Re: Leopard upgrade woes

[David Farber <dfarber () cs cmu edu>]

I just did 4 simple updates and it worked like a charm for me at  
least.  djf -- mac pro, imac, 15" intel mac and a 12" unit.

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger () ibd com>
Date: November 4, 2007 12:19:28 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Leopard upgrade woes

I highly recommend the PDF booklet "Take Control of Upgrading to  
Leopard":
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/leopard-upgrading.html
It cost $10 but its worth it if you have any concerns or just want to  
know the best practices for doing the upgrade.

But the bottom line is pretty much what Aleecia said:

BACK UP YOUR DATA!!!!! (use something like Superduper ( http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/) 
 or Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html) are  
free for disk cloning) These will make bootable disk copies to an  
external USB or Fireware Drive. (Well the USB drive might not actually  
be bootable, but it would be a clone and will work for restoring after  
an Erase and Install)

You can do the "Archive and Install" which copies all the config stuff  
to your existing drive and then does a fresh and clean install of the  
OS. Then after the install you can automatically get your environment  
back to pretty much the way it was before and get back to work.

But  better, (assuming that you made the full clone backup of your  
drive and you made sure it worked by booting the external drive!) is  
to do the "Erase and Install". That completely erases your drive in  
the computer and makes a pristine "factory fresh" install on your hard  
drive. At the end of the install you are given the option to copy all  
your apps and configurations for any users on the old setup that is on  
your backup drive into the new install. You can then basically get  
back to work (or really spend your time playing with all the new  
Leopard features).

DON"T DO THE BASIC UPGRADE. People who are having problems are the  
ones that did the easy upgrade option.  This mushes in the new Leopard  
with all the crud you have accumulated in your system, preferences,  
Library, kernel extensions and so on. I feel dirty just thinking about  
it...

Just don't forget to do the backup, maybe even twice to two different  
external disks before you do any install...

And then get another drive and start using Time Machine to do all your  
backups.For the next release of OSX you'll be able to use Time Machine  
to do your restore after the Erase and Install upgrade...  (Don't  
erase the backups you did before the Leopard Upgrade until you are  
sure everything is working on your new Leopard)

Also as Aleecia said if you are using FileVault... You have to disable  
it to do the backups and then do the Erase and Install or to do the  
Archive and Install. Personally I would not encrypt my whole drive  
with FileVault... If you are paranoid (or they really are out to get  
you) encrypt just the files you are worried about...IMHO

Rob

On Nov 3, 2007, at 10:06 PM, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Aleecia M. McDonald" <aleecia () aleecia com>
> Date: November 3, 2007 6:19:30 PM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Leopard upgrade woes
>
> Perhaps I can save the mac owners on IP several hours of their lives.
>
> Apple's upgrades have been flawless for so many years that I've  
> grown to expect smooth sailing. Not this time. Some folks have  
> trouble because their accounts don't appear [1] while I am having  
> trouble because I cannot log in [2]. Apple's fix [3] does let me  
> change my password but does not resolve the problem (perhaps due to  
> interactions with FileVault, unclear.)
>
> Tips:
> 	- There appears to be a patch already; I missed it by mere hours  
> [4]. Make sure you grab the most recent OS patches before you upgrade.
> 	- Anecdotal evidence points to archive and install as a more  
> successful path than a straight upgrade. Sometimes running an  
> archive & install after a straight upgrade will fix things, too.
> 	- If I had this to do over again I would reset my user accounts to  
> short passwords (under 8 characters,) run the upgrade, and then set  
> them to something more secure again. And yes, I should reset my  
> passwords more frequently.
>         - As always, MAKE A FULL BACKUP before you upgrade your OS.
>
> While I have a lot of other work I *really* wanted to be doing right  
> now at least I did not lose data. I wish I could just do a clean  
> install, get my work done, and worry about migrating all data later  
> but that is not an option with FileVault. Some folks even suggest  
> turning off FileVault if you want to migrate data [5] but that soaks  
> up a lot of time and does not (yet at least) appear to be a wide- 
> spread problem.
>
> And if possible, it might make sense to wait another week or so  
> before upgrading.
>
>         Aleecia
>
> [1] http://www.macfixitforums.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=leopard&Number=836403&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=31&fpart=1
>
> [2] http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1202129&tstart=0
>
> [3] http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306840
>
> [4] http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/10/27/apple.updates.leopard/
>
> [5] http://maclawstudents.com/blog/product-reviews/turn-off-filevault-before-leopard-upgrade/
>
>
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Robert J. Berger - Internet Bandwidth Development, LLC.
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