[X-Newbies] Upgrading to Tiger

[Scott]

On Jul 19, 2005, at 1:43 AM, Chris Walker wrote:

> Hiall,
>
> With the release of 10.4.2 I am ready to upgrade my laptop from its
> current 10.3.9.  This recently suffered a serious crash which,  
> although I
> have restored it still seems to have left a few peculiarities.  I  
> think
> it was my own fault as I tried to delete a file which I didn't realise
> was in use at the time.
>
> In view of this, the question is:  do I update, archive and  
> install, or
> wipe the disk to zero and reinstall everything - something I'm a bit
> reluctant to do unless it is absolutely necessary.
>
> Archive and install sounds the best compromise, but does this also  
> trash
> the prefs, remove any haxies (fruit menu and clear dock) together with
> anything else which an application may have installed and which could
> have become corrupted.  I'm not clear exactly what archive and install
> does/does not do.

Archive install does not remove prefs. Applications which are  
installed in /Applications (and not installed as part of OS X) are  
retained. Items that these apps may have installed in /Library are  
not retained. If you archive install, you'll have to reinstall  
Stuffit, either move a file or reinstall Photoshop, and possibly  
reconfigure or reinstall other apps, depending on where they put things.
An Archive install is similar to OS 9's "clean install". It moves  
your existing system to "Previous Systems" and installs anew. If you  
check the 'preserve user and network settings', it doesn't move your  
home folder. I highly recommend checking this box if you do do an  
archive install.

Haxies may or may not be removed, inactivated, or cause issues. It  
depends on how they do their magic, how well behaved they are, and  
where they are installed.

I would not yet recommend an erase & install as we don't have enough  
information to go on. What exactly do you mean by "have restored"?  
What are the peculiarities to which you refer? If there was disk  
damage, what does Disk Utility's first aid report now?


-- 
Scott