mrgstiffler
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2000
- Messages
- 13,410
Snow Leopard will be my first major OS upgrade since I got my Macs. Any advice on whether to do an upgrade vs clean install?
![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
-
Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
Snow Leopard question
- Thread starter mrgstiffler
- Start date
Would also like some advice: New to macs
since there is no registry... can you just move all the applications to a backup disk than move them back in after doing clean install on snow leopard? I would like to know the fastest way as I don't have much time to re-setup my whole computer when I get the new OS. They had to release it after school starts.
since there is no registry... can you just move all the applications to a backup disk than move them back in after doing clean install on snow leopard? I would like to know the fastest way as I don't have much time to re-setup my whole computer when I get the new OS. They had to release it after school starts.
As long as there aren't any pesky recurring problems with your current installation, an upgrade is perfectly fine. The reflexive instinct to do a clean install is a side-effect of ineffective upgrade installations in old versions of Windows and not really an evaluation of how OS X handles upgrades, IMO. I plan to simply upgrade my existing Leopard installation.
Backing up before you upgrade using either method is always a good idea, too.
Yes. Since applications on OS X are generally self-contained, all you have to do is copy the applications themselves to a backup drive, then drag them back into your Applications folder after you've upgraded.
Note that some applications (like Office 2008) do use installers, so you'll have to reinstall those from scratch.
Backing up before you upgrade using either method is always a good idea, too.
Yes. Since applications on OS X are generally self-contained, all you have to do is copy the applications themselves to a backup drive, then drag them back into your Applications folder after you've upgraded.
Note that some applications (like Office 2008) do use installers, so you'll have to reinstall those from scratch.
Thanks. Is there a way to know which can be moved and which can't (like office?). I was planning on doing upgrade, but I don't know if that is a good idea with boot camp. Also I want to change some partition sizes so might as well start from scratch again. I guess I'll just take it slow a few programs a day... at least some of them will be easy to install (just drag and drop). I really like how smooth OS X runs compared to windows, although that might be biased by how much faster my new computer is to my old one and windows not running as zippy on boot camp.
Last edited:
If you can do a boot camp backup do that...then you can do a restore of your home directory and apps.
But honestly, Snow Leopard is a very incremental update. I don't see an issue doing an in-place upgrade. Both of my notebooks were in-place upgrades of the dev builds over a Leopard install with zero issues.
But honestly, Snow Leopard is a very incremental update. I don't see an issue doing an in-place upgrade. Both of my notebooks were in-place upgrades of the dev builds over a Leopard install with zero issues.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2004
- Messages
- 6,604
I plan to in-place upgrade. =) Guess I'm bucking the trend. It's a Apple product, I don't expect much to go wrong.
hungryduck
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2005
- Messages
- 1,530
many apps store preference/theme/otherdata in your Library folder. Like apple mail. So if you don't want to have restore your mail, just copy the Mail folder from the library folder under your user directory...
I need to add more disk space to my Mac Pro so I'll be adding a new, bigger disk to my computer and installing clean on that. This also leaves me my old disk if anything goes wrong or I need anything off of it (I usually keep all critical data on a separate drive that I back up).
Not that I know of. I would just drag the entire Applications folder to your backup disk, then after you upgrade, run them one by one to verify they're all functional. Should only take a few minutes at most.
Boot Camp won't be affected by an upgrade to OS X, other than the possibility of the upgrade bringing new drivers. And it's possible to change the sizes of your partitions without reformatting, but it sounds like you've got your heart set on doing a clean install, so you might as well go for that.
mrgstiffler
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2000
- Messages
- 13,410
I repartitioned the free space on my drive and installed Snow Leopard onto that. Then booted into Snow Leopard with a different account and ran the Migration Assistant. Took quite awhile to finish, but it seems like it got everything. The only things it missed seems to be my Terminal Visor and my remapped modifier keys. I'm rather impressed.
GlimmerMan
Gawd
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2005
- Messages
- 982
Snow Leopard suppose to be 6 GB smaller than Leopard. Will the in-place upgrade free up that space?
Yes. Why wouldn't it?
GlimmerMan
Gawd
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2005
- Messages
- 982
Maybe the install process simple installs over the existing files? Though I suppose they can have a list of all files that are obsolete and remove them.
And my earlier point about Windows totally destroying the image of upgrade installs in peoples' minds is proven true. (Not a complaint directed at you, I'm just saying, horror stories about 9x upgrade installs are still lingering in the geek subconscious ten years after the fact.)
The OS X installer is pretty smart. When you do an upgrade install, what it's basically doing is migrating your settings over while replacing all of the OS files, including the ones that are no longer needed. What you wind up with is pretty much the exact same thing as a fresh install, but with your files and settings preserved. So, no, the upgrade install is not leaving unused OS files on your hard drive. You don't have to worry about that.
I upgrade installed 10A432 and saw a LOT of space freed up. Far more than 6GB. I had about 129GB of free space prior to the install; I wound up with about 145GB free after. I'm absolutely sure this is an atypical experience, but regardless, you can expect the upgrade install to give you back some hard drive space.
Upgrade install is the way to go unless you for whatever reason are dead set on doing a clean install, in which case you'll have to boot Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard DVD and wipe the drive.
I don't recall an option to "clean install" or anything else when I installed a few days back.
My understanding is that it rewrites and rebuilds crucial files and keeps your current applications and documents et al. Anything incompatible will be moved to a folder.
Like Terpfen I saw a pretty dramatic increase in free space as opposed to my leopard install. I was hovering around 89-99 GB before and had 115 after.
Clean installs are completely unnecessary on this platform in my eyes. OS X is a different beast than Windows. No registry to fuck up.
Old habits be damned.
My understanding is that it rewrites and rebuilds crucial files and keeps your current applications and documents et al. Anything incompatible will be moved to a folder.
Like Terpfen I saw a pretty dramatic increase in free space as opposed to my leopard install. I was hovering around 89-99 GB before and had 115 after.
Clean installs are completely unnecessary on this platform in my eyes. OS X is a different beast than Windows. No registry to fuck up.
Old habits be damned.
Snow Leopard's installer options are rearranged from past versions of OS X. The only way now to do a clean install is to load Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard DVD and wipe your drive. Otherwise, an upgrade install is the default action. You stick in the DVD, you double click the installer, it upgrades.
Bingo.
Stellar
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2003
- Messages
- 1,975
It frees up 7GB.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/08/24macosx.html
How does that become 16-26GB?
It didn't even occur to me until I saw this thread, but I've been keeping old random preferences and small files from tons of programs I've used over the years then deleted. Even when I got my new MBP I just moved everything over from my old MB. Sounds like it'd be worth the clean install. How does it (snow leopard) run BTW?
Anecdotal evidence states that it frees up anywhere from about 6GB on up. It depends on exactly what your Mac's configuration is. For example, if you don't already have a printer or printers configured on your Mac, then Snow Leopard won't install any printer drivers, so that frees up some space right there.
There's more going on under the hood than just optimization and cleanup of system files.
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2001
- Messages
- 20,693
I got about 12gb back myself.
BootSector
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2004
- Messages
- 165
I was having problems with Spotlight raping my external drive with all my music and movies on it so I removed the Spotlight files. I would like to get Spotlight back as long as it doesn't go after my external drive again. Will an upgrade replace the missing files?
As far as I know, yes, Spotlight will come back.
BTW, what you should have done is configure Spotlight to not index the external drive, rather than disable Spotlight entirely. All you had to do was go to System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Privacy tab, and add the drive to the list.
BootSector
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2004
- Messages
- 165
I tried that and it didn't work.
There are only two versions of OS X: end user and Server. The $30 DVD will do both upgrade installs (default action) or clean installs (boot from DVD, start Disk Utility, wipe drive, install.)
This isn't Windows. There's no such thing as an upgrade-only disc.
Also, always wondered is there any type of cd-key thing I have to enter? I just pre-ordered and always wondered as this too is going to be the first time I upgrade using OS X.
mrgstiffler
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2000
- Messages
- 13,410
That's an upgrade for Leopard users only. Non-Leopard users will have to pay $169, but that comes with iLife and iWork.
No CD key at all. Again, this isn't Windows. There's no copy protection. And when Apple sells volume licenses, such as family packs, they're basically trusting you to be honest, rather than taking the dishonest way out in buying one disc and installing it on multiple computers. There's nothing stopping you from doing that, since there's no copy protection, license key, etc.
Huh, thats interesting great to know too. My leopard disc didnt come with a CD-key and I have never done a totally fresh install so I just wondered. I guess apple isnt worried about software so much as their hardware
Apple is plenty worried about software piracy. They just don't presume everyone to be guilty in the process, unlike, say, Microsoft and Adobe. Apple wouldn't be pursing Psystar in court if they didn't care.
Archive and install is no longer an option. It's been totally removed, even as a hidden option. It's gone.
0ptional
Don't Trust Your Friends with Your Decanter
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2003
- Messages
- 5,594
all I want to know is how to change the counting back to base 2 from base 10, which is probably the most annoying thing in the world.