Wipe it out, start fresh, with something like spotlight, I want a clean install, think of the time and utter PITA of the initial index, surely in an upgrade something would break, it is the nature of the beast.
Good point. Spotlight index takes about 2 hours now, and the machine sounds as if it's gonna walk off the table from all the disk thrashing. Anything that would reduce the junk that it has to index would be a great idea.
Yes, it can be daunting, but once you get going, it's very easy. Of course that again depends on your level of preparations.
Back up everything. That is the easy part. Adjusting the OS to your liking, I'm sorry to say, is another ballgame. Not because it's difficult, but because there are so many things that need your attention. If you are not well prepared, it will take you days, if not weeks to get there.
I do it all the time. Every month as a matter of fact. A couple of hours and I'm all set with a new system, smooth as a baby bottom. I do this, not because there is anything wrong with the system, but because my moral is rather low. 8)
Still, every time I start up a new system there is this fresh, almost un-describable feeling. Sort of a cleansing, if you like. And right now, I lusts to do a clean install of Tiger and rinse my Powerbook of past deeds.
OT: The amount of things I go thru, to get my mac up and running after the install, makes me pity the newborn switcher when first confronted with the Mac OS. A truly no-workable system - for me at least. And I'm not talking about adding shitty third part hacks either. I'm an Apple-puritan all the way. Simply said, the default configuration of the OS sucks.
Learn it, live it and it will give you so much more.
[I do it all the time. Every month as a matter of fact. A couple of hours and I'm all set with a new system, smooth as a baby bottom. ]
Your kidding, right? You reinstall your system every month?
[The amount of things I go thru, to get my mac up and running after the install, makes me pity the newborn switcher when first confronted with the Mac OS. A truly no-workable system - for me at least.]
What? It has taken me about 20 minutes on average to perform an Archive and Install of OS 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3. No hassel, no-brainer. My 8 year old could do it.
I started my switch from OS 9, had OS X 10.0 public beta. At that time, I was only using the apps that came with the OS and a copy of Microsoft Office. It was easy to backup by data and when OS X 10.0 was released, I did a clean install. From that point one, every upgrade has been an Archive and Install. Worked flawlessly. Have done this to iMac G3's, G4 towers, and Titanium Powerbook, all without hassle and in about 20 minutes each.
Clean install mos def. Migration is not too hard, I go through the process quite often, it's just a metter of knowing where your prefs and libraries are. With MS Office I just back up My "Microsoft User Data" folder and all my messages, accounts etc. are intact no matter what I do to the app.
But it's crucial to have at least one more partition on your HD or second HD alltogether to store your back ups.
I have changed my mind. I am going to do a clean install for Tiger. I will reload all of my applications. I don't look foward to all the reloads but what the heck!
I will just clone my panther install on my 300 gb FW drive before I install Tiger...
I usually do just a simple upgrade. Will most likely do that on our iMac. Looks like my 12" PB hard drive is shooting craps (sounds like it is cooking popcorn and is dog slow) so will be doing a clean install on it most likely.
Thankfully I was able to get a full backup tonight as the end is near...
I'll probably update on the panther drive I'm typing on now, but I'll clean install on another one to see if they are that much different in loading, login, and ready to go. I don't want to install every app again. It takes me a couple of days. I have a lot of software, and I'll probably buy the new iLife to go with it.
My pbook is running pretty sweet as its a tight little unit so I will just do an upgrade.. a work machine will prob get a full erase and install because I have 3 partitions on it and I wont to get rid of them.
I would like to repartition my two drives. Currently, they function as two separate drives, but what I really want is to RAID-0 them together into one big drive, and then partition it into two (or more). That is, each partition is striped across two drives. I found that this wasn't possible in Panther. Here's hoping that Tiger would allow such a thing.
Hi Gang - I'm about as new as one could be - Post no 01 even.
I received an email from Apple about the new OX.
I also just purchased a new power book 15" maxed out as much as possible and a new 20" LCD to match in the hopes of teaching an old dog new tricks - like Final Cut Pro not installed yet.
The Lighted Keyboard - wow - it even knows how much I dim the room.
So as soon as I saw the notice of the new OX - I definitely want to do a clean install.
I think I'll just hand it over and say partition it this time.
Being a long time PC guy - I think this makes sense.
About the only time I take him out is at a coffee shop where there is high-speed to keep it updated - and to research the moment.
I like the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.
Makes laptop totally hands off as it sits in chair next to me. It allows 2 of us to munch and see screen easily.
I Don't allow coffee or cookies anywhere near it.
Oh Yea - keyboard cover is in place - no more hair in my keys from friends pets.
The last time I had him out - I had just loaded all of my Pink Floyd tunes (100) - which took all night to organize.
Came back later to start a connection to dial-up - (and this part bothers me)- ended up as hung - with scroll in finder showing it was working on getting connected when it really wasn't - I didn't have phone line connected fully - Doh!
So seeing this is not going anywhere fast or to tell me no connection is available to start with - like it would on the PC - I decided to get out the manual to see the proper way to stop the nonsense.
WEll - in short - the steps I followed crashed the (Finder) dumb name if you ask me - And also took out all settings that were done in the last week - no trace of Pink Floyd - all the shortcuts that were set up were vaporized from the bar at top of screen -
I was devastated at the site of that stupid pin wheel - I'm seeing it too often - I run the tool bar monitor to show in real time the processor so that I can see and feel it out along the way. It's barely a month old.
I think I would have been better off just holding down the power button -
Getting a little gun shy to even pull him out of the case.
But as a new soldier - I'll hang in there - I'm here now in safe hands.
Definitely a clean install. My computer has been running like crap and I was about to do a clean install anyway. The migration tool sounds very interesting. I've been trying to think about how I can back up everything without it being too much of a pain. I'm really mostly concerned with backing up my itunes music and my photos.
All my installs in the past have been simple upgrades, this is true for my PowerBook which has had every version on it including the Public Beta.
However for Tiger, now that I've got tons of custom Unix addons and other apps, I think I'll do an Archive & Install w/ Preserved Home Directories. I'd rather personally deal with the migration for my PHP 5 and mysql installs rather than blindly hoping for the best. Besides, we're still waiting to see what's compatible and what's not, so taking it slow is probably not a bad idea.
Also, I'll use CCC to backup my drive before I do the upgrade, so if there are any issues I can easily roll back or apply clean install and copy my stuff over.
I'll be getting my new Powerbook in a week I hope. As an adventurous newbie, I'm going with the clean install approach when I get Tiger a week later.
Now, I have seen one too many single partition Windows installations gone awry, and one too many Linux installations misjudge partition space allocation. What do you guys suggest as a good division of system and data partitions on a 100GB Powerbook with, eventually, OS X Tiger? Or do you just stick to 1 partition and trust OS X never to require a reformat?
On a related note, does Backup requre .Mac even for disk to disk backup?
Archive and install is the nice compromise between upgrade and clean which is why I use it. However, if the option didn't exist, I'd probably do an upgrade. I've never really had a problem before with it.
My PB hard drive died. Thankfully I have Applecare and I did get a full backup. Probably just wait til I get Tiger to do the install even if I get my PB back sooner. It will be like a brand new machine.
Comments
Originally posted by a_greer
Wipe it out, start fresh, with something like spotlight, I want a clean install, think of the time and utter PITA of the initial index, surely in an upgrade something would break, it is the nature of the beast.
Good point. Spotlight index takes about 2 hours now, and the machine sounds as if it's gonna walk off the table from all the disk thrashing. Anything that would reduce the junk that it has to index would be a great idea.
Yes, it can be daunting, but once you get going, it's very easy. Of course that again depends on your level of preparations.
Back up everything. That is the easy part. Adjusting the OS to your liking, I'm sorry to say, is another ballgame. Not because it's difficult, but because there are so many things that need your attention. If you are not well prepared, it will take you days, if not weeks to get there.
I do it all the time. Every month as a matter of fact. A couple of hours and I'm all set with a new system, smooth as a baby bottom. I do this, not because there is anything wrong with the system, but because my moral is rather low. 8)
Still, every time I start up a new system there is this fresh, almost un-describable feeling. Sort of a cleansing, if you like. And right now, I lusts to do a clean install of Tiger and rinse my Powerbook of past deeds.
OT: The amount of things I go thru, to get my mac up and running after the install, makes me pity the newborn switcher when first confronted with the Mac OS. A truly no-workable system - for me at least. And I'm not talking about adding shitty third part hacks either. I'm an Apple-puritan all the way. Simply said, the default configuration of the OS sucks.
Learn it, live it and it will give you so much more.
Your kidding, right? You reinstall your system every month?
[The amount of things I go thru, to get my mac up and running after the install, makes me pity the newborn switcher when first confronted with the Mac OS. A truly no-workable system - for me at least.]
What? It has taken me about 20 minutes on average to perform an Archive and Install of OS 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3. No hassel, no-brainer. My 8 year old could do it.
I started my switch from OS 9, had OS X 10.0 public beta. At that time, I was only using the apps that came with the OS and a copy of Microsoft Office. It was easy to backup by data and when OS X 10.0 was released, I did a clean install. From that point one, every upgrade has been an Archive and Install. Worked flawlessly. Have done this to iMac G3's, G4 towers, and Titanium Powerbook, all without hassle and in about 20 minutes each.
As to the fine-tuning of the system, it's no cakewalk with a clean install. I'm no poweruser, yet there is a ton of stuff that need attention:
- System: just about every control-panel needs a check
- Finder: customizing menus, settings, organize it my way
- Dock: organize it my way
- Mail: import old mail, set up five accounts, customize menus
- Addressbook: import back-up, some customizing needed
- Keychain: import and activate three keys, add symbol to menu-bar
- iCal: import a rather large collection of calendars. Some settings needed
- Safari: import, customize bookmarks and settings. Install Safari Enhancer to get rid of the ugly brushed-metal interface among other things
- Activating Bluetooth, phone, mouse and keyboard
- Activate iSync and .Mac (iDisk)
- Keyboard: activate keyboard-access with my own shortcuts
- iTunes, importing tunes from back-up, some settings needed
- iPhoto, importing albums from back-up, some settings needed
- Other programs, importing from back-up (lots of them)
+ checking permissions
I'm sure there is more, but you get the picture. It's not done with a single click of the mouse.
But it's crucial to have at least one more partition on your HD or second HD alltogether to store your back ups.
I will just clone my panther install on my 300 gb FW drive before I install Tiger...
Eric
Originally posted by halse
clone then archive and install (once at home, once at the office)
Will a "archive and install" keep my programs loaded, my iphoto libary in tact and itunes ok?
I usually do just a simple upgrade. Will most likely do that on our iMac. Looks like my 12" PB hard drive is shooting craps (sounds like it is cooking popcorn and is dog slow) so will be doing a clean install on it most likely.
Thankfully I was able to get a full backup tonight as the end is near...
I received an email from Apple about the new OX.
I also just purchased a new power book 15" maxed out as much as possible and a new 20" LCD to match in the hopes of teaching an old dog new tricks - like Final Cut Pro not installed yet.
The Lighted Keyboard - wow - it even knows how much I dim the room.
So as soon as I saw the notice of the new OX - I definitely want to do a clean install.
I think I'll just hand it over and say partition it this time.
Being a long time PC guy - I think this makes sense.
About the only time I take him out is at a coffee shop where there is high-speed to keep it updated - and to research the moment.
I like the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.
Makes laptop totally hands off as it sits in chair next to me. It allows 2 of us to munch and see screen easily.
I Don't allow coffee or cookies anywhere near it.
Oh Yea - keyboard cover is in place - no more hair in my keys from friends pets.
The last time I had him out - I had just loaded all of my Pink Floyd tunes (100) - which took all night to organize.
Came back later to start a connection to dial-up - (and this part bothers me)- ended up as hung - with scroll in finder showing it was working on getting connected when it really wasn't - I didn't have phone line connected fully - Doh!
So seeing this is not going anywhere fast or to tell me no connection is available to start with - like it would on the PC - I decided to get out the manual to see the proper way to stop the nonsense.
WEll - in short - the steps I followed crashed the (Finder) dumb name if you ask me - And also took out all settings that were done in the last week - no trace of Pink Floyd - all the shortcuts that were set up were vaporized from the bar at top of screen -
I was devastated at the site of that stupid pin wheel - I'm seeing it too often - I run the tool bar monitor to show in real time the processor so that I can see and feel it out along the way. It's barely a month old.
I think I would have been better off just holding down the power button -
Getting a little gun shy to even pull him out of the case.
But as a new soldier - I'll hang in there - I'm here now in safe hands.
However for Tiger, now that I've got tons of custom Unix addons and other apps, I think I'll do an Archive & Install w/ Preserved Home Directories. I'd rather personally deal with the migration for my PHP 5 and mysql installs rather than blindly hoping for the best. Besides, we're still waiting to see what's compatible and what's not, so taking it slow is probably not a bad idea.
Also, I'll use CCC to backup my drive before I do the upgrade, so if there are any issues I can easily roll back or apply clean install and copy my stuff over.
Now, I have seen one too many single partition Windows installations gone awry, and one too many Linux installations misjudge partition space allocation. What do you guys suggest as a good division of system and data partitions on a 100GB Powerbook with, eventually, OS X Tiger? Or do you just stick to 1 partition and trust OS X never to require a reformat?
On a related note, does Backup requre .Mac even for disk to disk backup?