Upgrading Hard Drive, Boot From Retail DVD?

[MacGuy88]

I just bought a new hard drive for my MacBook. I am also upgrading the OS from 10.4 to 10.5 and was wondering if I can just boot from a retail DVD of 10.5 after installing the new hard drive instead of having to go back to 10.4 and then updating. I know I'll lose all the data, but I have it backed up on an external USB hard drive.

Thanks.

 

[gr8tfly]

You can upgrade to 10.5 and migrate your apps, user and user data. Just put your current harddrive (or if your image backup is the same) mounted during installation.

edit: Get an external case your your current drive and have it connected during installation. Later, you can use it to keep an updated mirror image and continue to use your other drive for normal, incremental backups using Time Machine.

 

[MacGuy88]

you mean boot from the external usb hd? can i do that or is it firewire only?

 

[BlueRevolution]

Either USB or FireWire will work.

 

[MacGuy88]

Get an external case your your current drive and have it connected during installation. Later, you can use it to keep an updated mirror image and continue to use your other drive for normal, incremental backups using Time Machine.

great idea! i didn't think of that.

thanks for the help. i'll give it a shot and see if it works.