Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

evanrousso

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 28, 2006
267
0
Will all of my data have to be backed up and will my it reformat my drive?
 

Scottyk9

macrumors 6502a
Jun 18, 2004
656
95
Canada
Always a good idea to back up your data.
Always a good idea to back up your data.
Always a good idea to back up your data.

OS X installs give you several options, many of which will leave all your files / preferences in place, and does not require a reformat of your hard drive.
 

bep207

macrumors 6502
Jul 20, 2006
259
0
perhaps with time machine, the first option will be BACK UP! then lets install
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,595
3,934
New Zealand
After the disastrous Tiger upgrade I'm going to be formatting anyway, but it's not a necessity.
 

mad jew

Moderator emeritus
Apr 3, 2004
32,191
9
Adelaide, Australia
Yeah, it's not technically a necessity but to be honest, it almost is. I tried upgrading to Tiger without reformatting and ended up going back a month later, reformatting and reinstalling from scratch. I think major OS updates such as this are one time when a reformat and install is a good thing. :)
 

SMM

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2006
1,334
0
Tiger Mountain - WA State
Nermal said:
After the disastrous Tiger upgrade I'm going to be formatting anyway, but it's not a necessity.

What disastrous upgrade? I upgraded 11 computers without a single issue. They included PB's, Mini's, iMacs and PM's.
 

bep207

macrumors 6502
Jul 20, 2006
259
0
when you do reformat, how do you ensure that all of your data and preferences get put back in place after you install
 

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Jul 17, 2005
19,118
4,096
5045 feet above sea level
if you do a clean install does the install discs of tiger for intel let you reload all the software that originally came on say my macbook?

if so how would i go about putting them on there?
 

spicyapple

macrumors 68000
Jul 20, 2006
1,724
1
Reformat the hard drive before I upgrade to Leopard. This gives me the opportunity to re-evaluate which programs I install so I don't clutter up my hard drive with rarely used apps.
 

mad jew

Moderator emeritus
Apr 3, 2004
32,191
9
Adelaide, Australia
bep207 said:
when you do reformat, how do you ensure that all of your data and preferences get put back in place after you install


That depends how have everything backed up. I actually find it quite therapeutic to reconfigure all my apps and settings manually but some people prefer to just dump their old preferences back in the equivalent spot on the new install. Of course, then you run the risk that the preferences won't be compatible with the newer OS.

In short, I reload my data (music, movies, documents et cetera) from backup and then use .Mac to resync my iCal, Address Book and Mail.


dukebound85 said:
if you do a clean install does the install discs of tiger for intel let you reload all the software that originally came on say my macbook?

if so how would i go about putting them on there?


Nah, you have to reload the other software from the bundled discs because they're not included with regular retail versions of the OS. Usually this is simply a case of inserting the disc and doing a custom install of some of the apps but sometimes you need an app like Pacifist to find certain app's installer packages. :)
 

jhu

macrumors 6502a
Apr 4, 2004
854
1
evanrousso said:
Will all of my data have to be backed up and will my it reformat my drive?

if apple completely replaces ufs+ with zfs (which they might do) then yes, unless they give the option of either non-destructively converting the user's filesystem from ufs+ to zfs or allowing the user to use ufs+
 

kainjow

Moderator emeritus
Jun 15, 2000
7,958
7
If Leopard fully supports ZFS, I'm 100% backing up my drive and reformatting with ZFS. :D
 

nightelf

macrumors 6502
Mar 25, 2003
272
1
I always backup and format when installing a new system, just to avoid any possible conflict. It also helps me clean some old files that I no longer need or want.
 

gauchogolfer

macrumors 603
Jan 28, 2005
5,551
5
American Riviera
Is this a sign of ZFS in Leopard (Time Machine)?

kainjow said:

from the article said:
10. Clones with no ethical issues


The simple creation of snapshots and clones of filesystems makes living with ZFS so much more enjoyable. A snapshot is a read-only point-in-time copy of a filesystem which takes practically no time to create and uses no additional space at the beginning. Any snapshot can be cloned to make a read-write filesystem and any snapshot of a filesystem can be restored to the original filesystem to return to the previous state. Snapshots can be written to other storage (disk, tape), transferred to another system, and converted back into a filesystem.

Do you think this is how Time Machine is going to be implemented?
 

kainjow

Moderator emeritus
Jun 15, 2000
7,958
7
gauchogolfer said:
Do you think this is how Time Machine is going to be implemented?
I wouldn't be surprised. I bet at least some part of Time Machine uses ZFS.
 

ChickenSwartz

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2006
903
0
bep207 said:
perhaps with time machine, the first option will be BACK UP! then lets install

You install then time machine takes you back in time to the point before the upgrade to back everything up before you install Leopard, genius.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.