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POLL - Leopard: Erase and Install? Upgrade? Archive and Install?

Which will you do? (Please post as to why!)

  • Erase and install

    Votes: 111 41.4%

  • Upgrade

    Votes: 89 33.2%

  • Archive and install

    Votes: 68 25.4%
  • Total voters
    268
Mac OS X Is Not Windoze

juxtaposer said:
Erase and Install is my plan. Just due to past experience with 'ye olde Windoze'. I know I have nothing to worry about, but better to be safe than sorry.
I have all the discs to reinstall all of my apps.
All my documents and music are already on an external anyway.
Here's hoping it all doesn't go årse over t¡t :confused:
Click to expand...
Yeah I think it's all the Windoze switchers who believe they need to erase and install instead of Archive & Install because they are not veteran Macintosh users. This is nothing like a Windoze transition at all.
 
ok, complete n00b here in terms of upgrading OS on a mac. have had a tiger macbook for about a month now. Read through this whole thread and just want to clarify.

If I select archive and install: all my settings, programs, bookmarks, music, files, contacts, etc etc will be there still in tact after the leopard install is done, is that correct?

I won't need to transfer a single thing from my external HD back onto the comp itself? (I've already backed up, obviously)

leopard just writes itself on in there and everything is still there? if so... amazing, and so simple.
 
MacBook - install

I have my copy of iLife etc on the disk that came with my macintosh. If I do a clean install how do I reinstall these? Will it work? Is it really worth the effort or shall I do archive + install (I have around 45GB free)
 
redmeister said:
ok, complete n00b here in terms of upgrading OS on a mac. have had a tiger macbook for about a month now. Read through this whole thread and just want to clarify.

If I select archive and install: all my settings, programs, bookmarks, music, files, contacts, etc etc will be there still in tact after the leopard install is done, is that correct?

I won't need to transfer a single thing from my external HD back onto the comp itself? (I've already backed up, obviously)

leopard just writes itself on in there and everything is still there? if so... amazing, and so simple.
Click to expand...
/Users isn't messed around with in an Archive & Install.

Legacy said:
I have my copy of iLife etc on the disk that came with my macintosh. If I do a clean install how do I reinstall these? Will it work? Is it really worth the effort or shall I do archive + install (I have around 45GB free)
Click to expand...
/Applications isn't touched. You'll still have to go through the the updates for OS X though.
 
juxtaposer said:
Erase and Install is my plan. Just due to past experience with 'ye olde Windoze'...
Click to expand...
I think that hits the nail on the head - With Windows, erasing and re-installing actually took less time than trying to fix a fracked installation. I used to do this with all the upgrades to OS X I've installed since Jaguar, but after a while it just stopped making sense - I'd spend all that time re-installing the OS and then have to re-install all the apps I wanted thereafter.

Since Tiger, I've been doing "Archive and Install" on 10.3 systems and it has worked flawlessly - apps are carried over, preferences and user accounts retained, and the installation of the core OS is brand spanking new: the same as if it were an erase and install. Unlike Windows, where every application spews garbage all over the registry, which really does slow down the OS, Mac applications are relatively self-contained in comparison (which is why many applications instruct you to simply trash them if you no longer want them - there's only a few scattered plist files thereafter).

So unless there's some sort of low-level corruption in your Tiger installation, which would manifest itself in strange ways like frequent Kernel Panics, beachballing and locking up, or the inability for particular applications to run correctly, I'd say "Archive and Install" really is the best of all worlds.
 
Multimedia said:
It does nothing to your storage drive and installs Leopard on your boot drive while retaining all your settings and leaves all your installs in tact. It's painless Glenn. There's really nothing to it.
Click to expand...

So there's really no gain in a clean install, performance or stability wise due to ALL the old system files been moved into a secure folder? All I'm 'losing' is few days I would have wasted setting the system back up? ;-)
 
Glenn Wolsey said:
So there's really no gain in a clean install, performance or stability wise due to ALL the old system files been moved into a secure folder? All I'm 'losing' is few days I would have wasted setting the system back up? ;-)
Click to expand...

That seems to be what Multi is saying, and he is pretty experienced.

You are only hours away from Leopard. I still have a sleep between me and the big cat.
 
netdog said:
That seems to be what Multi is saying, and he is pretty experienced.

You are only hours away from Leopard. I still have a sleep between me and the big cat.
Click to expand...

If I lived in town it'd be here any minute. I lived rural (20 minutes out..) so it won't arrive until tomorrow or maybe even *shudders* - Monday.
 
So if I were to do an archive and install would my applications be backed up to an archive folder? And do I just go in the archive folder and copy the applications from the archive folder to the Leopard applications folder? Then delete the archive folder?
 
LoganT said:
So if I were to do an archive and install would my applications be backed up to an archive folder? And do I just go in the archive folder and copy the applications from the archive folder to the Leopard applications folder? Then delete the archive folder?
Click to expand...
Only the OS X bound Apple applications would be updated (or reverted) from an archive and install.
 
Erase and Install

I will erase and install. My MacBook Pro is a year and a half old, and I have some apps I no longer use. Good way to back up the stuff I need and start anew.

Sure, it won't be as fast as the latest MBP, but having the sensation of a new computer once again... :D

And a side note: I'm hoping the erase and install, when completed, will allow me to sync photos to my iPods and Apple TV again. iTunes complains about some error about not being able to sync (-39 I believe), I've tried rebuilding my libraries, fixing permissions, verifying the hard drive, etc with no avail...
 
Contrary to some of the advice here, nobody should panic over choosing the Upgrade option.

In 27 years, I've never found an Apple OS within a given series (6.x, 7.x, 8.x, 9.x, 10.x) that behave badly using that. In fact, Every machine I've had dating back to 1980 (including ProDOS, but those were booted from cassette and don't really count, anyway) have never had a clean install after purchase. Straight upgrade until the machine was replaced. Never a single issue whatsoever.

Obviously, the choice is yours, and as with all major system operations, a FULL, CURRENT, and BOOTABLE backup should be available, regardless of the method used.
 
FoxyKaye said:
So unless there's some sort of low-level corruption in your Tiger installation, which would manifest itself in strange ways like frequent Kernel Panics, beachballing and locking up, or the inability for particular applications to run correctly, I'd say "Archive and Install" really is the best of all worlds.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the nice, polite explanation Foxy :)
Will probably follow your advice and 'Archive and Install'. I am quite a newcomer to Mac OS (only about 9 months experience I'm afraid), and with Tiger coming pre-installed on my machine, I have never even seen a Mac OS Installation screen. So my gut instinct - especially after the horrifying results of 'upgrades' with Windoze - was to just go for a clean installation.
Yes I am a (relatively) new switcher from Windoze, but weren't we all at one point? :eek:
Thanks to all of the Mac veterans for all the help to us first-time Mac OS installers. :)
Juxtaposer :apple:
 
Ok, seems like I voted for the incorrect choice :) Archive & install seems very logical to me now. It really helped to read about it here.
 
How about Bootcamp?

I'd like to do a erase and install, because I like to get rid of some old Tiger stuff that is not user related. My question is: I have a windows partition with a running windows installation on it. Will it still boot after I erase the HFS partition and install Leopard on it?
 
Not to be a noob or anything...

But after 2.5 years of owning a Mac, I've never had to archive or even do a clean erase.

How the heck do you even do this?
 
nl2134 said:
Not to be a noob or anything...

But after 2.5 years of owning a Mac, I've never had to archive or even do a clean erase.

How the heck do you even do this?
Click to expand...

Insert your install disks (Tiger or Leopard), double click on the icon, double click on the installer, and boot into the disk. Everything is self explanatory from then on in.
 
Erase and install is the only way for me. Makes me clear out all the pointless data and apps that I've been keeping around that I don't need, and gives a nice fresh start.
 
edesignuk said:
Erase and install is the only way for me. Makes me clear out all the pointless data and apps that I've been keeping around that I don't need, and gives a nice fresh start.
Click to expand...

You can do that with an Archive & Install, just start cleaning the system now in preparation, deleting un-needed apps and tidying files. :)
 
Me too. I had all my apps organized for a post-Erase&Install, but after hearing from Multi, I am not going to throw away all that time. Archive & Install for me.
 
Hmm, there is a bit of confusion in this thread that I feel still hasn't been dealt with.

To put it simply:

I use WoW, MS Office, DVD Studio Pro and Adobe CS. I have about 500MB of mail, and several GB of photos and music in iPhoto and iTunes.

If I go Archive and Install, can I think start using those apps, browse photos, use iTunes etc, straight away?

Or do I have to find all my installer discs and reinstall everything?
 
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