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Will you upgrade or do a fresh install of Leopard?
- Thread starter lamina
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Most likely reformat if it's as simple as putting the cd in and telling it not to upgrade. Clean start. Hopefully all of my software will still work on Leopard.
With Leopard, it will really depend on the timing of when the new OS and the Mac Pro come out. If both are timed to come together then there'd be no need to reformat or upgrade!
However in the past I've never felt the need to reformat. An upgrade has always done the trick for me.
However in the past I've never felt the need to reformat. An upgrade has always done the trick for me.
Not exactly reformat, but I'll install it on a separate drive/partition and keep Tiger around (and bootable) until I'm satisfied with Leopard as my only OS. That's what I did with every previous upgrade -- Puma -> Jaguar, Jaguar -> Panther, and Panther -> Tiger. In the last case, it was particularly useful because Tiger had a USB bug where it would kernel panic every few days on my machine, so I stuck with Panther for a few months after buying Tiger. It turned out to be a USB mini-hub that I later ditched, though I still contend that the software should have handled it more gracefully instead of crashing. I only recently blew away my Panther install to reclaim some space on that disk.
For most people, I strongly recommend the Archive & Install option. It's the best of both worlds -- little to no incompatibility problems, your old system is still there in case you need to copy something over, and you still get a clean system. I'd do this too, but I'm such a control freak that I prefer to do a clean install on a new disk/partition and manually copy over whatever I'm missing until I'm satisfied.
I'm sure Apple's done a nice job with it, but I still advise everyone to stay far away from the Upgrade option. There's simply no way for them to anticipate every little piece of third-party software you may have installed which made subtle changes to your existing system. Those changes, when carried forward into the new OS, could spell unexpected trouble. At the very best, you'll have a lot of extra unused crap laying around your new system taking up disk space. At the worst, that crap will interfere with the new system and cause problems. I don't think the Upgrade is worth that risk at all.
For most people, I strongly recommend the Archive & Install option. It's the best of both worlds -- little to no incompatibility problems, your old system is still there in case you need to copy something over, and you still get a clean system. I'd do this too, but I'm such a control freak that I prefer to do a clean install on a new disk/partition and manually copy over whatever I'm missing until I'm satisfied.
I'm sure Apple's done a nice job with it, but I still advise everyone to stay far away from the Upgrade option. There's simply no way for them to anticipate every little piece of third-party software you may have installed which made subtle changes to your existing system. Those changes, when carried forward into the new OS, could spell unexpected trouble. At the very best, you'll have a lot of extra unused crap laying around your new system taking up disk space. At the worst, that crap will interfere with the new system and cause problems. I don't think the Upgrade is worth that risk at all.
what i will do is wait 3 weeks after it is in people's hands, to make sure everything is OK and get a 10.5.1 update, THEN reformat.
I will reformat. The only issue will be backing up my entire itunes library, i think that will be about 4 dvds lol.
Never done a clean install, never needed one. They're way too disruptive. That's why I use a Mac.
Definitely not reformatting, but I'm not sure if I want to Upgrade & Install or Archive & Install.
Clean installs at work with new installs of CS3 and Quark 7 on four, maybe five Macs. Archive and install installs on the other 4 that don't run productivity apps.
At home, not sure. The clean install of Tiger from Panther was a pain, especially with Mail and reactivating/updating apps. I'll wait to read the whimpers and howls from bleeding-edge adopters here first.
At home, not sure. The clean install of Tiger from Panther was a pain, especially with Mail and reactivating/updating apps. I'll wait to read the whimpers and howls from bleeding-edge adopters here first.
What can I say? I'm a clean install kinda guy....plus I have a backup of everything that's important to me, so, no harm no foul.
i have absolutely no experience, But I DO hope that in this kind of process, upgrade of the OS would be easy and safe. There will be too much data need to be moving around if i were to re-format it.
I did reformat on my windows laptop several years ago when I installed XP, but thats when I had 3 partitions, I can safely format C drive without worrying about data loss, my MB only has a single partition, so reformat is really not reasonable for me.
I did reformat on my windows laptop several years ago when I installed XP, but thats when I had 3 partitions, I can safely format C drive without worrying about data loss, my MB only has a single partition, so reformat is really not reasonable for me.
I always reformat -- it gives me the excuse to go through all my accumulated documents and trash unwanted stuff.
Of course, you have to be good about archiving your stuff before erasing the disk!
The difference from Windows and Mac, in my opinion, is that I tend to reformat and reinstall my Windows machine every 3-6 months to recover from some problem. Excessive, but I hate trying to diagnose what's wrong with the registry, etc.
Can't wait until Leopard arrives!
Of course, you have to be good about archiving your stuff before erasing the disk!
The difference from Windows and Mac, in my opinion, is that I tend to reformat and reinstall my Windows machine every 3-6 months to recover from some problem. Excessive, but I hate trying to diagnose what's wrong with the registry, etc.
Can't wait until Leopard arrives!
Nothing beats a fresh reformat! Like others have mentioned it'll cause me to go through and trash unwanted documents and programs.
And PLUS it makes it feel like you just got a brand new computer xD
And PLUS it makes it feel like you just got a brand new computer xD
I know IJ Reilly will be in here momentarily to yell at everyone formatting, but, I'm gonna. It's just an illogical holdover from my Windows days. But it's so easy for me to back my stuff up, why not?
EDIT: Ah, should've guessed he'd already be here.
EDIT: Ah, should've guessed he'd already be here.
Well for me it depends on whether I have my MacBook Pro by the time it releases, which is doubtful.
I have a question though: will Leopard run on a midrange G3? I have a 600 MHz G3 iBook with 640 MB of RAM. I know I couldn't use all the Intel optimized stuff, but since it's universal would I be able to run at least the PPC components? Every OS update has sped me up a bit starting with 10.2.
I have a question though: will Leopard run on a midrange G3? I have a 600 MHz G3 iBook with 640 MB of RAM. I know I couldn't use all the Intel optimized stuff, but since it's universal would I be able to run at least the PPC components? Every OS update has sped me up a bit starting with 10.2.
ill be getting my macbook as soon as possible after the hardware revision. Ill do a clean install though, anyone know if its possible to slipstream updates onto a new install disc?