Tiger: Upgrade, Archive and Install, or Clean Install?

@Stripes @Gregory Thank you for the tips!

Can you use the Backup app in Panther and then load your backup file in Tiger?

Martin S. If you choose Archive and Install, all those things you mention will be restored as all User accounts and Network settings are preserved. Keep a few things in mind: If you have moved applications and libraries from their default locations you may have trouble with updates and such. I recommend to people that they leave the organization of Apps and things like iTunes/iPhoto libraries in the default locations unless they 1. Know what they are doing and 2.have back up copies. It would be prudent to make a back up of your Home folder before you do things like upgrade to a new version of OSX (or any other OS for that matter).

hey there, but how do i backup my settings like my email-settings and emails, my bookmarks, my adressbook, my ical-events, my playlists in iTunes, my iPhoto-albums etc...? i am new to osx and my powerbook is configured just the way i love it. how do i backup this data to get it back in tiger without typing it all in again? thanks, i am very looking forward to tiger!

Well, after the problems with the 10.3.9 upgrade, I will be cautious with Tiger. However, I have a large firewire drive so I will simply do a full backup to the external drive, and then upgrade to Tiger. I may even go so far as to do a full clean install, since I can get everything back off of the external drive, there isn't much to worry about.

Oh, I should add: if you have an external drive the same size or bigger than your installed drive, something like CarbonCopyCloner is the tool for making a perfect backup. Plus, you will find that after Archive and Install you will have a folder called "Previous Systems" on your drive. This is where the odd tidbit of preferences and so on can be found if an App forgets itself and is set to defaults - rare, but happens. You can't boot from the system in there but it has a copy of all the old stuff in it.

As a developer, I've been dual booting between Tiger & Panther on my PowerBook for about 4 months now. I'm looking forward to working full time in Tiger! Most likely, I'll copy any important data from my Tiger partition and do a clean install. Then, over a week or so, I'll migrate my Panther data and apps to Tiger.

Hi new Mac users! Welcome. I am a long time Mac user and I have been on OSX since 10.0.4. I most often do this: 1. back up important stuff (never had trouble, but the first time you don't - you do, if you know what I mean) 2. Go to Applications > Utilities and launch Disk Utility. select your drive, run Repair Permissions 3. Boot with the Install CD and from the installer menu launch Disk Utility again and run First Aid. 4. Install OSX selecting Archive and Install (import User and Network settings) from the options. 5. sit back and chill out. 6. Restart 7. Marvel briefly at all that is new and then launch Disk Utility and run Repair Permissions again. 8. Restart and enjoy (some people, including myself, clear out logs and caches using a tool like Cocktail or MacJanitor before Repair Permissions. I don't always do that step) I have had zero trouble with Upgrades or new versions doing it this way (at least as long as Archive and Install has been available). I will point out that it seems to be good advice to always use the COMBO updater rather than the incremental (DELTA) updater when Software Update sends a point release of the OS. I have Tiger on pre-order! Enjoy yours, I am sure I will enjoy mine.

mini howto on backing up: get yourself an external firewire or USB hard drive (www.pricewatch.com can find you good prices, or you can run out to the local computer store). Follow whatever instructions that drive has for using it with a Mac (normally "run Disk Utility and format it as HFS"). Make a folder on the drive call it something like "Home Backups", go into the finder and open "Macintosh HD" then "Users", you should see a directory for each user on your Mac, copy them to "Home Backups" (you may only be able to copy the folder for the current user, if so, switch users and back up each one with important stuff). If you installed any Applications in /Applications, make another folder on your external drive, and copy them there. Congratulations, you are now backed up. There is probably a much easier way, but your done. Enjoy it. When you install Tiger you can select "Erase Disk and install", but personally I go for "Archive and Install (preserve user accounts)" which will leave you a copy of anything the installer thinks you changes in the new "Previous Systems" folder, and keeps your user directory and apps you installed. However I like to do the full backup first anyway. Mostly because it is good to have a full backup done once in a while, and an OS install is a good excuse to do another.

I'm going to wait until 10.4.1 comes around, so I'll have plenty of time to think about it (and get a larger HD!). Meanwhile, I'll be reading the posts. 10.3.1 installed with the "archive & install" option worked very well for me both coming from 10.2.x and later on, for a reinstall after a drive burp damaged the system. Likely, I will copy Panther to a larger drive (with SuperDuper!) and do an archive & install on it. I never have been able to do spring cleaning very well in the springtime anyway, too many nice distractions!