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Tiger Upgrade Prep FAQ: 6th Draft

'Tis the season to upgrade for many Mac folks. Around this time the Forum usually fills up with redundant support requests so, thanks to the many informed denizens here, we've compiled an Upgrade FAQ: a place you may want to look first before leaping. Make no mistake, upgrading from a major point release such as 10.2 to 10.3 is serious business; this has been true, to a greater or lesser degree, since System 7.

The tips and advice presented here are culled from the Forum members, and are in no way offered as a substitute for Apple documentation. Many of the questions seen here in the OS X Forum have answers that can easily be found at: http://www.apple.com/support/

When someone asks a common upgrade question for the umpteenth time in the Forum, please refer them to this FAQ. Many thanks to all the contributors to this FAQ, both public and private.

What is the safest way to upgrade from Panther (OS 10.3), or earlier, to Tiger (OS 10.4)?
Short of buying a new Mac with Tiger pre-installed, it's strongly recommended that you first diagnose and repair your disk, repair permissions, and back up all of your important files before running an upgrade. Upgrading a sick Mac can be the beginning of serious trouble. Also, first make sure your Mac meets the system requirements for Tiger:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/requirements.html

About Devices - Keep your cool gear, um, cool:
It is highly recommended that you sync any devices such as cell phones, iPods, Palms, etc. before you upgrade.

It is also wise to disconnect any peripheral devices on your USB and Firewire buses, save for mouse and keyboard before running the upgrade.

For an account of one of the most cautious and thoughtful upgrade preparations, please see Forum user djdawson's post in the Forum thread about preparing this FAQ. Dana, as he is known, is one of the regular contributors here, and is blessed with a curiosity about OS X's UNIX underpinnings and a helpful attitude:
djdawson's comments here at MacAddict on preparing for a Clean Install

How do I diagnose my disk?
Tiger will likely come with Disk Utility on the Install disk; you'll want to run this while booted off the disk. With the Install disk in the tray and mounted in the Finder, boot your Mac from the disk by restarting your Mac while holding down the "C" key. After the Install screen has loaded, instead of continuing with the installation, go to the Apple Menu and choose Disk Utility from the drop down menu. Select your HD in the left window, and click on the First Aid tab. Click the Repair Disk button. After Disk Utility is finished, simply Restart your Mac from the Apple Menu (and cancel out of the Installation; there's still more work to do).
Using Disk Utility and fsck for file system maintenance in Mac OS X

How do I Repair Permissions?
You do not need to boot your Install disk to repair permissions. Go to the Applications > Utilities folder and launch Disk Utility, click on your HD icon in the leftmost window, and click on the First Aid tab. At the bottom right of the window, click on the Repair Permissions button. After the task is complete your permissions have been repaired.
About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature (Mac OS X 10.2, 10.3)

What about my third party utilities?
They may be incompatible with Tiger. The Mac shareware community has provided many ways of customizing the Mac experience. DragThing, MaxMenus, Haxies, and Program Switcher are only a few of the many shareware titles available to customize OS X. First and foremost, check your shareware author's website to see if and when their products will be compatible with Tiger. If the program(s) aren't compatible yet, or the vendors do not state their compatibility, it's best to disable these programs before installation and possibly turn them back on later, one by one, after installation to see if they are, in fact, compatible. This last applies only if you are using the Simple Upgrade method described below. Re-installing third party utility software is another more likely solution after a major point release, esp. if you have run the Archive and Install option described below.
Some programs require installation after Mac OS X Archive and Install

How do I disable third party utilities?
As always RTFM from the vendor. More than likely you will find utilities have placed some files in your startup files. Open System Preferences. In OS 10.3, go to Accounts, and click on the Startup Items tab for your Account. You may wish to take a screen cap of your current startup files window now, as the path to some third party utility startup items is not always obvious. Uncheck any third party startup items, and either log out and back in, or Restart your Mac.

What about my applications? I have iLife '05. Will it go away if I upgrade?
No. Using the Simple Upgrade or Archive and Install methods of upgrading, described below, leaves your Applications folder untouched, other than upgrading any stock Apple apps that come with Tiger, such as Mail, Safari, etc. Using the Clean Install method, you will be re-installing all of your apps anyway so, assuming you still have your iLife install disks at hand (and any other third party software install disks), you're safe.

Is there a list of compatibility problems/solutions for Tiger?
Macintouch.com currently has a list of programs and devices that may not yet work with the new OS.
Incompatibilities and Workarounds
Compatibility Updates

What does backing up my files entail?
Some people like to back up not only their important files, but a working copy of their OS as well. Storage space may be a consideration here. Now might be the perfect time to purchase that large Firewire external hard drive you've been thinking about. Making a direct file copy of your User directory to other media is better than nothing and is often sufficient for data protection.

Is there software that can automate a backup that could completely restore my System in the event of a catastrophe?
If you're using Panther (10.3), the free Disk Utility program included in 10.3, can create a Restore version of your entire System, storage permitting. There are several other programs that can safely make a copy of your current System, again storage permitting. Retrospect is a respected commercial backup software that can accomplish this task. In the shareware field, CarbonCopyCloner can backup up your entire system as well.

You can use different compression formats to store large files:  ZIP, SIT, DMG

I don't have the space to backup my entire OS, what's the minimum I can get away with backing up?
Your User directory should be backed up to another media. If you share your Mac, backing up the other User accounts is also a must.

Consider this:
your files
any serial numbers for software you've purchased
keychains in user library
preferences in user library
application support in user library
safari folder in user library
mail folder in user library
music purchased  from the iTunes Music store

See a pattern here? They're all, most likely, in your User directory.

Back Up Media:
CD, DVD, tape, external hard drives, .Mac


After you have confirmed that your hardware can run OS X 10.4, and that you have enough disk space, diagnosed and/or repaired your disk, repaired Permissions, disabled third party extensions to OS X and backed up important files, you have now met the minimum obligations for preparing your Mac for upgrade. Easy, right?

If your Mac had been having problems before the upgrade and is still behaving strangely after doing the recommendations above, it is strongly recommended that you get and run a third party disk repair program before upgrading. Programs such as Disk Warrior 3, Tech Tool Pro 4, and Norton Utilities 8 are some of the most well-known third party disk repair programs; all have their supporters and detractors. It should be noted that Norton is leaving the Mac space. The general consensus is that a boot-able version of Disk Warrior 3 is indispensable for the long term care of your Mac and its file system.

Are there different upgrade installation options?
Simple Upgrade:
This option upgrades all the important components of your old system software while preserving all your personal files and most settings. This option is fine for machines used for basic purposes: Surf, Type, iTunes. You'll still need to verify your disk and repair permissions before proceeding with the installation. Backups now prevent tears and recriminations later.

Archive and Install:
Another method for upgrading is the Archive and Install option, with the extra option to choose Preserve Users and Network Settings as well. This method creates a new System folder, and places an archive of your previous install in the root directory, named Previous System. Apple will usually offer an Options button at the outset of the install. Click this button to choose Archive and Install, and choose Preserve Users and Network Settings. Some third-party software items may not be preserved. If third-party software doesn't work after the Archive and Install is performed, reinstall it or contact the vendor. If your newly upgraded machine has been running fine for more than a week, and your third party software is happy, it is safe and wise to delete the Previous System folder to save disk space. This is usually done via the Terminal.
Mac OS X: About the Archive and Install feature
Some programs require installation after Mac OS X Archive and Install

Clean Install:
Warning: this method involves completely erasing all data on your hard drive! Only power users should attempt this method, IMO. To Clean Install you must back up your entire Mac to dependable media, such as an external hard drive, and afterwards reformat your internal hard drive (usually with the Zero All Data option, to ensure all of the HD's bad blocks are mapped), run a Clean Install, and then reinstall all of your applications from scratch, as well as reestablish your network settings, email settings, etc. This method has many advantages as it insures an absolutely clean install with no possibility of any system or disk corruption from the previous install wreaking havoc on the new System, with the chief disadvantages being the time involved and the risk of data "accidents" in the process.

Another option for Clean Install, which assumes you've copied your entire System to a boot-able drive with a program such as CarbonCopyCloner, is to use Apple's relatively new Setup Assistant after the Clean Install to copy all of your old settings and files over from the external drive. It's said that the Setup Assistant will automatically run after a Clean Install, and ask to locate your old files. I personally haven't had experience with this method, and would look forward to any comments here on its effectiveness. It actually sounds easier than Archive and Install.

Here are some important links to Apple Documentation related to installation, many of which date from the introduction of the last point upgrade, OS X 10.3 (Panther):

Mac OS X 10.4: About installation options (this article has come to light well after this FAQ was written and is worth reading).

Install and Upgrade

Mac OS X 10.3 installation - frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Mac OS X: About the Archive and Install feature

Mac OS X: How to get files from a previous home directory after Archive and Install

Some programs require installation after Mac OS X Archive and Install

djdawson's comments here at MacAddict on preparing for a Clean Install