[P1] How Often Does Jag need a reinstall?

[Mark Kippert]

Pat D. Stephens on 1/22/03 12:54 PM wrote:

> I'm using my month old iBook just as it came to me without a
> partitioned drive, but am warned that it is dangerous to do that since
> X has reputedly required a reinstall frequently.  Right now, I have
> very little on it that I would lose were that to happen, but I am
> wondering if I should partition it before using it full time.  What's
> the lists' experience here on this topic?  For what it's worth, I've
> installed X versions of PhotoElements2, Office and I believe that's
> all...and it's running just fine.
> 

Are these people telling you about the frequent need to reinstall, Windows
converts? Perhaps they're so used to the need to do a complete reinstall the
Windows OS, that they assume the same need for their new Mac.

I've been running OSX since last March when I got my iBook. At the end of
April I replaced my stock 10GB drive with a 40GB drive and installed OSX. No
partitions, as I have no need for them. I upgraded to Jaguar (OS 10.2) when
it came out.

I have yet to experience ANY system problems at all. I have used the Disk
Utility's permissions repair option, but only as a preventative measure (not
because of problems experienced). I'm extremely satisfied with how well it
has performed for me.

Also, the startup drive is scanned and repaired at startup. And it's my
understanding that it does maintenance on itself during the wee hours of the
morning. I've only shut it down a few times, but I have restarted my iBook a
number of times since I got, mainly for updates and/or installs, thus
allowing for repairs that I may not have been aware of. Sometimes I leave it
running all night to allow it to take care of business.

By the way, I push my little iBook hard too. I'm running Office X (including
Entourage), PhotoShop 7, Illustrator 10, Suitcase 10, Adobe Acrobat 5 (full
version), Quark 5, IE5, Toast Titanium, Freeway 3.5 and a number of other
goodies. So it's not like it sees limited use.

HECK, I've all but abandoned my poor 450MHz, dual processor G4 at home. I
love roaming around the house doing work and going online via AirPort & DSL
(although I've drawn the line at surfing while in the bathroom ;^).

-Mark