questions about Snow Leopard upgrade disk

[pbjunkie87]

I have a question regarding Snow Leopard and upgrading it.

I have a 15" MBP with Snow Leopard already on it (bought the upgrade disk and installed it myself w/ no problems). I want to reformat my hard drive and clear out a bunch of the stuff that's on my HD.

1) Is the Snow Leopard upgrade disk a complete OS install, or just an a way to upgrade from older OSs? (if its the former, that's a really cheap OS disk!)

2) I have everything backed up with Time Machine. Everything that i have on my HD right now - movies, music, school documents, 3rd party applications, etc - will be restored when I restore my computer from Time Machine, correct? I've read that some databases and caches won't be restored, that i can understand. I also read that some people have had issues with iTunes having to be reauthorized.

also, will I have a bunch of software updates waiting for me after I reformat and reinstall?

Please let me know as soon as possible. sorry for all the questions, just paranoid after what happened last time I messed around with my hard drive (for those of you wondering, I tried to partition my HD to run Boot Camp, and ended up accidentally erasing the entire hard drive, and i didn't have anything backed up! trust me, lesson learned haha!)

thank you!

 

[Tex-Twil]

The SL disk will work. It's a complete OS, not just an upgrade.

The Time Machine contains all the files you asked it to backup.

so you'll be fine.

Tex

 

[DivineEvil]

1) It's the same as the retail disk... it only come in a smaller package and without any fancy packaging... and the work is not Retail, but Upgrade...
So you'll be fine installing SL from that disk. I did it way back in September...

2) Yes the documents, pics, movies etc. will be restored. And the caches will not be. To be on the save side with iTunes or any other software that uses similar authentication system before you start reformatting deauthorize and reauthorize when you have reinstalled SL.

3) Yes there will be software updates like SL 10.6.2, the Security update etc... No biggie just do them again.

 

[Habitus]

I have a question regarding Snow Leopard and upgrading it.

I have a 15" MBP with Snow Leopard already on it (bought the upgrade disk and installed it myself w/ no problems). I want to reformat my hard drive and clear out a bunch of the stuff that's on my HD.

1) Is the Snow Leopard upgrade disk a complete OS install, or just an a way to upgrade from older OSs? (if its the former, that's a really cheap OS disk!)

2) I have everything backed up with Time Machine. Everything that i have on my HD right now - movies, music, school documents, 3rd party applications, etc - will be restored when I restore my computer from Time Machine, correct? I've read that some databases and caches won't be restored, that i can understand. I also read that some people have had issues with iTunes having to be reauthorized.

also, will I have a bunch of software updates waiting for me after I reformat and reinstall?

Please let me know as soon as possible. sorry for all the questions, just paranoid after what happened last time I messed around with my hard drive (for those of you wondering, I tried to partition my HD to run Boot Camp, and ended up accidentally erasing the entire hard drive, and i didn't have anything backed up! trust me, lesson learned haha!)

thank you!

The SL disc is a full upgrade and time machine will bring your Mac back to what it was before the restore. Given that, you may not clean the Mac of useless drivers etc. because they'll be on your Time Machine backup.

Good luck

Habitus

 

[Maim]

The SL disc is a full upgrade and time machine will bring your Mac back to what it was before the restore. Given that, you may not clean the Mac of useless drivers etc. because they'll be on your Time Machine backup.

Good luck

Habitus

drivers shouldn't be included in the time machine backup, as it only transfers users, applications and settings.

 

[Fry-man22]

drivers shouldn't be included in the time machine backup, as it only transfers users, applications and settings.

This is totally incorrect. Time machine backs up EVERYTHING unless you specifically exclude it. If you just booted to the 10.6 DVD you can just restore from the TM backup without even installing - that's the whole point...

 

[n8kwx]

Carefull!

The SL upgrade doesn't appear to be a "complete" disk.

It will do a full (clean) install on my 2009 MBP but NOT on my 2006 MBP.


My guess is that since my 2006 MBP came with Tiger, any "Tiger" Mac won't do a clean install with this disk.


There was a workaround. I booted the 2009 MBP with the disk, plugged in my 2006 MBP via FW Target mode and was able to do a clean install.

 

[PikachuMan]

Carefull!

The SL upgrade doesn't appear to be a "complete" disk.

It will do a full (clean) install on my 2009 MBP but NOT on my 2006 MBP.


My guess is that since my 2006 MBP came with Tiger, any "Tiger" Mac won't do a clean install with this disk.


There was a workaround. I booted the 2009 MBP with the disk, plugged in my 2006 MBP via FW Target mode and was able to do a clean install.

Just for clarity, you are talking about the $10 SL Upgrade disc, not the $29 retail disk, right?

 

[n8kwx]

Just for clarity, you are talking about the $10 SL Upgrade disc, not the $29 retail disk, right?

Yes. The $10 mail-in disc.

Everyone says that the $10 and $29 are the same. Don't forget there is a $129 disc available too (the "full" version).

Someone somewhere must have done a file-by-file comparison of all "three" versions. (couldn't find it...)

 

[pbjunkie87]

Just for clarity, you are talking about the $10 SL Upgrade disc, not the $29 retail disk, right?

I was referring to the $29 retail disk. I did not know there were other discs available. I bought the retail disk as soon as it came out.

I'm glad I did buy the retail disk, and not the upgrade one. I would've been SOL.

 

[n8kwx]

I was referring to the $29 retail disk. I did not know there were other discs available. I bought the retail disk as soon as it came out.

I'm glad I did buy the retail disk, and not the upgrade one. I would've been SOL.

Technically the $29 retail is an "upgrade" disc. The $129 on is the "full" version.