Mac upgrade help

[User 1019]

I use an old MacBook with 10.4.11 and a friend told me I was crazy for not upgrading to Leopard.

So, I went to the store and bought a CD to do it, but I'm just a little tentative on how to do it.

I understand it will have an installer and I won't have to make very many decisions. That isn't necessarily the problem.

I looked online to see what others were saying, concerning the swap. Most of them stress a complete back-up. That's what I'm not sure about. I have a portable hard drive I have used to back up photos, music and documents, but I'm not sure about my applications and other crap. Can I just grab those and throw them onto the hard drive, too?

Or, do I need to just create a new folder on the portable and copy the entire (laptop) hard drive folder onto it? Or, is there a better way?

Anyone got'ny ideas?

 

[deskslave]

You'd need to make sure you were grabbing all the application files, rather than just the shortcuts, etc. But as long as you do that, yeah, you should be fine with that.

But if you've got space on the portable to copy the entire laptop hard drive, then why not? It can't possibly hurt. And then if you ever need it, it's there.

But the chances of your running into any serious problems are pretty slim. They're not gonna make upgrading your OS into a high-risk proposition, because it would scare people away.

 

[User 1019]

So, if I just grab the hard drive folder I should be OK, right?

 

[deskslave]

Pretty sure, yeah. But I'm not an expert. Just check the capacity and contents of both drives, and if the numbers match up before and after, then you've done what you needed to do.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Copying the hard drive will back up all of your files, but it won't create a bootable volume. You have to find one of the third-party software products that will clone your hard drive, if you want to do a bootable back up. I remember one called Superduper, but I haven't had need for one in years. Otherwise, don't worry about getting everything and backup your files and important e-mail.

The funny thing about upgrading is that Leopard introduced Time Machine, which does automatic backups of your system that can be restored. In other words, Leopard has software built in that Tiger doesn't, to do the backup you want to do before upgrading to Leopard.

I honestly wouldn't sweat it. Save any important files. That way if you have to reinstall everything you don't lose anything important. But I have upgraded dozens of machines with various versions of Os X and never run into a problem.

 

[93Devil]

Fresh grated cheese melts in well...

Oh, wrong mac.

 

[ADodgen]

I used SuperDuper! to make a bootable copy of my HD, installed a new hard drive (it needed to be bigger) and did the upgrade.

Best decision in ages. Super easy, makes the thing run so much better.

 

[User 1019]

Got my Snow Leopard installed, and everything is running fine. No problems.

Just trying to figure out what's so new and improved.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Got my Snow Leopard installed, and everything is running fine. No problems.

Just trying to figure out what's so new and improved.

A few things. ... Snow Leopard is faster than even Leopard was. It's subtle, but true. Also, Leopard introduced some software enhancements that you would visably notice. Time Machine does automatic backups of your system to an external hard drive. I have one machine that was failing and the automatic backups saved our butts. I'd set it up. If you ever lose a file or save over something, you can go back to previous backups and grab it. Also, Leopard added spaces, which is a great feature that allows you multiple desktops that you can switch between with the flick of a key. I make full of use of that feature when I am working with my little Macbook's screen. There are some other enhancements, but those were two big ones for me.