Tiger to leopard (backing up)

[john2006wright]

Hi guys. I’m planning on upgrading from tiger to leopard. I held off as I was writing a thesis and didn’t want to mess around with my computer. I want to make sure that if anything goes wrong during the upgrade to leopard or if I don’t like it, I can go back to Tiger. I have used the free version of SuperDuper and backed up my hard drive and this is “bootable” from my external FW hard disk. My question is if anything goes wrong or I don’t like leopard, can I return everything to the way it was using this bootable back up? Are their any other precautions or tips. I plan to either archive and install or just upgrade (not sure yet).

Thanks
John

 

[richard.mac]

yes you can erase and reinstall Tiger then use Migration Assistant in the setup to migrate your data and applications from your clone. but be warned that some application suites like CS3 & Office will require a reinstall after as the not all of their files where migrated over. but Apple's apps and the simple apps that just had a preference file or Application Support folder will work fine.

your old system will be placed in the Previous Systems folder for safe keeping. if there are files that you need in there you can retreive them. if not delete the previous system as it is a waste of space. for a list of the files and directories in the previous systems folder look here.

 

[john2006wright]

yes you can erase and reinstall Tiger then use Migration Assistant in the setup to migrate your data and applications from your clone. but be warned that some application suites like CS3 & Office will require a reinstall after as the not all of their files where migrated over. but Apple's apps and the simple apps that just had a preference file or Application Support folder will work fine.

your old system will be placed in the Previous Systems folder for safe keeping. if there are files that you need in there you can retreive them. if not delete the previous system as it is a waste of space. for a list of the files and directories in the previous systems folder look here.

Thanks, for the advice. I have lots of little free apps downloaded from the internet. I hope these don't require reinstalling.
Is their any benefit to which install method? I want to keep all my applications and settings but both upgrade and archive and install would keep these?

 

[richard.mac]

the free apps want need reinstalling. (dont quote me 100% on that )

upgrade just "upgrades" all the system files necessary over Tiger for Leopard. archive and install makes a new system (like erase and install) but keeps your user settings and data (like ugrade) and makes a previous systems directory.

archive and install is more convienient than erase and install and more reliable than an upgrade but erase and install is the most reliable.

 

[john2006wright]

the free apps want need reinstalling. (dont quote me 100% on that )

upgrade just "upgrades" all the system files necessary over Tiger for Leopard. archive and install makes a new system (like erase and install) but keeps your user settings and data (like ugrade) and makes a previous systems directory.

archive and install is more convienient than erase and install and more reliable than an upgrade but erase and install is the most reliable.

Thanks, that helps a lot. I was just wondering if its possible to partition my internal HD and install leopard on only part of my HD and then be able to boot into either Leopard or Tiger?

 

[allan.nyholm]

Thanks, that helps a lot. I was just wondering if its possible to partition my internal HD and install leopard on only part of my HD and then be able to boot into either Leopard or Tiger?

The Leopard Disk Utility, from what I hear, has non-destructive repartitioning. Just like Boot camp will create an extra partition on your harddrive without destruction. I think that the Disk Utility can produce an extra partition. Use the Leopard Disk Utility when booted from the Leopard DVD. It's up there in the Utilities? menu.

I haven't tried installing Leopard on a second partition whilst still keeping Tiger, but I can imagine that it will work since you create an extra partition. Then you can hold down the Option key on boot and choose your desired OS X.

 

[john2006wright]

interesting! Has anyone tried this. I can't believe I'm the only person to think about it. There must be a flaw somewhere because I have never heard of anyone doing it.
So I create a partition in Tiger then when I put the install sic in, I can select to install it on only one of the partitions, leaving a partition with Tiger and all data/apps.
I could then boot into either??
If I like Leopard and all my apps are OK, then I just can delete the Tiger partition and freeing up space for Leopard.

Sounds too easy?!

 

[richard.mac]

sorry wrong thread