Switcher Q: Installing programs; Do I need to format every 6 months like windows?

[fartheststar]

so, does it mean, just UPDATING the OS would be ok?

e.g. one old g4 has x.3.9 (and this g4 is not the cleanest computer. programs installed, which i don't use no more etc.). i want to upgrade it to x.4. would the performance not suffer?

Although it would probably be fine.... I hear "less" people who are upset doing clean installs. Less troubles. Sure it takes longer, but it gives you a chance to do some housecleaning. There's a lot of files in OSX under the hood.
Good way to keep the machine clean.

But in MOST cases, upgrading is probably fine - from the feedback rec'd here... always backup before you do either.

 

[mills04]

I've only ever had to reinstall once, and that was when I was sending something over my network to a Windows PC and I accidently shut down my iBook lid.

I always back up my stuff every week to my Lacie drive. Just to be safe.

I always use OnyX to repair permissions and run maintenance scripts. Does the job ok.

Happy Mac-ing.

 

[generik]

You may need to do it if you use this command:

sudo rm -rf /*

 

[wiseguy27]

You may need to do it if you use this command:

sudo rm -rf /*

Yup! Do it from a 'Terminal' window and look away for a while.

What better way to spend some free time?!

 

[Makosuke]

Heh. When I bought my G4 tower, it had 10.0 installed but came with the CD for 10.1; I installed 10.1 right over the top of 10.0 and it worked great. Then 10.2 came out, and I installed it right over the top of 10.1. Then 10.3 came out, and I installed it right over the top of 10.2.

Heh... that sounds like me. I did exactly the same thing with my old G4 tower (except I installed 10.0 the day it shipped), except at the point of upgrade between 10.2 and 10.3 I also moved the OS to a G5--cloned 10.2 to the G5's drive, then installed a straight 10.3 upgrade right on top of it. Never even did an archive and install.

Worked great except for this one little glitch that, so far as I could figure from the three other people in the world who reported it, only occurred on G5s that had been upgrade-installed from 10.2 to 10.3 and had over 2GB of RAM. And even that was just a minor annoyance.

10.4, I did finally do a completely fresh install and use the migration thingy to move my users over, but I doubt even that was necessary.

So no, I wouldn't get too worked up about reinstalling unless there's a very good reason. If you particularly love system hacks (as opposed to just a lot of apps), then eventually you might screw something up badly enough that an archive and install is required, but even then I'd only do it if there's a specific reason for it.