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Leopard upgrade strategy?


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Leopard upgrade strategy?
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Squadra T
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Brussels
 
2007-10-18, 12:18

OK here's the thing I've been unsure about since I switched to the Mac.

I bought my first Mac back in 2005 with Tiger pre-installed. Now I am wondering what the best way is to upgrade it to Leopard. Just run the Leopard installer and upgrade my Tiger installation? Or format and clean install?

In the Windows world the rule of thumb kinda was "format and clean install is the way to go". Still a bit in that mind set, I would like to do this with my Mac to so I have a nice and clean Leopard installation. Of course it is more work and might get tricky when I want to transfer all my stuff (e.g will Mail 3 have trouble with my copied mail folder from Mail 2 without running the upgrade procedure?)

So, what is the best way, or which method do you prefer?

Rev High !

Squadra T
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ghoti
owner for sale by house
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Charlotte, NC
 
2007-10-18, 12:29

I would wait a few days just to see if any issues come up. Then you can do an archive and update, which will preserve the old system (you can delete those files later) and also of course keep all your data. It's still a good idea to have a current backup just in case, but so far I think Apple's track record with updates is very good.

OSX also doesn't need the regular cleanup that Windows needs (or used to, don't think that's such a big issue any more), so you can save yourself a lot of time and work by simply upgrading.
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turbulentfurball
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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2007-10-18, 12:35

I'm going run the installer and see how it goes on my MacBook. I having nothing on it I'd be scared to lose; all my media is on my Mini. The MacBook is my primary computer though. If there are any issues, I'll wait until 10.5.1 before installing on my Mini.
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duyvan82
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Sydney, Australia
 
2007-10-18, 12:55

i'm gonna take this opportunity to ask my question as well, since it's kinda related to what has been discussed here.

I'm fairly new to Mac and OSX (i've been on Mac for just more than a year now) and this is my first OSX upgrade. So the question is, would it be safe to do a clean install and then use "migration assistant" to copy my Tiger home folder over to the new Leopard installation?

I'm asking because there are quite a few things I don't want to throw away, things like my mails, my adium's chat transcripts, my games' highscores ^^ and stuff like that.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
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2007-10-18, 13:00

Quote:
Originally Posted by duyvan82 View Post
So the question is, would it be safe to do a clean install and then use "migration assistant" to copy my Tiger home folder over to the new Leopard installation?
Absolutely.
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Schnauzer
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Arizona
 
2007-10-18, 15:54

I am goona do a clean install, but thats just me
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Squadra T
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Brussels
 
2007-10-18, 16:17

Quote:
Originally Posted by Schnauzer View Post
I am goona do a clean install, but thats just me
And also use the migration assistant trick to get all your stuff back?
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Koodari
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Join Date: Jun 2004
 
2007-10-18, 16:18

If I recall correctly, in the three years I've had a Mac, I have never done a clean install on my main system. I brought all my crap from Powerbook to iBook, upgraded from 10.3 to 10.4 in place, and then went from iBook to Macbook. The last one is certainly the most radical. I wouldn't dream of forgoing clean install with any other OS when moving across processor architectures.

I'm going to do a clean Tiger install right about now though. I have a new internal HD waiting and have no cable to plug it in, so the only choice is to round up all my data and store it on external HD, then do a clean install on the new internal.

Or well.. I guess I could do an intermediate install on the external drive, then migrate from there, but I find that too complicated, and once in three years isn't a bad time to clean house.

Leopard I'm going to upgrade in place, of course.
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PB PM
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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2007-10-18, 16:35

I was going to do a clean install, but I just did one last week so I think I'll just upgrade when Leopard comes.
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iThink therefore iMac
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Join Date: May 2005
 
2007-10-18, 18:39

Quote:
Originally Posted by Squadra T View Post
And also use the migration assistant trick to get all your stuff back?
I've never used migration assistant before. I have my important stuff backed up on an external hard drive (USB only)...will migration assistant still work?
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Schnauzer
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Arizona
 
2007-10-18, 19:19

Quote:
Originally Posted by Squadra T View Post
And also use the migration assistant trick to get all your stuff back?

Nope, I will just put all my Imac files (mainly Itunes) that I want onto my powerbook via firewire and "Target Disk" mode. Then Repeat to pull them off.
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Wyatt
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Near Indianapolis
 
2007-10-18, 22:30

A related, but slightly different question for me: can you use the migration assistant to pull data off a USB hard drive? I'm planning to do a clean install either way, but it would be nice to be able to use the assistant instead of having to do it manually.

Also, is there any way to back up my photo books from iPhoto? Can I just back up the whole iPhoto library package/folder and restore it to keep all my books I'm working on?

Twitter: bwyatt | Xbox: @playsbadly | Instagram: @bw317
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duyvan82
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Sydney, Australia
 
2007-10-19, 01:11

Quote:
Originally Posted by iThink therefore iMac View Post
I've never used migration assistant before. I have my important stuff backed up on an external hard drive (USB only)...will migration assistant still work?
It will work as long as the USB drive contains an OSX installation. I tested it myself last week. I was having constant kernel panics after upgrading to 10.4.10, I then decided to do a fresh install and use migration assistant to copy my home folder which i had backed up with superduper! worked like a charm

Quote:
Originally Posted by Koodari View Post
I'm going to do a clean Tiger install right about now though. I have a new internal HD waiting and have no cable to plug it in, so the only choice is to round up all my data and store it on external HD, then do a clean install on the new internal.
you could just use superduper! to clone your old internal drive onto your external drive, then restore it onto your new internal drive

PS: I ain't working for Superduper! just in case you are wondering ROFL
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Taskiss
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: St. Louis, MO
 
2007-10-19, 07:52

My Leopard upgrade strategy is A) Beg the wife to allow me to buy that 1 TB firewire drive I've been wanting, and B) Beg the wife to allow me to buy the Leopard upgrade and C) Beg the wife to allow me to spend the time playing with my stuff long enough to get smtp on Leopard working with postfix in spite of her frustration over how much time I spent getting it to work a couple of months ago...since I honestly don't know exactly what it was I did to finally get it working.

See where this is going?

There won't be much of a technical challenge with the upgrade, but that won't mean it's going to be easy...

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Koodari
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
 
2007-10-19, 08:32

Quote:
Originally Posted by duyvan82 View Post
It will work as long as the USB drive contains an OSX installation. I tested it myself last week. I was having constant kernel panics after upgrading to 10.4.10, I then decided to do a fresh install and use migration assistant to copy my home folder which i had backed up with superduper! worked like a charm



you could just use superduper! to clone your old internal drive onto your external drive, then restore it onto your new internal drive

PS: I ain't working for Superduper! just in case you are wondering ROFL
Hmm.. I didn't realize it is free for basic use. Thanks for the tip! I think I'm still doing the fresh install this time.
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jdcfsu
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
 
2007-10-19, 16:49

What is the best way to determine if my third-party apps are ready for Leopard -- or will there be no problems upon updating?
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2007-10-20, 05:02

Quote:
Originally Posted by jdcfsu View Post
What is the best way to determine if my third-party apps are ready for Leopard
Trying out yourself, asking their developers or asking someone who has tried.
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