Leopard 10.5 OS Disk

Hi,
I really hope I'm posting this in the right area and I apologize if I'm not, for I am a new Mac user converting from PC and I'm trying to learn everything by trial and error....again I apologize if wrong area.

I recently purchased the iMac g4 (I know its older) for my 12 year old daughter and it came installed with Leopard 10.5.8

My question is....if I have a 10.5 installation disk can I upgrade to 10.5.8 and if so how lol

I'd like to whipe the system clean and start anew

Thank you and as you can tell from my username....I'm really confused

Thanks again....Chris

10.5 is the base. You can update to 10.5.8 once you get it installed, the update is downloadable here

Thank you so much sir

One last question and I hope its not offensive, but does it cost?

Nope, minor updates are free.


To explain....

10.5 <--- major version
10.5.x <---- minor version


Sort of like service packs in windows.

confused_chris said:

My question is....if I have a 10.5 installation disk can I upgrade to 10.5.8 and if so how lol

Click to expand...

Make sure this OS 10.5 disk is the:

- black full install/retail disk
- or it's the ORIGINAL gray disk that came with the computer

If it's a gray OS 10.5 install disk...and you don't know where it came from...10.5 won't install. The gray disks are model specific...and only work with the model Mac it shipped with.

Of course if you have the black OS 10.5 install disk with a big "X" on it...you're fine.

- Nick

Oh Wow, I didnt know this. How do I know or find out what model it is? When you say model do you mean....iMac g4? And if not where can I find either disk you're refering to...particullary the black disk?

confused_chris said:

Oh Wow, I didnt know this. How do I know or find out what model it is? When you say model do you mean....iMac g4? And if not where can I find either disk you're refering to...particullary the black disk?

Click to expand...

The bottom line(s) is/are:

- Is the 10.5 disk you have gray or black (you didn't confirm this in your last post)?
- If gray...where did you get it?
- If it's not the original gray disk that came with the computer...forget about it.
- If this computer already has 10.5.8 on it...and you don't have a black OS 10.5 install disk...DON'T wipe the hard drive.

And FYI...there really should't be a need to wipe the hard drive & reinstall the OS...but I do understand the desire to want to do it.

- Nick

I don't have either disk as of yet and the reason I'm looking to do this is that the system I have has an 80GB hard drive but 12G's are already used up by things the previous ower put on it. I don't know which applications/files are safe to remove without removing any of the system required components (I sure hope I worded that right...lol) It looks as if I can pic up the full install disk off of ebay for roughly $100.00 and I really don't want to do this if I don't have to.

confused_chris said:

I don't have either disk as of yet and the reason I'm looking to do this is that the system I have has an 80GB hard drive but 12G's are already used up by things the previous ower put on it. I don't know which applications/files are safe to remove without removing any of the system required components (I sure hope I worded that right...lol) It looks as if I can pic up the full install disk off of ebay for roughly $100.00 and I really don't want to do this if I don't have to.

Click to expand...

Just to confirm what we're working with...what model iMac G4 do you have (primarily need the processor speed)?

As far as the install disk...to get a "black" full retail install disk...yes...it's going to cost you about $100 on e-Bay...maybe less on Craig's List...but they don't show up on CL very often.

- Nick

Click on the Apple in the top left corner of the screen. Click on About This Mac. Tell us what info is listed there. That will help us tell which model the iMac is.

It is

Mac OS X
Version 10.5.8
Processor 1 GHz PowerPC G4
Memory 1.25 GB DDR SDRAM

I was told by another gentleman that if I were to create another user account with administrative rights that I could go in and delete the previous owner's account and this would give me back the memory he used by adding stuff to the system. Is this correct and if so I don't know how to delete his user account.

confused_chris said:

It is

Mac OS X
Version 10.5.8
Processor 1 GHz PowerPC G4
Memory 1.25 GB DDR SDRAM

I was told by another gentleman that if I were to create another user account with administrative rights that I could go in and delete the previous owner's account and this would give me back the memory he used by adding stuff to the system. Is this correct and if so I don't know how to delete his user account.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Just wanted to check to see if your iMac G4 meet the min. system requirements for OS 10.5. It does.

As far as the hard drive space. "Memory" is not hard drive space..."memory" is ram (incorrect terminology). Yes...if you delete the previous users programs/files...you will recover hard drive storage space.

Also be aware that the install of OS 10.5 takes up a good amount of hard drive space. You mentioned that 12gig of 80 gig is currently used on your iMac G4's HD. The install of OS 10.5 can take at least 9 gig (and can take up a lot more depending on the install options):

Requirements for Mac OS X v10.5

...so at least 9 gig (maybe more) of the 12 gig on your iMac G4's HD is just OS 10.5.8.

HTH,

- Nick

ok so knowing i can regain some storage space by deleting the prevoius owners user account, can you tell me please how to delete it? I've already created my user account with administrative rights.

just delete the account from the system preferences > accounts

I've tried doing this and i don't see the option to do so

Can someone tell me how to delete a user account other than going to system preferences>accounts there doesn't seem to be an option to delete account

Ok people, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has helped me with this project and Ive been able to do what everyone has said, so again....THANK YOU

Now that I know how to regain storage space by deleting user accounts instead of whiping the system clean (because I don't have the money right now to buy an installation disk) I only have one more question. I think I know the answer, but I'll ask anyway just to be certain.

If I wipe out the original "Head User" (or first) user account on this system, will I do any irreversable damage to the operating system rendering it useless?