Update to 10.5 or Fresh Install

[Hawkeye411]

Would it be best to erase the HD and do a "fresh" install of 10.5?

Is there any advantage to performing a fresh install compared to an update?

Of course, a fresh install means that I would have to reinstall all of my software so I am wondering if an update could lead to any problems or if it would leave old files on the HD that would take up space etc. etc. etc. props cons .. yada yada

Cheers.

 

[rsvrmille]

files to copy first before install?

what files do you need to copy to another drive before the fresh install?

I'm guessing these as starters
-home dir documents
-photos
-music
-downloads
-any app files for re-install

(bookmarks, etc sync'd with .mac so should be ok)

any others????

 

[johnnyjibbs]

I've had my Mac since Jaguar, and I've update-installed both Panther and Tiger with no problems. I will be doing the same with Leopard this weekend. (New Mac next year!!)

A lot of people will say that clean install is the only way to go but, to be honest, I don't think it really makes any difference. The performance of my Mac has always improved with each update, not gotten worse. Apple is very neat in the way that it organises Mac OS X - there is absolutely no need to delete all your documents and applications, just to have them put back again afterwards.

But, hell, back up just in case.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Unless you are having serious issues w/ Tiger or whatever version of OS X you are using, an upgrade is the way to go unless you are bored. There is no advantage to doing a clean install if your system is working OK. If you trust Apple then trust the upgrade will work great too.

 

[mxpiazza]

i would also like more information on this. i have done a clean install from 10.1 through 10.4, but i just don't have the time or the desire to to a clean install and then copy over individual prefs and crap to the new OS.

anyone with any clear benefits of doing a clean install over an upgrade?

 

[Ariez]

I always do clean install because I like a fresh new OS when im done.

 

[JW008]

I just posted this elsewhere, but since this is an active topic...

So I'm manually backing up all my files by simply dragging and dropping my home folder items and my applications into my external hard drive.

I know this isn't the best way to do it, but I'm not particularly worried because I plan on either redownloading most Apps or reinstalling them from the discs.

The only thing I'm really worried about is that I cannot, for the life of me, get my "Library" in my home folder to copy to my external drive. How big of a deal is this? The only thing I'm REALLY worried about are my photos, movies and music/videos. If I lose the functionalities of my applications, I'm not particularly worried. Anyone have any comments/suggestions?

I'm doing a clean install, by the way...

 

[ascender]

I've done a clean install on both machines so far. I think that's just a hangover from my old days in PC support where a fresh install was definitely the best way of doing things. I'm not sure if its as such a big advantage these days but given I had a fresh backup thought it was the best option.

Very impressed with the install routine for Leopard, incredibly quick and with minimal user input.

 

[zen]

Yeah, I used to be always archive and install, then reinstall everything else manually, but I think us old timers need to face facts:

It's 2007, Mac OS X Leopard is a UNIX-certified OS, we all have gargantuan hard drives full of junk, and run apps that take freakin' hours to reinstall. Then there is the 1 GB of email, and the Quicktime Pro serial number you swore was in the top draw, and you really want to play WoW but it takes 2 hours to install then another 3 downloading all the patches.

On top of all that, everyone is busy these days.

So as much as I might get some geeky enjoyment over sitting in front of my Mac doing nothing for a whole evening while I archive install then get everything back to where it was, it fills me with a deep sense of dread.

Life is too short. I'm upgrading this. If it didn't work, it wouldn't be an option. Apple know what they are doing.

 

[DerChef]

I am doing an Upgrade for several reasons.

1. My Macbook and Tiger installation is not that old so there is very little detritus on the drive. and even if it was this is OS X not XP. I am confident I know where everything I installed on my HD is and when I removed stuff I got rid of everything.

2. I have a clone of my Tiger installation on TWO external HD's ready to go if there are issues.

3. I don't use potentially dodgy third party plugins for Apple apps like Mail and Safari

4. A big one for me is I only have dial up networking at home and the thought of having to reinstall things like CS3, iwork, iLife and Toast and download their updates does not bear thinking about.

5. When I installed Tiger on my old machine in 2005 I hit upgrade by mistake not paying attention and everything was fine no issues at all.

6. Finally you might as well see what problem areas there might exist AT THE START i.e test it to its limits on your system rather than listen to what others are saying. If there are issues fine wipe the drive and do a clean install

 

[Hawkeye411]

Yeah, I used to be always archive and install, then reinstall everything else manually, but I think us old timers need to face facts:

It's 2007, Mac OS X Leopard is a UNIX-certified OS, we all have gargantuan hard drives full of junk, and run apps that take freakin' hours to reinstall. Then there is the 1 GB of email, and the Quicktime Pro serial number you swore was in the top draw, and you really want to play WoW but it takes 2 hours to install then another 3 downloading all the patches.

On top of all that, everyone is busy these days.

So as much as I might get some geeky enjoyment over sitting in front of my Mac doing nothing for a whole evening while I archive install then get everything back to where it was, it fills me with a deep sense of dread.

Life is too short. I'm upgrading this. If it didn't work, it wouldn't be an option. Apple know what they are doing.

Your absolutely right Zen... I also would rather be playing WOW

I have always been a Windows (DOS before windows) user and just bought my first MAC 2 years ago. Guess I will CC Clone the HD and then try the upgrade.

I was also wondering if a clean install would ultimately end up (after reinstalling my software and finding all of the registration codes ) in using less HD space. My MacBook only has 40GB of space remaining!

Cheers.