I have a late model iBook G3 that I was thinking of installing Tiger on. It's no longer my main computer but Jaguar is really beginning to show it's age. If I choose the "Upgrade OS X" option in the Tiger installer I won't have to reinstall my applications correct? I searched but all the information I found talked about keeping the user prefrerences and made no mention of the applications. I guess I am just being a worry wart but I just don't want this to be a hassle.
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Question about the "Upgrade OS X" option when installing tiger
- Thread starter Redline13
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pmartin said:
I thought about that but woulnd't i have to re register some of my application such as photoshop 7? I thought maybe I could avoid the whole mess by just doing the upgrade. I know some people consider it to be less reliable then an archive and install.
Redline13 said:
This is absolutely correct...I would just go ahead and do the upgrade install. It will preserve all of your apps and settings. There is a possibility there could be hiccups in the future, but chances are it'll be fine. If you do happen to have problems, you can do an Archive and Install or Erase and Install later. Take the easy route for now since it's not your main machine.
Although, I did an Erase and Install on my old iBook G3 when I upgraded to Tiger and it made things much snappier. Cleaning out all the old junk that has built up over time can improve performance on older machines. But if you're happy with the way yours runs, the Upgrade option will be fine.
I used the basic upgrade option for Tiger and had no problems whatsoever. If everything is running well on your present system the upgrade should be fine. You might want to check the versions of your apps before upgrading and make sure you have current Tiger-compatible versions
Although Archive and Install is a great feature for resolving some Mac system problems/issues that are difficult to diagnose or resolve, I'm not a fan of using it as the defacto way of upgrading. Although it will preserve most of your settings (if you choose preserve user settings) it isn't aware of everything third party apps install and some could break after an Archive and Install. Should that happen, they will need to be reinstalled which is just a waste of time if it was otherwise working properly before the upgrade (and is Tiger-compatible). Even some of Apple's own apps such as Garageband will not survive an Archive and Install and need to be reinstalled afterwards.
You also end up reinstalling fonts and other files that you ordinarily wouldn't need to for an OS upgrade. Again, that's great for troubleshooting, especially if the trouble turns out to be some font-related issue, but it's another waste of time otherwise. The basic upgrade option only replaces the system files that need to be replaced and leaves everything else alone. All in all, that's exactly what you want for an upgrade.
Although Archive and Install is a great feature for resolving some Mac system problems/issues that are difficult to diagnose or resolve, I'm not a fan of using it as the defacto way of upgrading. Although it will preserve most of your settings (if you choose preserve user settings) it isn't aware of everything third party apps install and some could break after an Archive and Install. Should that happen, they will need to be reinstalled which is just a waste of time if it was otherwise working properly before the upgrade (and is Tiger-compatible). Even some of Apple's own apps such as Garageband will not survive an Archive and Install and need to be reinstalled afterwards.
You also end up reinstalling fonts and other files that you ordinarily wouldn't need to for an OS upgrade. Again, that's great for troubleshooting, especially if the trouble turns out to be some font-related issue, but it's another waste of time otherwise. The basic upgrade option only replaces the system files that need to be replaced and leaves everything else alone. All in all, that's exactly what you want for an upgrade.