work just fine. The nice thing is, for the times they don't, you can perform an Archive and Install, which usually fixes the problem, and isn't an option on Windows.......
Click to expand...
Can anyone elaborate on this method/option? I'm not familiar with what Archive and Install does or is? (will Google search in the meantime)...thanks
 
milenkod said:
Can anyone elaborate on this method/option? I'm not familiar with what Archive and Install does or is? (will Google search in the meantime)...thanks
Click to expand...
Sure!

An Archive and Install requires more disk space than an upgrade or an Erase and Install, since it takes your old system, puts it in a Previous Systems folder, then installs the new system. There's an option to preserve users and network settings when doing an Archive and Install - this is useful, since you won't have to recreate your user account and manually copy everything over from the archive if you do this.

Also note that some applications may not work properly after an Archive and Install, and will need to be reinstalled.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
[...]
Also note that some applications may not work properly after an Archive and Install, and will need to be reinstalled.
Click to expand...
Which is rare. I also prefer Archive and Install to get a clean OS install + user files/settings from before the upgrade.
 
macrem said:
Which is rare. I also prefer Archive and Install to get a clean OS install + user files/settings from before the upgrade.
Click to expand...
So what do you do with the Archive? Can you revert? What if everything works out for me, can I delete the achieve...is it safe to do so?
 
milenkod said:
Then why archieve? doesn't sound like any reason/advantage to Archieve at all....am I missing something here?
Click to expand...
Yes, you are... doing an Archive and Install is the ONLY way to revert your system to an earlier version of the Mac OS without doing an Erase and Install. Remember that you cannot revert to anything earlier than what your Mac came with.
 
ok...having some issues with an Archive and Install. It keeps telling me that I can't install 10.5 without re-partitioning and destroying all the data. I've followed the instructions to upgrade install but it just won't do it.

...and tired a second time and got "Installation failed....installer cannot prepare the volume for installation". so what now?
 
milenkod said:
ok...having some issues with an Archive and Install. It keeps telling me that I can't install 10.5 without re-partitioning and destroying all the data. I've followed the instructions to upgrade install but it just won't do it.

...and tired a second time and got "Installation failed....installer cannot prepare the volume for installation". so what now?
Click to expand...
If you're getting that error, that's because the disk structure is damaged. Open up Disk Utility and try to repair the disk (while still booted from the install disc). If it tells you that errors were fixed, and the volume appears to be OK, you're good to go now. If you get the error "The underlying task reported failure on exit", that means Disk Utility encountered errors it cannot fix. It is possible to repair such disks - more advanced tools are required.
 
milenkod said:
ok...having some issues with an Archive and Install. It keeps telling me that I can't install 10.5 without re-partitioning and destroying all the data. I've followed the instructions to upgrade install but it just won't do it.

...and tired a second time and got "Installation failed....installer cannot prepare the volume for installation". so what now?
Click to expand...

Bite the bullet and copy all your personal data(if you have any iCal, Address Book etc data that you need when in Leopard)over to an USB stick and then Erase & Install. Erase the harddisk from within Disk Utility when booted from the Leopard DVD. Choose the Macintosh HD partition on the left side of the Disk Utility window and choose the second tab in the window on the right called 'Erase' and erase your partition when you are sure that you have copied all your private data from your previous installation of OS X. Just make sure that your HD is erased as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

I think then you will be able to install Leopard making everything funky fresh and ready to go. It's my favorite way of installing OS X. Nothing is left behind for you to mess with afterwards just some personal items.

Edit.. I think I might be slightly damaged. I've been installing OS's since AmigaOS 2.x when there was no Archive & Install option just reinstall the hard way with floppy disks if needing to reinstall the OS. Granted, this is not AmigaOS just my personal opinion of what you can do.
 
allan.nyholm said:
Bite the bullet and copy all your personal data(if you have any iCal, Address Book etc data that you need when in Leopard)over to an USB stick and then Erase & Install. Erase the harddisk from within Disk Utility when booted from the Leopard DVD. Choose the Macintosh HD partition on the left side of the Disk Utility window and choose the second tab in the window on the right called 'Erase' and erase your partition when you are sure that you have copied all your private data from your previous installation of OS X. Just make sure that your HD is erased as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

I think then you will be able to install Leopard making everything funky fresh and ready to go. It's my favorite way of installing OS X. Nothing is left behind for you to mess with afterwards just some personal items.

Edit.. I think I might be slightly damaged. I've been installing OS's since AmigaOS 2.x when there was no Archive & Install option just reinstall the hard way with floppy disks if needing to reinstall the OS. Granted, this is not AmigaOS just my personal opinion of what you can do.
Click to expand...
Just a few quick notes....
1.) My drive says it has 66GB free (out of 250GB drive)...Is that enough for an Archieve and Install?
2.) What I'm most concerned about is my personal files...iTunes settings (play list, ect...my library resides on an Airdisk on my AEBS) and home movies in iMovies, address book. What's the proper way to back-up and restore them as they were generated in Tiger and would be restored to Leopard.

all my Applications are dmg image files stored on my Airdisk and I can reinstall without issue.
 
milenkod said:
Just a few quick notes....
1.) My drive says it has 66GB free (out of 250GB drive)...Is that enough for an Archieve and Install?
2.) What I'm most concerned about is my personal files...iTunes settings (play list, ect...my library resides on an Airdisk on my AEBS) and home movies in iMovies, address book. What's the proper way to back-up and restore them as they were generated in Tiger and would be restored to Leopard.

all my Applications are dmg image files stored on my Airdisk and I can reinstall without issue.
Click to expand...
Going from Tiger to Leopard is never particularly simple. However, it can be done. Most files will transition over without issue (for example, your iTunes library). Other things require a bit more work (Address Book, Mail, iCal). Address Book and iCal both support backing up the databases they use into a format that the newer versions in Leopard can import. Mail does the task automatically, assuming the Mail files are in the right spot.

Anyway, whether or not you have enough space for an archive depends on exactly how you plan to archive. If you're going to preserve your users and network settings during archival (which you SHOULD be doing unless you have a good reason not to - there's a checkbox for this option when selecting Archive and Install as the install type - make sure it's checked), you'll need enough space for the difference in system size between old and new, plus enough for temporary files. For a Tiger to Leopard migration this means about 15GB needs to be free, so 66GB is more than enough.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Going from Tiger to Leopard is never particularly simple. However, it can be done. Most files will transition over without issue (for example, your iTunes library). Other things require a bit more work (Address Book, Mail, iCal). Address Book and iCal both support backing up the databases they use into a format that the newer versions in Leopard can import. Mail does the task automatically, assuming the Mail files are in the right spot.

Anyway, whether or not you have enough space for an archive depends on exactly how you plan to archive. If you're going to preserve your users and network settings during archival (which you SHOULD be doing unless you have a good reason not to - there's a checkbox for this option when selecting Archive and Install as the install type - make sure it's checked), you'll need enough space for the difference in system size between old and new, plus enough for temporary files. For a Tiger to Leopard migration this means about 15GB needs to be free, so 66GB is more than enough.
Click to expand...
OK...So I'll try a back-up of my data and a fresh install. What exactly do I need to back-up to get back to the closest net configuration i have on Tiger?
 
milenkod said:
OK...So I'll try a back-up of my data and a fresh install. What exactly do I need to back-up to get back to the closest net configuration i have on Tiger?
Click to expand...
Use the built-in backup function (it's in the menus) in Address Book and iCal, just to be safe. These will create backup files, that you can then burn to disc or store on an external drive. Other than that, definitely back up your Documents, Movies, and Music folders in your home folder, as well as any other folders you created and any folders besides those that you use (Public, Sites, Applications, etc.). It never hurts to back up your Library, but doing this is considerably more involved - you can't back up a "live" Library. Mac OS X won't allow it - so, to work around this restriction, create a disk image (using Disk Utility) of your Library, and back that up.

Once that's done, go ahead with the install.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that, if you use the Archive and Install option with Preserve Users and Network Settings checked, most of the user data migration will be done for you. The backup is there just in case something goes wrong.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
EDIT: Forgot to mention that, if you use the Archive and Install option with Preserve Users and Network Settings checked, most of the user data migration will be done for you. The backup is there just in case something goes wrong.
Click to expand...
...therein lies my dilemma, the Archive and Install option always fails on me ....Leopard upgrade keeps telling me it can't prepare the disk.
 
So on a whim...I went to the electronics store to browse around for last minute Christmas gifts. I came upon a 320GB Seagate drive for $85...Thought it would be a good opportunity to try a fresh Leopard install.

A clean install went flawlessly. I used the Migration assistant and it restored all my apps and settings. Now the only thing I can't figure out is how to remove the original account Leopard set-up prior to the migration assistant.

Thank you all for the advice and help.
 
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