[Kamal513]

Hey guys,
I had posted another discussion about how my dock and hot corners weren't working yesterday. But after reading around, I started to get the feeling that such problems could easily be attributed to the fact that I had performed an upgrade (not even an archive install - which I haven't done).
I just did an "erase install" of Leopard onto my mac (after backing up my stuff on an external HD). I feel like this is a totally different computer. Ok sure, some of it can be attributed to the fact that it's essentially brand new - no other crap installed just yet. But still, it seems like things are a lot faster, smoother, and integrated the best after this erase and install. Previously, in the upgrade, I felt like Leopard had just pasted on top of my existing Tiger and tried to be "smart" and accomodate it's "new things" to the way I used to have my Tiger set up.
Those are just my two cents, but if you're wavering between upgrade or erase and install, I'd choose the latter.
paYce

[macnuke]

personally, I enjoy having my "new" mac "feel" like my "old mac".
comes from years and years of not doing an E&I even once.
E&I is faster as it just writes,. and doesn't need to pay attention to the previous OS or it's settings.
feels new and feels faster mainly due to the fact you have nothing to compare it to other than your old system.
YASU, DW are your friends.
and I use em both on a regular basis and right before any major OS upgrade.
zero probs.
zero data lost.
zero settings lost.
feels faster with some things, slower with others.
but that's always the case.

A&I writes a copy of the previous sys. folder. this is the main reason the install seems slower.
personally, i like the peace of mind knowing I have that sitting there even tho I do reg backups and one right before any major OS install.
my pref is Archive and Install.
but they all work /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Dan Frakes]

Quote:

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E&I is faster as it just writes,
[snip]
A&I writes a copy of the previous sys. folder. this is the main reason the install seems slower.

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For what it's worth, there's relatively little additional writing with an Archive & Install; the installer writes approximately the same amount of data with each. It's just that with A&I, your data is left on the drive (with some of it moved to Previous Systems, an action that doesn't require any writing of new data); with E&I, your data is erased first.
There are minor exceptions; with an A&I, there are some files the installer leaves in Previous Systems and copies to the new installation. But the number and size of these is very small relative to the number and size of the new OS files being installed.
(And don't forget that if you use E&I, you're probably going to spend time importing your data into the new installation from a backup, which takes time.)

[arkman]

I just upgraded my G4 laptop and my G5 desktop to 10.5 using the upgrade option. I have used both A & I and upgrade and found that if you are confident about your operating systems condition there is little danger in using upgrade. I removed many 3rd party files knowing beforehand that they were trouble. (Unsanity and Ape files).
I have no problem using A & I on an machine that does not have many add-ons but mine is loaded.
One problem I ran into was my Keychain on my desktop. I fixed it by copying my backup and making sure to make it the default Keychain. Otherwise it was very uneventful. This upgrade was worth the wait. Many improvements and great new features.

[grendel3503]

I beat this idea around alot. The last time there was an upgrade i did the clean install but the problem was i had to deauthorize my i-tunes to save all my music. This time i did the upgrade and it seems to work fine. So far. The funny thing is that the last time apple offered you a choice a free install at an apple store or tutorial on the new OS. I wonder why that was. The other thing i found was that in order to backup my system with timemachine i have to reformat my HD. That is a problem since i have all my music on it now.Thats 5000 songs and now i have to put it back on my system. That i do not know how. Anyway it seems the upgrade worked ok for me.

[mrstev]

for someone that is a new mac user... when the "select a destination" window pops up and i select my "macintosh HD" as the install drive, is this where I need to hit "options" here to decide what type of install i do i.e. upgrade, E&I or A&I?

[Kamal513]

Yup, I believe that's the screen. It's whatever screen has that "options" button in the bottom left of the window. That was not obvious for me at first.