I was so excited to recieve my new 20" iMac today - I ordered it Friday night, and it shipped from China on Monday - I had figured it would take a few more days. At this point all I've done is open the box and see what's inside - including a Leopard dropin DVD. I was hoping that Leopard would be preinstalled, but since it is not, I would be grateful for advice as to the best way to install it. If there is an option to reformat the hard drive should I do that? Thanks.
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New iMac - Leopard Install Question
- Thread starter Ellen
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I'm going to be doing the same when I get mine on Sunday, boot into Tiger and then install Leopard straight away. I'm going to be erasing the HDD first, defiantly. Just seems the better option, means you truly start from scratch and no redundant files have any chance of being left behind.
When it comes up with the "Select Destination" screen just click on the options button and then select the "Erase and Install" radio button. I think you can also go into disk management and manually format the HDD - which may do a better job? Does anyone know how erase and install erases the disk? Does it zero out the drive or use another method?
When it comes up with the "Select Destination" screen just click on the options button and then select the "Erase and Install" radio button. I think you can also go into disk management and manually format the HDD - which may do a better job? Does anyone know how erase and install erases the disk? Does it zero out the drive or use another method?
I wouldn't go the erase and install route as a number of applications are already installed from the 10.4 DVD's. If you do go this route, you'll have to reinstall them.
I upgraded to 10.5 and aside from a lack of functional search "entire messages" option in mail.app, I've had no problems on the iMac.
Also I was told by Apple that the "drop in" version of 10.5 that is shipping with machines (and not installed) is not machine specific. Make of that what you may.
I upgraded to 10.5 and aside from a lack of functional search "entire messages" option in mail.app, I've had no problems on the iMac.
Also I was told by Apple that the "drop in" version of 10.5 that is shipping with machines (and not installed) is not machine specific. Make of that what you may.
Not only is iLife pre-installed on your system, but I also got Graphic Converter, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner and also Office and iWork trials - this was on a PowerBook - my iBook friend got a game instead...
Aquis
Aquis
Do an erase and install, the upgrade option for me, on two machines, introduced nothing but quirky bugs.
Redoing the the Macs with an erase and install fixed those issues and I know that there's nothing carried over from the previous install.
Redoing the the Macs with an erase and install fixed those issues and I know that there's nothing carried over from the previous install.
If there's nothing configured or installed other than the defaults on the iMac, go ahead and do the upgrade. Or Archive and Install if it's an available option. The only times I have issues with upgrading the OS is when there's a lot of stuff, usually system hacks and tweaks, on the previous system.
If I do erase and install, then I assume iLife is on the 10.5 disks - will there be an option just to install that?
Also I have read inconsistent posts here - if I ever need to reinstall the operating system, do I have to reinstall Tiger first, then Leopard - or will the Leopard disk work on its own in that case?
Also I have read inconsistent posts here - if I ever need to reinstall the operating system, do I have to reinstall Tiger first, then Leopard - or will the Leopard disk work on its own in that case?
Erase and install will leave you without iLife - iLife is NOT on the 10.5 install disk, unless it is the iMac 10.5 disk (which according to your first post, it is not). Edit: You can still have iLife by installing it using the Tiger CD's, and installing the bundled applications.
You probably won't need your original bundled 10.4 disks after you upgrade to Leopard, I'd keep them safe anyway. You do not need to install Tiger first before you install Leopard, if for example you got a new hard disk.
You probably won't need your original bundled 10.4 disks after you upgrade to Leopard, I'd keep them safe anyway. You do not need to install Tiger first before you install Leopard, if for example you got a new hard disk.
Erase & Install does not zero-out the disk, it simply clobbers the existing
directories (folders) and over-writes them with new stuff. That's much
quicker than zeroing, but it doesn't physically erase old data or re-scan
the disk for bad sectors.
If you choose to clean the disk (a good practice, IMO) I believe you'll have
to shutdown and reboot from the Leopard DVD. After the initial language-
selection dialog, open DiskUtility (under "Utilities" on the menu bar) and
click the "Erase" tab, then "Security Options" to select a one-pass zeroing
operation. ...then go watch TV for an hour or three.
When you're finished zeroing and partitioning, just close DiskUtility and
return to the installation dialog.
LK
Most (all?) of the iLife bits are physically on Install Disk #2 -- but the
(Apple-approved) way to install iLife is to insert Install Disk #1, click
on "Install Bundled Applications Only" ...then folow directions.
LK
That's what I feared. It doesn't actually erase the data, it just discards it as being used and overwrites it...
Am I right in thinking that with my up to date disc I can just insert it into tiger, click to install it and then it'll reboot automatically into the setup. From there I guess I can still access the Utilities menu? And do my one pass zeroing?
Also, how long do you think one pass zeroing would take on a 2.8Ghz iMac with 1GB RAM and a 500GB HDD? And would you create the partition for bootcamp at that point? Or wait until OS X is installed and do it after? I'm not sure how that works...
If your computer is brand new there is no advantage of an "erase install".
"erase & install" is usefull it you've installed and deleated files and aplications and adjusted system settings etc. that over time (years) leave bits and peices on the hard-drive that may interfer with the smooth running of the new operating systrem.
If your machine is out of the box then just update (the defalt choice) as you shouldn't have any problems.
I did an Archive & Install on my 20" iMac this past weekend with the drop-in Leopard DVD. It's exactly like the store bought Leopard DVD in the way you can update/upgrade your system.
I followed the same directions to install Leopard on my iMac just like I did on my MacBook the day that Leopard was released. My MacBook is from January of this year. You'll see a Previous System Folder in Finder. I tested out Leopard, and within a few days I deleted that folder since it was taking up room. With the iMac I immediately deleted the Previous System Folder, and then began to install the other programs I bought or needed on a fully updated Leopard after the Archive & Install.
If you double click on Install OS X, it will go through the reboot process and it will run the install from the DVD where you can select customize install and choose Archive & Install. I would go that route over an upgrade, and I would do it over an Erase & Install.
No issues here, running perfect.
I followed the same directions to install Leopard on my iMac just like I did on my MacBook the day that Leopard was released. My MacBook is from January of this year. You'll see a Previous System Folder in Finder. I tested out Leopard, and within a few days I deleted that folder since it was taking up room. With the iMac I immediately deleted the Previous System Folder, and then began to install the other programs I bought or needed on a fully updated Leopard after the Archive & Install.
If you double click on Install OS X, it will go through the reboot process and it will run the install from the DVD where you can select customize install and choose Archive & Install. I would go that route over an upgrade, and I would do it over an Erase & Install.
No issues here, running perfect.
What are you trying to archive?
If you're computer is new, wouldn't most of you're settings be set to default anyhow? Things like your bookmarks and contacts if you've imported can be exported and re-imported once OS 10.5 installed.
archive-install is about preserving user-set data/settings, erase-install is about cleaning up rubbish on a well used disk to esnure the system will run smoothly.
A brand new computer should not have either of these issuse. (if you archive and install you may find that you have to reinstall iLife as well).
It seems that you are making life more complicated than it needs to be. (just trying to save you some bother.)
Nothing has to be reinstalled with an Archive & Install. I didn't have to reinstall iLife '08 on my new iMac. Nothing had to be reinstalled.
It's a clean install of the OS, not an upgrade which can leave remnants from the previous OS. An Erase & Install is more work. Archive & Install is a great compromise.
It's a clean install of the OS, not an upgrade which can leave remnants from the previous OS. An Erase & Install is more work. Archive & Install is a great compromise.
That should be fine -- as long as it re-boots from the Leopard DVD. For obvious reasons,
DiskUtility won't allow you to erase the system disk while running from the system disk.
BTW, just before starting the install, I reset NVRAM and the SMC -- that probably has
little/no effect, but it can't hurt. Just tryin' to get as close as possible to a "clean slate."
Not sure, but I'd guess 2 to 3 hours. The 3Gbit/s internal SATA bus could theoretically
transfer 500 GBytes in about 22 minutes -- but 7200 rpm hard drives aren't that fast;
the good ones benchmark around 70-90 MB/sec -- or a little under 2 hours for 500 GB.
It took over 3 hours to zero-out my 500 GB external Firewire400 drive.
I'm not planning to use Bootcamp -- I'm not a gamer, and Fusion works well enough
for the few Windoze apps I need. I much prefer to avoid multiple partitions whenever
possible (old unix hacker habits), so I'm not sure how that works, either.
LK