Upgrading 10.4 to 10.6 - any gotchas?

[jeremy h]

Hi Everyone

Currently running two Macs for work. A 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook pro on 10.4.11 and also a PowerMac 2x2.8GHz Quad core Intel Xeon running 10.5.8.

It's becoming obvious I'm going to have to go to at least 10.6 for the new Adobe Suite at some point. I have a copy of Snow Leopard on order and it will be with me soon.

My intention is to try a straight upgrade to 10.6 on the laptop first. (If that turns into a disaster and can spend time fixing it.) I'd rather not wipe the disc but just do an upgrade over the top. I'm running the usual Graphics stuff CS 5.5, Cinema 4D etc plus a bundle of fonts.

Anything I should watch out for? In the past I've normally just done clean installs etc Should I de-install and then reinstall the CS suite after the upgrade or can I just go for it?

 

[ixodes]

In the interest of doing it just once... right, I'd highly encourage you to do a clean install. While it's a bit more work, you'll be so happy with the outcome.

 

[jeremy h]

Ok, yes... I thought that's what everyone would say.

This the point when I start looking for all the software on the shelf and start beating myself up for not being very organised.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Dave Braine]

It should work ok, but, obviously do a back up first.

You could do it a couple of ways:

1. Make a bootable backup, then install SL straight onto Tiger. You'll have to update some software and printer drivers afterwards.

2. Make a bootable backup, do a clean install of SL then use Migration Assistant to transfer everything from the backup.

3. Make a bootable backup, install SL onto that external drive, play with it, update as required, all the time having your MacBook to work on if you run into problems. When happy just clone the external drive back to your MacBook.

 

[jeremy h]

Thanks for your response Dave. Having thought about it I am probably going to try something like option 1 on the laptop. On the PowerMac I'm probably going to do a clean install (Once I've got the laptop working as a backup.)

I've got three internals in the PowerMac and I am toying with the idea of replacing the drive with the system on (I keep that separate from the drives with my work on.) and doing a clean install on the new drive. My applications are on that one so I'll have to remember to deactivate everything. My one concern on the Macpro is how VMware Fusion will re-install - but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.