If I install Tiger, will my data be erased?

Hello all!
I (had) a Panther 10.3 Mac, that wont boot up due to an installation failure of an OS update. I have discovered that the system files are corrupt so I have decided to purchase a Tiger Installation Disc (4 CD Edition). I was wondering, if I install Tiger, will all of my user data and files be deleted?
Thank you for any help.
Dexter

Hello Again Dexter!
Also refer to, your other Topic Archive and Install saves my Data?, regarding this issue, where you posted additional info about your situation.
ali b

Similar Messages

I need to re-install Tiger: Will I lose my installed applications?

I somehow lost isync and I was told that I need to re-install Tiger. What I'm worried about is whether I will lose all the applications I have installed in the appz folder, such as FCP, Entourage with all the info I have in there, including projects, thousands of mails and so forth. I know I have to back-up, but last time I backed up a project and then imported it again, I lost all the categories on events, etc and I am using those categories as a database of sorts. Secondly I don't have the all the programmes I have installed on my MAC at the moment because I'm abroad. Will I lose the documents files etc?
Since I tempered with isync and lost it, the computer is acting strange, I would dare say, like a PC! It freezes (without blue screens), I can't go from one profile to another, especially if I have a programme like FCP open on one, FCP closes down on its own if I go to my other profile whilst I am on FCP and other strange things that never happened before.
Bottom line, if your uncle, who has a MAC himself asks you to set up his Nokia Communicator on your mac to isync (when isync 2.3 does not recognize his communicator), do not feel compelled to help and try playing around with the root editor if you're not definetly sure you know what you're doing! I screwed up my computer and the end of my year by being nice.
To recap-- if I re-install Tiger (10.4), will I lose my appz and their preferences and the info I have inside them? How would I back up entourage for example-- all the stuff I have in there at the moment? I am editing a documentary (I am an independent and poor documentary filmmaker) and I don't want to end up losing the sync with the render files I have-- another reason why I don't have the time to actually re-install from scratch!
Thanks for everything whoever decides to answer my plight and Happy New Year!
Steve

Hi Adrian,
I have an 800Gb external HD. Would that be the same? (ie backing up my home and applications folders onto the external rather than on his MAC?-- he asked me to sync it on his because he left his up north)
I will start off by trying to repair it using the first the OSX disk then using disk warrior (even though I have had problems with it since I upgraded to OSX 10.4).
Then if that does not solve my friggin' problem we'll wait for the gurus.
I don't know whether this is related but...
I have been closing my yearly accounts yesterday-- sad prospect for the end of the year and I had created a few years back an XLs document with various sheets that have a lot of equations and links. I also hyperlinked the original receipts scans to the individual expenses on my sheet.
Now here's what happens. End of the year arrived and I wanted to archive the 2006 workbook to another folder where I keep the yearly accounts documents. When I do that and open the workbook the hyperlinks do not work but if I put it where it was originally they work. Since all my workbooks were created from the same template they all don't work (and I can't remember for the life of me whether the problem had cropped up in the past). If I create a new document in the archiving folder and try a hyperlink it works-- if I move it to the folder where the 2006 accounts workbook was originally, it works too, but if I copy and paste even one of the formulae when the new docu is in the archiving folder or anywhere else, the hyperlink does not work any longer! I move it to the original position and voila` it works! I simply cannot understand why its doing that for me! Is there an explanation for this at all?
Sorry for the length but wanted to explain move by move what I did.
Thanks for the help and awaiting your reply (even on the external HD bit)
Happy New Year.
:Steve
powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Can you install Tiger onto a drive with data?

Hello,
I would like to ask if you can install Tiger onto a hard drive that already has data files on it. I have a 250 GIG hard drive and it already has 10 GIGs of data on it. Can I install Tiger on this drive or might it corrupt my files?
Its a long story but here is a quick summary of why I am attempting to do this:
I have a 350 MHz Blue and white G3 (rev 1) with two hard drives: the original 12 GIG ATA drive and a 250 GIG SATA drive (internal) connected with a 1S2 Seritek SATA controller.
My 250 GIG drive has two partitions but only one is available to Tiger. You see, by accident I originally formatted my 250 GIG drive with an extremely small partion (32 Megs). I meant to type "30 GIGs" and by accident I typed "30 Megs". Oops That was supposed to be my OSX 10.4 volume. Its too late now - its too small. So I only have two choices for a place for TIger: my 12 GIG drive or the other partition of my 250 GIG drive. I am reluctant to choose my 12 GIG drive because it already has an older OS on it (OS 8.6).
I was concerned about installing TIger on the data partition of the 250 GIG drive because that is where all my valuable data files are - 10 Gigs of data. I don't want to risk scrambling this data in any way.
Is it safe to install Tiger onto this partition with my data files? Or is the possibility it might do something to my data.
Its only a temporary install so that I could burn my 10 GIGs of data files to DVD for backup and then I will start all over again and erase the entire hard drive and reinstall from scratch onto the 250 GIG drive once my data files are safely backed up. (I will not partition the 250 GIG drive i nthe final install - it will be one big partition.)
One other question:
When you format a disk in Tiger are there options to "low level format" or "zero all data" or will just a straight "erase" do the job sufficiently? I bought my 250 GIG Hitachi SATA drive new and so I am not sure if it worth the time to re-erase it with "zero all data" (if that is an option in the Tiger Disk Utility). What is the best formatting option to prepare this drive in the most beneficial for Tiger?
Thanks for any suggestions.

Thanks scb and Jeff,
Jeff, you have me thinking now. I think I will be safe and try another idea. I have a 4 GIG internal SCSI drive I could use to backup my data in 4 GIG sections at a time via my Adaptec 2430 SCSI card. I could then move this hard drive over to my other G3 onto its 40 GIG hard drive. This would be done three times to take off all my data and essentially provide a backup before I install Tiger. Good idea. You are right. It is better to play it safe.
By the way 8.6 can handle HFS+. And yes, I should eventually buy an external drive solution - probably an enclosure. I saw one called "coolmax" [1]. It could hold a SATA drive and it had USB, firewire and also an external SATA port.
And also Jef thanks for the info about formatting drives. I am glad to hear it is not important to zero all data if you don't have to. I am not concerned about havig anything to hide and so yes, I will just click "format" - that should be fine. Zero all data takes such a long time and I would rather avoid using it if I don't need this feature. Thanks for the advice.
Thanks for the new safer direction.
[1] Coolmax (CD-311-SATA Combo)
Coolmax Aluminum USB 2.0 External Case/Enclosure for 3.5" SATA/IDE Hard Drives, USB2.0, IEEE1394a, Serial ATA triple interface input CD-311-SATA Combo
http://www.iocombo.com/product/showproduct.php?productid=0EGD&PHPSESSID=3c41735b f27252cf17a17350cb603e0e
$69.95
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/35enclosure.html
$53.99 at directron

How much disk space to install tiger

I have a G3 iBook with a 20 gig hard drive that has about 3 gig of free space. is this enough free space to install Tiger?

No. Installing Tiger will take up at least 3GB of room, not including home folder contents, virtual memory swapfiles, and other temporary files. You need at least another GB free to install a bare-bones copy of Tiger, and 3GB on top of that if you want to run with all the bells and whistles, such as printer drivers and foreign languages.
(11598)

Imac G5 tiger will not start up, PLEASE HELP

i have an imac G5 powerPC running tiger. when i turn it on it does the normal noise, then goes through the normal stuff, but when the load up or start up bar comes on, it will load slowly inch by inch when normally it would load almost instantly. it will then get to the end and just stay there...
what is wrong with this? how can i fix it? please help, thanks!

HI,
*"thank you for your reply. however this did not work."*
Do you mean you couldn't run Disk Utility from your install disk?
*"if i re-install tiger will my documents and music and stuff be lost? will that solve my problem?"*
No one can guarantee it will solve the problem but instead of an erase and install which would erase all your documents and music, try an archive and install instead. For information go here.
About the Archive & Install Feature
You should also make a back up of important files before any Mac OS X installation, whether erase or archive just in case.
*"i tried to install the latest security update and when it was downloading it, it was almost done when a message came up and said that it could not be installed at this time"*
Check your available disk space also. Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon on your Desktop, then click: Get Info. In the Get Info window, click the discovery triangle so it's facing down. You will see; Capacity and Available Make sure you have 10% available disk space, 15% is better. Not enough available drive space can cause issues like you are experiencing.
Carolyn

Installing Tiger on External Hard Drive will erase my data?

Hello there!
I've installed Leopard on my internal hard drive and as there are some applications that will not work with it I'm thinking of installing Tiger on an external hard drive and boot from there when I need. BUT, this hard drive has information on it that I don't want to erase.
Will the "Install Mac Os X" option (or something like that) keep my files stored on the external hard drive?
Hope this make sense.
Thank you for your help!
Julieta

See if the Archive and Install feature, can be used...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
As long as the info on the external is in folders that have names that aren't going to get replaced, you'll be OK if you don't Erase & Install.

Recently installed Tiger on our older eMac why can't I download a PDF reader Adobe etc. that will open e-mail files

Recently installed Tiger on our older eMac why can't I download a PDF reader Adobe etc. that will open e-mail files.
I have other questions but well take them one at a time thanks
lewielouie

You need Adobe Reader version 8.1.1 from here:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3807

HELP! tiger will not install on my G5 1.8 - cd boots to a black screen ?

Anybody know anything about this - I had to wipe my HD - luckilly I had panther on my 2nd drive - so now I want to install tiger on the blank HD i just wiped .
Anyway - after I install the disk - it starts up then the screen just goes to sleep ?? & I cant do anything apart from restart ejecting the disk.
Any help on this would be great
Cheers

Insert the Tiger DVD into the optical drive. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when the spinning gear appears beneath the dark gray Apple logo. After the installer loads proceed to the screen where you select a destination drive. Click once on the destination drive then click on the Options button. Select the Erase and Install option then click on the OK button. Complete the installation.
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I have an older Microtek scanner that is only supported thru 10.4. Is there anyway to install Tiger on my external HDD that will be bootable by my new iMac? If not. anybody need a reliable scanner (Tiger users only).

I have an older Microtek scanner that is only supported thru 10.4. Is there anyway to install Tiger on my external HDDthat can boot up my new iMac? If not, anybody need a good scanner (Tiger users only please).

Hi Bill,
Not possible to run Tiger on a new Mac at all.
The good news is that VueScan supports many Mikrotek scanners & is free to try...
http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/vuescan.htm#microtek
http://www.hamrick.com/

How to properly clean install: erase, partition hard drive, and install tiger then SL

Hello,
     I am a noob at this, so if responders would be kind enough to be detailed / specific with any instructions it would be most helpful! I own a dinosaur apparently (even though I don't think so): the white (not unibody) Intel macbook2,1 (late 2006) 1.83 GHz with currently 1GB of RAM, but I have 2x2GB RAM sitting next to me ready for install. However, first I would like to do a clean uninstall of my computer (running OS X 10.6.8 SL). I also would like to properly partition my hard drive while I'm at it.
     About 6 months ago I had serious crashing issues, along with kernel panics, hangs, applications randomly appearing & disappearing, system settings and options doing the same, fans running high (probably due to the low RAM available), and basically overall screwiness. So, after trying pretty much every option I could find on this community...and many others... (e.g. clean cache, clean old logs, already did a clean uninstall and install of SL, and much much more) I have reached my wits end. I would say that to date I've wasted a good solid 2 months with this.
     The clean install worked for MAYBE a month or so, but then it started acting up again with the fans (even without high pages in/out, CPU or memory usage) and excessive heat, along with the apps freezing and quitting (mind you it would be only two things open such as 1 word document and then firefox-- with flash disabeled). SOOOOOO long story short, I have purchased new RAM and I would like to try this once again, but to ensure I don't screw it up this time I would like some directions as to how to do the uninstall, partition, then reinstall. (currently to date I ensured all updates are completed---even though they are no longer released for SL, and I just did a full backup).
     Also, I need to first install Tiger (my original OS) as when I went to do a hardware test the other day this was not an option (and upon further research it is due to me not using Tiger as a first install and then using my mac box set for SL). I didn't use my original OS first because....one issue encountered when I had tried to install Tiger was that my Disc 2 (the applications one) took around 1.5 hrs to complete, but when I reached the last step of glory where I expected it to say COMPLETE it instead said that there was some sort of issue with the disc..........of course).
     Any help would be greatly appreciated.

1: If near a Apple Store or Authorized Repair, take it to then for a free evaluation, it might have other hardware problems now that it would be a waste of effort even continuing.
2: The RAM needs to be
Maximum Memory
3.0 GB (Actual) 2.0 GB (Apple)
Memory Slots
2 - 200-pin PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 SO-DIMM
Basically what this means is you can put in a 2GB module and a 1GB module for 3GB total.
I wouldn't proceed with installing RAM just yet, not until you get a stable OS X version on the machine, you might have a hard drive needing to be replaced as well which you can do while inserting new RAM.
3: This User Tip can assist in installing 10.6 Snow Leopard, partition format etc.
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
Software Update fully immediately after setup.
There is no need to install Tiger, he 10.6 disk contains the full 10.6 version, you can either install the iLife from Tiger disks or use Pacifist from Charlesoft to extract them and place on your new install, then Software update to get them current.
4: If not successful then the drive also likely needs to be replaced, if so choose a 7,200 RPM SATA I w/1.5Gb/s connection.
Install/upgrade RAM or storage drive in Mac's
Repeat #3
If your getting beeping noises or "you need to restart" issues, it's likely one or more of the RAM modules is bad. Have it exchanged or swapped.
I advise good quality RAM the first time, if you buy cheap stuff it's just going back.
Don't go any further than 10.6.8 with that old machine, the performance will be terrible.

Trying to install Tiger on 17" flat screen imac 800mhz. PLEASE HELP!!

I posted on this board a few days ago about installing tiger on my 17” imac G4 800 mhz Flat Panel.
My computer is running well and with no problems.
My current OS is jaguar 10.2.8 and 9.2.2.
I have 35gb free on my hd.
I have just installed new 517mb memory.
I purchased the Full Retail 10.4 Tiger ref M96392Z/A
I have run
Disk First Aid
Disk Warrior
Hardware Check
All passed
I have repaired permissions.
I have unplugged everything except the keyboard and mouse.
I have inserted the the installation DVD and gone through the first 2 stages.
On reaching the selection of the HD
It reads “Some volumes are unavailable until the installer has finished processing”
The HD image is greyed out and if I place the cursor over it a message appears saying “This volume is not yet available.
There is a spinning wheel in the top right hand corner of the box.
Aware that this is a large upgrade and could be slow, I have left the box and spinning wheel for 7 hours.
No Change.
I went ‘back’ and opened disk utilities. When I try and verify the disk it reads “Cannot unmount”
I am a retired person and I am begining to think I will die before I can install Tiger.
Help Me Please!!!
imac G4 flat 17" screen Mac OS X (10.2.x) 800 mhz

Can't you borrow a friend's external drive ?
You could use mine but I live a bit far away (10 hours flight)... unfortunately for you ...
If you have important data on your drive you should anyway consider such an external hard drive for easy, safe and fast backup ! Prices droped significantly and a low capacity (120 gig) external firewire drive shouldn't cost over $100.-- (unlike a computer, they easely fit in a safe when you are away for a long period...)
You could ask someone (reliable) or Apple centre to change the internal drive by remplacing it with a new faster one. This way you may put the old drive in an empty (you should buy an external drive case, I suggest a sarotech FW/USB II and a maxtor drive) case you could use as backup drive.
This solution is a little more expensive but has the advantage of a longer (+/-3 years) factory waranty on the drive ("ready to use" external drives are cheaper but usualy carry only one year waranty).
Best regards
coolapic
Mac OS X (10.4.3)
Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Stuck on Disk 2 install- Tiger install- Please help

I received a bad disk #2 with my mac pro, and am unable to install tiger (then upgrade to leopard ). Apple sent a replacement dvd, but because my system is still looking for "disk #2" this isn't working.
Is there a way to bypass this install and start from scratch? Can I boot from the new dvd? I have 4 new drives and will not miss any data if I do this.

First, even if it is an upgrade Leopard DVD, the installer system check should be able to detect the presence of Tiger on any of the internal hard drives, or bootable drive that is connected, and allow you to install Leopard on the same drive, or on another blank drive of the same system.
Also, I haven't done it recently, but I believe that if you limit your Tiger installation so that you only install the OS and not the other applications and stuff, such an install will be completed using only Install Disc 1, and you will never see a request to insert Install Disc 2.
Then you can go ahead and upgrade to Leopard on that same drive, or on an entirely different drive. Tiger only needs to be detected on one HD, not all HDs. Once Leopard is installed and operating, you'll be able to return to your system's grey-labeled Install Disc 1, and WITHOUT booting from it, simply insert into optical drive and open the disc so that you can double click on the second install package that doesn't include OS X.
Booting from the install disc is only necessary to install OS X, not the iLife apps and other stuff.
If you don't want to keep Tiger installed, it isn't necessary for Tiger to remain, only to be there when you're trying to install off of the Leopard Upgrade DVD. So you could stick in a small spare drive, put Tiger on it, use the Leopard Upgrade DVD to install Leopard onto a separate HD, and then pull the Tiger HD and put it on a shelf for possible future use, if bad luck should demand.
Message was edited by: myhighway

Does not show my hard drive when i try to install Tiger...

I have a Powerbook G4 that has no operating system installed yet, so when i try to install Tiger, i have to put the DVD in while booting up. I went to the installing screen, and i agreed to everything and all, but when i got to the part where it asks where to install, my hard drive does not show up. I went to DISK UTILITY and chose to erase the entire hard drive (I dont have anything on it yet) and I also chose to repair it. It didnt have any needed repairs, so I went back to the install screen, and it still didnt show the hard drive as an option. It is a 55.9 GB hard drive, and when i erase it, the size does not change, so I know there is nothing on it yet. In Disk Utility, the details for the Hard drive says it is named CSD CAT060L, it is a Disk, the media type is Generic, and it is Internal. I have tried this many times, but the exact same thing happens. My DVD for Tiger was unopened, and new out of the box. If you need any information about what happens or anything, just ask.
Thanks a bunch, Eshan.

Try this:
1. Boot from your Tiger DVD. After the installer loads select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.

Installing tiger over os 10.0.2 and os 9.2

i'm really confused about this because i have had several different opinions about what will happen to my existing os's when i install tiger. to make sure i've been told correctly before i screw something up. the thing is, i need to keep os 9 on my computer because all of my graphic programs work with it (illust. photoshop, etc.) if i install tiger over this, will i not be able to use os 9, or switch to it in the start up disk and reboot?
is it true that i can't use the 'upgrade' feature because it only works with os 10.2 and up? would this be the safest option for me, so should i purchase the 10.2 upgrade and install the tiger upgrade from there? if so, where can i find the 10.2 upgrade?
re: archive and install feature...would i need at least the 10.2 operating system, too? if it archives your older os, can you ever reboot in an older os? if not, can you easily access the older os 9 to use the graphics files? any known complications of reading older files created in os 9 after the install of tiger?
sorry to sound so stupid about these things, but i'm a designer and therefore technically challenged! thanks for your help!

artsenthusiast1:
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
You are correct in that Archive and Install is only available for OS X 10.2 and later.
To install Tiger your computer will need to meet the minimum system requirements for Tiger.
You will also need to purchase the Full Retail version of Tiger.
Be aware that Computer specific or upgrade versions should be avoided as they can cause problems. Besides, it may be a violation of the Software License Agreement which statesThis License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single computer at a time. This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time...
This is how I would go about accomplishing what you want to do:
1. I would backup my entire HDD to an external FireWire Hard Disk Drive.
2. Then I would completely wipe the HDD and reinstall beginning with OS 9 then Tiger.
3. Then I would move back my data and third party apps from my backup.
Please post back with further questions or comments.
Good luck.
cornelius

G5 upgraded to Leopard - failed - installed Tiger on EHD - what next?

When my G5 iMac failed, the repairers put in a new power supply and a new HD. But they had no Tiger instal disks and I didn't think to supply mine. So they gave me Leopard instead (but no disks). Since then I have seen faults develop, mostly at login :
1. sometimes not getting past the spinning gear wheel (switch off, on, usually ok)
2. trying to log-out of login account - logs back into login account, no login screen (Restart usually fixed this)
3. having got past that, once - in admin account - 'Save' didn't function in any app (Restart fixed that)
4. on another occasion, 'Copy' wouldn't work in any app (Restart fixed)
Once these login problems had been fixed (they didn't happen every day), the Mac would function fine for the rest of the day - no problems.
Today - I tried to login, it got as far as the 'spinning gear' and then made a loud fan noise. Switching off, on, trying again, didn't work : I got the same thing every time.
So, I installed Tiger from my disks, onto an external drive. This seems to have worked fine. With the Tiger OS installed there, I can make the Mac run from the eHD, and went through the whole Welcome / Start-up routine. This included setting up a main account, which I gave the same name, same short name, and same password as on the Mac itself.
This has given me access to my main account's files on the Mac's own HD - I can see everything there (is this because I used the same name and password?), but not the contents of other accounts on my Mac's HD (the usual red 'no access' symbol).
At this point I have decided to halt. Email on the Mac uses Mail 3 (for Leopard) so I dare not try to access it using Mail 2 (Tiger) from the eHD. iLife on the Tiger install disks / eHD is earlier than the iLife 06 I have been running, so I am not going to run those either in case I mess anything up. I am running Safari on a Windows netbook. I am not going to risk iTunes.
Now that I am running Tiger from my eHD, but not daring to do much except access my documents, (I can get some email, and use Safari on the Windows netbook) - what should my next move be? Obviously the hardware of the Mac seems to be ok - the HD shows up and everything on it seems fine as far as I can see. It just won't boot Leopard any more.
In the longer term, I suppose the repairers need to reinstall Tiger for me and migrate all my data across? I will miss Quicklook, but at least I will get Photoshop back (PS7 won't run in Leopard).
In the meantime, what should I do on a day-to-day basis? Keep running Tiger from the eHD? How do I get it to launch that way once I've switched everything off?

Hi
+" . . . but not the contents of other accounts on my Mac's HD (the usual red 'no access' symbol)"+
You should be able to get around this by simply selecting the internal drive and selecting Get Info from the Finder Menu. At the bottom of the resulting window you should be able to select the "Ignore Permissions on this drive" option. Failing that you could enable root (use NetInfo Utility to do this) and log in as root. You then have access to everything. Copy off what you want to the external drive.
From what you've described it does sound like the internal drive is having a problem? Have you tried to repair it yet using Disk Utility? Once you've backed up everything you could try reformatting the drive and cloning back the working 10.4 OS from your external drive. You can use what's already built in or CarbonCopyCloner:
http://www.bombich.com/
Alternatively you could try repairing the drive using something like this:
http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/
+"How do I get it to launch that way once I've switched everything off?"+
Select the drive you wish to boot from using the Startup Disk Preferences Pane. Alternatively when switching on your computer again hold down the alt key and select the relevant drive.
Tony

If I install Tiger, will my data be erased?

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