Filed under: OS
Tiger: Upgrade, Archive and Install, or Clean Install?
Tiger is coming, and I'm ever so excited. Every time Apple comes out with a new up date to OS X I become less and less focused on the real world and more and more focused on what the new Intro video and accompanying music are like.A few days ago C.K. wanted to know what voodoo you do before you install a major OS rev, like Tiger. What I want to know is installation method do you use? Are you a nuke and paver? Or do you prefer the Upgrade route? Perhaps you archive and install (the best, or worst, of both worlds)?
I typically just upgrade (after I back up my data, of course), but I am open to suggestions and if I know anything about you, our dear readers, you're a suggestive lot!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jake of 8bitjoystick.com said 5:49AM on 7-09-2005
I am probably just going to back up my hard drive to my external USB hard drive and then run the upgrade. I have a month old iBook running 10.3.9 and I doubt that I will run into any major problems. I have faith in Apple
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Laurie said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
I like to use major OS upgrades as an excuse to clean house and get rid of a lot of the crap I manage to accumulate over the years - so for me this one will be a clean install, then a surgically precise re-integration of my user folder (from that morning's backup of course) and reinstallation of only my most-used Applications. Other apps can get installed as-needed over time.
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ethan kaplan said 2:33AM on 9-26-2005
With a major update, its better to do completely clean. Plus it forces spring cleaning of unused apps, defunct prefs, old directory structures, downloads, etc.
Nothing beats a spiffy blank hard drive in my book. I have a spare 250 gig external disk just for this purpose (and daily backups).
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Kevin said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
First, I jump for joy and go hug the FedEX guy. Then I tear open the box and whip out the DVD and throw it in the powerbook's drive. Then it's just archive and upgrade! After I play with Tiger for a couple days I'll do a complete format and install.
oh yeah... I plan to ask every peecee user at work if their peecee can do this (while pointing at the dashboard).
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Bryan said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
"oh yeah... I plan to ask every peecee user at work if their peecee can do this (while pointing at the dashboard)."
And those folks will probably load Konfabulator and say: "Yes. Yes it can."
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Kevin said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
I meant the animations and effects, konfabulator is nice but doesn't seem to have the refinement that dashboard does.
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Felipe said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
I'm more of a kamikaze user. I upgrade without backing anything up. Although now I'm between macs, will all my data backed up in an external HD, and I'll probably wait to install Tiger before copying everyting I have to my new PowerBook.
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Tom said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
In the case of Panther, I did an Upgrade and things went OK. However for Tiger, I'm going to back up my data onto an external drive, wipe the internal drive and install everything (OS X and apps) from scratch. Partly this is due to the magnitude of the OS changes, partly due to having several new apps to install at the same time (Adobe CS2 primarily) but also because I have a two-month old PowerBook into which I installed the 60GB drive from my old PB - so it needs a thorough update.
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bryan Webster said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
this is what i will do
backup all my data, wipe the disk and install tiger, then reinstall all my apps
then when i restore my documents i am just going to throw them all in one folder, not seperated into a music folder / pictures folder etc and then i will see exactly how good spotlight is :)
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Cullen said 9:39PM on 11-22-2005
is anyone else getting tired of having this question asked over and over? :]
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Dean Shan said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
Clean Install is the best way to do it. I will clean install my computers (after backing up of course) once a year, this goes with both my Mac and Windows computers. Computers just get bogged down every couple of month or so with just standard use. So come May I am going to open up my laptop, install a new HD and clean install Tiger onto it. It will be like a whole new machine.
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amb34 said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
Great, you know for us switchers (pc to mini a month ago), we have to figure out how to backup, how to erase the hd, how to do a clean install (all things I can do on xp half asleep).
Maybe I should just update. But then, I can clean up all the crap I've done to the mini thusfar.
I guess, back up stuff to my iPod, and figure out how to do a clean install. Why not waste the weekend screwing around with Tiger. Hell, I hardly know what Panther does, and I already have to go and covet Tiger.
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Richard Smith said 7:06AM on 7-13-2005
I will clear the spare partition of my harddrive that I use for "stuff", and install Tiger on that. Then I can install applications and documents in the evenings, switching back to my intact Panther install to work, until the new OS is tested and ready to use.
Then I can clear the Panther installation and put the "stuff" back on that partition.
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Tiernan OToole said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
since this is my first major upgrade from one version of OSX to the next, i will be nuking and paving. i have started the backup process at the moment, and once my disk arives on the 29th (which it better) i will be ready!
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Mikey said 10:21AM on 6-28-2005
I plan to do a clean install. My iBook still has a dual load of Panther and OS 9 (talk about lazy)
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len said 10:31AM on 8-21-2005
i will certainly deck my pb and start fresh with a new install of tiger. one question, tho - as i'm one of the 11 people left who still uses quark5, i'll still need classic on the box. must i install classic first, then tiger, or can i install tiger and then classic?
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Scott-O-Rama said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
Maybe it's a side effect of my days as a Windows user, but I plan to do a clean install. I never trust upgrades.
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faentur said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
I am a life long "nuke and paver". For me, it has always made a good excuse to clean house. I have seen too many things go wrong with OS upgrades over the years. I'll just reinstall, thank you.
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lgc90too said 11:21PM on 8-16-2005
This will be my first major os upgrade, and a clean install seems to be all the rage these days. I guess i'll just back up and replace everything I need.
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harry said 2:27AM on 10-20-2005
I'm going to backup and wipe my HD, but I have a niggling problem.
Remember reading how emails in Tiger are stored in completely different format to Panther (so Spotlight can search them)?
If I backup my .mbox emails from Panther to an external HD, how will I convert them into the new Tiger Mail?
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