An AppleInsider source familiar with Mac OS X Snow Leopard has detailed
some important (and cool) changes with the install process. They report that the gold master build (which we told you about earlier this week) is now going into the hands of AppleCare representatives to learn how to handle support requests for the new OS.
Some of the key changes to the installer include:
- Rosetta and QuickTime 7 are optional installs with Snow Leopard. If you have a serial key for QT 7, it will go ahead and install the software, however.
- "Erase and Install" and "Archive and Install" options are now gone. You can access the erase and install option from Disk Utility. If you need to reinstall the OS, the archive and install is done for you automatically.
- Reinstallations will not bump you down a version number. So if you were to reinstall 10.6.1, you'll end up with a 10.6.1 system instead of being bumped down to 10.6.0.
- No more "Previous System Folder" after reinstalling the OS.
- If you have a power outage, the installer will pickup where it left off when power is restored.
- A software check keeps the system from becoming unstable if there are "bad" apps installed. This prevents the nasty blue screen that appeared in Leopard.
- If your Mac reports a S.M.A.R.T. failure on the hard drive, it will not install the OS.
- Snow Leopard copies large "chunks" of data from the DVD to the hard drive for speedier installs.
You can read more about the new features of the installer on AppleInsider.
