"Unclean" Install from 4.11 to Snow Leopard? - Help!

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Hi there.

I've been running a trusted and well-loved MBP since 2007, on OSX 4.11. System details are further below.

Yesterday I took the momentous decision to upgrade to Snow Leopard using the DVD.
I did tons of research beforehand, and was set to:

1) Clone my Mac HD to a clean external HD, which I have done

2) Install the Snow Leopard DVD

3) Perform a 'clean install' by clicking on Utility button during the installation process, and choosing the options to erase the Mac drive and the install over the zeroed drive.

Imposrt my apps and data from the cloned drive when prompted.


Trouble is - I think I may have made a few mistakes?

First, I didn't begin the process by restarting the system (and while the restart was happenin put the Snow Leopard DVD in). I remember I just put the DVD in after the machine had been running for about 30 minutes. I had closed all apps though.

2) When the 'OSX' page came up on screen, I chose English as the default language. So far so good.

But I couldn't see any options for 'Utilities' !

So, I eneded up clicking what seemed to be the only option, which was 'Install Snow Loepard'.


This I did. within 40 minutes the new SNow Leopard welcome screen was up there, and everything working shipshape so far.

Even Word Office 04 is working because I clicked on 'install Rosetta' as advised.

My questions are:

A) Because technically I didn't ensure a clean install on the formatted and erased Mac internal drive, the Snow Leopard has overwritten my old 4.11 Tiger.

But will this now have negative consequences?


and

B) If the answer to A) is yes - that I will start to have problems - can I still perform ANOTHER Snow Leopard installation from the DVD, but this time making sure I get to the all important Utilties options, thus getting the installation done correctly?


and finally


C) If I carry on with my system the way it is, (so far it's behaving itself) - obviously as I go along and upgrade my apps and preferences to accommodate the new Snow Leopard OS, will I only be ensuring that B) will not be possible in future - in other words, can you only install a Snow Leopard upgrade on an earlier OS, and not over itself??

Any answers and advice is really appreciate.

Thanks!



Adrian

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP21.00A5.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.14f5
Serial Number (system): W870804XW0M
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F2D423B8
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
 

pigoo3

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First, I didn't begin the process by restarting the system (and while the restart was happenin put the Snow Leopard DVD in). I remember I just put the DVD in after the machine had been running for about 30 minutes. I had closed all apps though.

The simple answer is...boot the computer from the OS 10.6 Snow Leopard DVD...and proceed with the OS install this way (the correct way).:)

- Nick
 
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Thanks for the quick reply..

But not sure what you mean - install 'this way - the correct wayu'...

Do you mean

1 Boot from the DVD
2 Go to Utilities to format the internal drive, get apps from backup disk etc

Or just do a standard 'Continue' install as per the DVD?>

That's exactly what I'm confused about. My installation seems just fine at the moment, shouldn't I just see what happens first before messing with the system again, or is that too much of a risk?
 

pigoo3

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Thanks for the quick reply..

But not sure what you mean - install 'this way - the correct wayu'...

Do you mean

1 Boot from the DVD
2 Go to Utilities to format the internal drive, get apps from backup disk etc

Or just do a standard 'Continue' install as per the DVD?>

The "correct method" to install Snow Leopard...is to boot the computer from the DVD. In your first post you clearly mentioned that you did not do this.

My installation seems just fine at the moment, ...

If your installation is fine at the moment...why did you compose an extremely long initial post for a situation that has no issues??:Confused:

- Nick
 
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MacInWin

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What I suspect you have done is to install SL over your previous version instead of what is known as a "clean" install. You did not reformat the drive and install to that now virginal drive. You have just overlaid what you had with SL. Now, if it's working fine, there is no reason to do anything at all. But if what you wanted was a true "clean" install then you follow what pigoo3 has said to do, which is to boot from the DVD, format the internal HD and reinstall SL, then restore from your backup using either Migration Assistant or whatever you used to clone your previous system. What you did wasn't "wrong" but it wasn't what you set out to do.
 
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Thanks a lot Jake for the helpful reply.

My need to post was simply because 90% of advice online is to run a clean install.

The fact that I didn't, but that the 'unclean' install still 'worked', led me to wonder if I should stay as it is and risk consequences - or just go ahead and redo - if that indeed was still ok to do so on the new system.

Thanks for your patience and comprehensive reply, in advising me to go ahead and do the format via Utilities.

Actually, pigoo didn't tell me to do that at all. His replies exuded condescension and irritability in equal measure. I suspect he understood perfectly what I was concerned about, but chose instead to be obtuse rather than helpful, deliberately avoiding answering the clear questions I posed. No matter - we all have bad days.

For those who are interested, the best advice regarding a clean install imho is here

http://guides.macrumors.com/Clean_Install_of_OS_X_10.6_Snow_Leopard

which I found quite by mistake just now. I've gone ahead and redone the thing from scratch, and feel a whole lot more secure. Everything's working just fine.

Thanks again,


Adrian
 

pigoo3

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Actually, pigoo didn't tell me to do that at all.

That's because the way you installed the OS is really not the way to do it. Why would I recommend to someone to do something that's not the proper way??

If you wanted to jump out of a plane...why would I recommend you jump without a parachute...when jumping out of an airplane with a parachute is the proper way to do it??;)

Do an internet search. 99% of the time...the instructed way to do an OS install properly is to boot the computer from the install media. I would probably have to do some serious internet searching to find anyone that recommends installing/upgrading the OS by NOT booting the computer from the install media.

By not booting from the OS 10.6 install media to do the install...what probably happened was...you installed a 2nd set of OS files. The 10.6 set of files is now the "active set" (since it is a newer version)...and the older 10.4 files are now an "archived set".

Those old 10.4 OS files are now just taking up extra space on your hard drive. And for folks running out of hard drive space...those gigabytes of storage space being taken up by the 10.4 files are now just a waste of HD storage space!

- Nick
 
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MacInWin

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Glad you got it done "properly." My experience is that overlay installs for me have worked just fine. I did a "clean" install of Mavericks, but that was because I had decided to install an internal SSD from which to boot, so a clean install was required. I know most folks recommend "clean" installs, and that is a good recommendation to avoid any potential problems that could come up if the update install goes south. But as I said, they have worked for me just fine.
 
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My need to post was simply because 90% of advice online is to run a clean install.

The fact that I didn't, but that the 'unclean' install still 'worked', led me to wonder if I should stay as it is and risk consequences - or just go ahead and redo - if that indeed was still ok to do so on the new system.

Yeah, I stubbornly did it the "dirty way" because I used to do it that way (OS9). Not many months later, I had a kernel panic and could not boot it at all. Got it fixed and back running again though - Snow Leopard.
 

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