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Installing Leopard – Apple Tech recommendation
Not sure if I’m asking advice or passing along information, but here goes.
In talking to an Apple Care tech yesterday about an Airport Extreme issue caused by the latest Airport update in Tiger, I casually mentioned that I’d be doing a totally clean install of Leopard shortly – reformatting the hard drive, etc. The support tech (who was great with my original issue) was adamant that I not install Leopard this way and that I should only do the install as an upgrade. The main reason being that reformatting would wipe out all previously installed software unique to my machine, and that reinstalling apps (even from archived media), is always dicey. What was surprising was that she said this is how Apple did their Leopard installs for tech support – as Upgrades and NOT clean installs.
Anyway, thought I’d post this for the group to mull over.
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6 Replies
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Well, yes, wiping the drive takes more time and is more complicated. He’s right about that. But if someone (you, in this case) understands that and is willing to put in the extra time then I don’t see any reason to argue with them.
His reasons are all legit, but it seems to me that you understand the pros and cons of both options and have made your choice. I view it as my “job” around here to make sure people understand their choices. Since you’ve reached that point I’d back off if I were him and let you do it the way you want to.
That said, using the “Archive and Install” option is a bit of a compromise between the basic upgrade and a total wiping of the drive. It clears out system files and makes them from scratch, but it saves your personal data and applications. This is generally seen as a “best of both worlds” kind of solution, so maybe you should consider it.
(And of course, it should go without saying, but back up all your data before doing ANY of these methods.)
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Thanks Jeff. Actually it was a she… Pervious to my conversation with Apple, I just assumed I would do a clean install. Thanks for showing me another way with the “Archive and Install” option. I’m waiting to finish a long term project, so hopefully I’ll be ready in a couple of weeks.
Any caveats I should know about using your suggestion?
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>>Any caveats I should know about using your suggestion?
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Heh…well, actually I always do a total wipe and re-install too! So I don’t have any experience with this A&I method either. I suggest it, though, because I hear it suggested more often than the other two methods every time I read or hear about the subject. It seems to work well for a lot of people.
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Thanks Jeff. I’ll be the guinea pig and will report back when I do the upgrade.
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Keep inmind that if you do an archive and install you will need to reinstall Final Cut Studio, and any Adobe software if you have them on your system. Those apps actually install things into the system folder that gets moved to the previous systems folder when you archive and install. It may be more work to do an erase and install, but you definitely end with a cleaner end result.
There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity! -
Thanks Zane, hopefully this shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve been holding of doing an install of FCPS 2.0 (brand new) until I install Leopard. Same with the new MS Office, although this would be an upgrade.
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