Tiger to Snow Leopard upgrade/drive reformat/data backup

I know that, technically, upgrading from v10.4.11 to v10.6.3 shouldn't cause the loss of any data or files, but obviously I'm going to back up everything any way. I have an external hard drive but I don't think it's got enough space to copy all of my uncompressed stuff to completely. Right now, my plan is to move the data from Mac to external HD to PC where I have enough space to store everything. But, I was reading about making a disk image, which leads me to my first question:
1. If I'm planning to upgrade from 10.4 to 10.6, is creating a disk image even a viable option? Or would that reverse the upgrade completely?
Another thing I wanted to do, since I'm installing the upgrade, is to reformat the hard drive of my MacBook. I purchased the Mac Box Set 10.6.3-INT product #MC680Z/A.
2. Is this upgrade something that I will have to install while my MacBook is in its current state (v10.4.11, no reformatted HD)? Or, if I go into Disk Utility and erase/reformat the drive prior to 10.6.3 install, will I be able to install snow leopard from the box set I ordered as I would be able to reinstall Tiger from the Install disks that came with the computer?
Thanks!

I strongly suggest getting another ext HD, large enough to accommodate all your stuff and put a bootable backup/clone onto it before proceeding. Then, boot into it and ensure that it works and looks like the original. There's no reason to erase and reformat the MB's HD. That's so windoze-centric. Forget it. Then you can install on either. Leave disk images to banish from your head, they're basically useless in this scenario. With the boxed set, install Snow Leopard, install iLife and iWork, run Software Update, repair permissions, and restart. After running for a week or so, update the backup/clone with your new OS.

Similar Messages

Tiger to Snow Leopard upgrade fails with buffer overflow

I'm not sure where to proceed with the following situation:
I have a 17" MB pro with 1GB memory and 22GB free hard drive space. I booted into the installer from the CD and stepped through the prompts without changing any options to the point where the install starts doing it's magic. Shortly after starting, the install will crash complaining about a buffer overflow during/just after the part where it's finding system files.
I originally tried to do this with only 10GB free, but after the first failure, I did a repair disk using the Disk Utility and removed a bunch of really old files I no longer needed, which brought the available disk space to 22GB, but this did not help anything. At this point, I'm not sure what to do. I use Carbon Copy Cloner as a backup so I can do a full wipe and install, however I would prefer to avoid that as it is a lot of work to get things back.
Any assistance is greatly appreciated!
Error log follows. I cut out a lot of stuff so please let me know if that detail is needed.
Sep 10 10:35:26 localhost OSInstaller[142]: Total install size including padding: 7325778944 b
Sep 10 10:35:28 localhost OSInstaller[142]: Starting installation:
Sep 10 10:35:28 localhost OSInstaller[142]: Calculating expected install size requirements
Sep 10 10:35:28 localhost Unknown[84]: 2009-09-10 10:35:28.624 Mac OS X Installer[142:c607] Looking for system packages
Sep 10 10:35:42 localhost Unknown[84]: 2009-09-10 10:35:42.115 Mac OS X Installer[142:c607] Finding system files...
Sep 10 10:36:01 localhost Unknown[84]: buffer overflow!
Sep 10 10:37:55 localhost LCA[83]: Child exited with status 6
Sep 10 10:37:59 localhost Unknown[162]: Launching the Installer Crash Log Viewer
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Process: Mac OS X Installer [142]
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Path: /System/Installation/CDIS/Mac OS X Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Mac OS X Installer
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Identifier: Mac OS X Installer
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Version: ??? (???)
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Code Type: X86 (Native)
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Parent Process: LCA [83]
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Date/Time: 2009-09-10 10:36:12.446 -0700
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: OS Version: Mac OS X 10.6 (10A432)
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Report Version: 6
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Crashed Thread: 9
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Application Specific Information:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: abort() called
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 0: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002b78fa machmsgtrap + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002b8067 mach_msg + 68
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d9dbf __CFRunLoopRun + 2447
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d8d34 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 452
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 4 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d8b61 CFRunLoopRunInMode + 97
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 5 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x05143fec RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 392
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 6 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x05143da3 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 354
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 7 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x05143c28 BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode + 81
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 8 com.apple.AppKit 0x00bdbb99 _DPSNextEvent + 847
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 9 com.apple.AppKit 0x00bdb40e -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 156
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 10 com.apple.AppKit 0x00b9d5fb -[NSApplication run] + 821
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 11 com.apple.AppKit 0x00b95695 NSApplicationMain + 574
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 12 com.apple.MacOSXInstaller 0x00006393 0x1000 + 21395
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 13 com.apple.MacOSXInstaller 0x00002f25 0x1000 + 7973
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 1:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e582a _semwaitsignal + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00311681 nanosleep$UNIX2003 + 188
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00347872 sleep$UNIX2003 + 63
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 com.apple.installframework 0x000abe13 dologwatch + 51
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4fe1 pthreadstart + 345
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 5 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4e66 thread_start + 34
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 2: Dispatch queue: com.apple.libdispatch-manager
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002de10a kevent + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002de824 dispatch_mgrinvoke + 215
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002ddce1 dispatch_queueinvoke + 163
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002dda86 dispatch_workerthread2 + 234
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002dd511 pthreadwqthread + 390
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 5 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002dd356 start_wqthread + 30
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 3:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002b78fa machmsgtrap + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002b8067 mach_msg + 68
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d9dbf __CFRunLoopRun + 2447
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d8d34 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 452
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 4 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d8b61 CFRunLoopRunInMode + 97
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 5 com.apple.Foundation 0x00863498 +[NSURLConnection(NSURLConnectionReallyInternal) _resourceLoadLoop:] + 329
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 6 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a964 -[NSThread main] + 45
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 7 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a914 _NSThread__main_ + 1499
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 8 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4fe1 pthreadstart + 345
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 9 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4e66 thread_start + 34
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 4:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002b78fa machmsgtrap + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002b8067 mach_msg + 68
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d9dbf __CFRunLoopRun + 2447
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d8d34 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 452
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 4 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d8b61 CFRunLoopRunInMode + 97
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 5 com.apple.Foundation 0x008643e4 -[NSRunLoop(NSRunLoop) runMode:beforeDate:] + 279
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 6 com.apple.Foundation 0x008b93c8 -[NSRunLoop(NSRunLoop) runUntilDate:] + 79
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 7 com.apple.osinstallframework 0x0002dbc3 -[OSPreInstallSizingQueueElement _calculateReapedFreeSpace] + 176
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 8 com.apple.osinstallframework 0x0002e1dd -[OSPreInstallSizingQueueElement run] + 178
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 9 com.apple.installframework 0x0007be54 -[IFSession(Jobs) _runMetaQueueEngine] + 1594
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 10 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a964 -[NSThread main] + 45
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 11 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a914 _NSThread__main_ + 1499
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 12 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4fe1 pthreadstart + 345
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 13 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4e66 thread_start + 34
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 5:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002b795a semaphoretimedwait_signaltrap + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e5469 pthread_condwait + 1066
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00314268 pthreadcond_timedwait_relativenp + 47
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 com.apple.Foundation 0x00866aec -[NSCondition waitUntilDate:] + 453
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 4 com.apple.Foundation 0x0081f881 -[NSConditionLock lockWhenCondition:beforeDate:] + 279
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 5 com.apple.Foundation 0x0081f764 -[NSConditionLock lockWhenCondition:] + 69
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 6 com.apple.installframework 0x0006aef6 +[IFDTargetController(WorkerThread) _handleTargetRequests] + 1169
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 7 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a964 -[NSThread main] + 45
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 8 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a914 _NSThread__main_ + 1499
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 9 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4fe1 pthreadstart + 345
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 10 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4e66 thread_start + 34
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 6:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e582a _semwaitsignal + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00311681 nanosleep$UNIX2003 + 188
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 com.apple.Foundation 0x008b4c30 +[NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:] + 123
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 com.apple.SystemMigration 0x01a04b69 -[SMManager _suppressSpotlightThread:] + 104
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 4 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a964 -[NSThread main] + 45
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 5 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a914 _NSThread__main_ + 1499
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 6 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4fe1 pthreadstart + 345
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 7 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4e66 thread_start + 34
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 7:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002d6876 select$DARWIN_EXTSN + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x0061904d __CFSocketManager + 1085
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4fe1 pthreadstart + 345
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4e66 thread_start + 34
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 8:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002b78fa machmsgtrap + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002b8067 mach_msg + 68
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d9dbf __CFRunLoopRun + 2447
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d8d34 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 452
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 4 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x005d8b61 CFRunLoopRunInMode + 97
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 5 com.apple.Foundation 0x008643e4 -[NSRunLoop(NSRunLoop) runMode:beforeDate:] + 279
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 6 com.apple.Foundation 0x008b93c8 -[NSRunLoop(NSRunLoop) runUntilDate:] + 79
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 7 com.apple.installframework 0x0007d48d -[IFDInstallController(Private) _install] + 1561
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 8 com.apple.osinstallframework 0x00018ccc -[OSInstallController(Private) _install] + 552
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 9 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a964 -[NSThread main] + 45
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 10 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a914 _NSThread__main_ + 1499
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 11 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4fe1 pthreadstart + 345
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 12 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4e66 thread_start + 34
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 9 Crashed:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00324c8e _semwait_signalnocancel + 10
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00324b72 nanosleep$NOCANCEL$UNIX2003 + 166
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x003a05b2 usleep$NOCANCEL$UNIX2003 + 61
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 3 libSystem.B.dylib 0x003c1c68 abort + 105
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 4 com.apple.bom 0x0194fb3d _defaultHandler + 64
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 5 com.apple.bom 0x0194fa8f _BOMExceptionHandlerCall + 89
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 6 com.apple.bom 0x01971c01 BOMStreamReadUInt32 + 134
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 7 com.apple.bom 0x01954e40 BOMBomOpen + 226
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 8 com.apple.PackageKit 0x019a98e7 -[PKBOM initWithBOMPath:] + 148
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 9 com.apple.PackageKit 0x019b82fe -[PKReceipt(Private) _BOM] + 77
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 10 com.apple.PackageKit 0x019b7d55 -[PKReceipt(Private) _directoryEnumerator] + 34
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 11 com.apple.SystemMigration 0x01a4deff -[SMFindSystemFiles _findSystemPaths] + 1785
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 12 com.apple.SystemMigration 0x01a4e490 -[SMFindSystemFiles systemPaths] + 796
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 13 com.apple.SystemMigration 0x01a50387 -[SMPathAnalyzer prunedSystemPathsReturningSize:] + 179
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 14 com.apple.SystemMigration 0x01a508ca -[SMPathAnalyzer prunedReaperPathsReturningSize:] + 53
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 15 com.apple.osinstallframework 0x00028807 -[IFDiskObject(OSExtensions) calculateReapedFreeSpace] + 404
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 16 com.apple.osinstallframework 0x0002daf4 -[OSPreInstallSizingQueueElement _calculateReapedFreeSpaceThread] + 71
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 17 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a964 -[NSThread main] + 45
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 18 com.apple.Foundation 0x0082a914 _NSThread__main_ + 1499
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 19 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4fe1 pthreadstart + 345
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: 20 libSystem.B.dylib 0x002e4e66 thread_start + 34
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: Thread 9 crashed with X86 Thread State (32-bit):
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: eax: 0x0000003c ebx: 0x00324ad9 ecx: 0xb04aa82c edx: 0x00324c8e
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: edi: 0x00000000 esi: 0xb04aa888 ebp: 0xb04aa868 esp: 0xb04aa82c
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: ss: 0x0000001f efl: 0x00000247 eip: 0x00324c8e cs: 0x00000007
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: ds: 0x0000001f es: 0x0000001f fs: 0x0000001f gs: 0x00000037
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]: cr2: 0xffe2a178
Sep 10 10:38:32 localhost ReportCrash[159]:

a brody wrote:
Regarding the need to buy the packaged bundle, I keep seeing folks here and elsewhere claiming that is not necessary.
That's because they have not read, or concern themselves with the license agreement. Section 2. "Permitted License Uses and Restrictions", section C says on http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx106.pdf
It's been read forwards, backwards, and upside down. Nowhere on the packaging is there any identification of the $29 (or $49 family pack) version as only suitable as a "Leopard upgrade" version. There are vague mentions about it on Apple's online sales page and in press releases. I've read the license terms thoroughly and the only conclusion that could reasonably be conferred is that the $29 version carries a "single user" license simply because it doesn't say "family pack". There are plenty of reports that it installs over Tiger just fine.
Granted I've read numerous reports and I installed my copy over Leopard. However - imagine someone who vaguely heard about it, walked into a store and bought a copy, thoroughly looked over the box and the license terms (within the disc), and installed it in good faith over Tiger. There is ZERO, ZIP, NADA on the package that would lead anyone to believe it is anything but a copy with a "SINGLE USER" license where the terms don't preclude installing over Tiger.
C. Leopard Upgrade Licenses. If you have purchased an Upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard license, then subject to the terms and conditions of this License, you are granted a limited non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer as long as that computer has a properly licensed copy of *Mac OS X Leopard already installed on it.*
The emphasis above is mine.
While this may not be enforced by a software key, it is there in the license agreement on the PDF included on the CD, when you purchase the under $100 licenses, which are also called "Upgrade" on the store.
There's an opinion that "Leopard upgrade" only applies to the "Up To Date" versions that require proof of purchase of a recent Mac computer. The reports on those installer discs are that they do in fact check for a valid Leopard installation.
The following has the most in-depth discussion on the subject of whether or not the license allows for Snow Leopard over Tiger that I've seen so far:
http://www.mackb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/mac/26361/the-29-purchase-price-of-Snow-Leop ard
This is the best description I've heard on it, from someone who identifies himself as "David Empson":
http://www.mackb.com/Uwe/Threads/Single.aspx/mac/26361?ArtId=1j5mofd.1pw6lllbtpj dwN%25dempson%40actrix.gen.nz
If someone walks in and buys Snow Leopard, without written notice from
Apple that they are buying an Upgrade version which requires Leopard,
and without discussing that point with the seller, the buyer is under no
obligation to have researched their purchase in advance and know all of
Apple's publicity statements from three months ago.
They are buying it in good faith, and the contract (licence) is valid.

Missing Spaces and Time Machine dock icons (Tiger to Snow Leopard upgrade)

I noticed on my MacBook (Leopard to Snow Leopard upgrade) that it has icons for Spaces and Time Machine in the dock to the left of the divider. These are missing from the dock on my iMac that I upgraded from Tiger to Snow Leopard. They are both System Preferences with no option for adding to the dock in the Preferences and the Preference icon in "Show All" in System Preferences is not selectable. I located them in System/Library/PreferencesPane but dragging the preference pane file to the dock doesn't work. I did a Show Package Content but did not see anything in the folder that could be dragged like an application. I can put it on the right with the stacks but is there a way to add a Preference to the dock on the application side?

Time Machine is in your Applications folder and Spaces is in your Applications/Utilities folder. You can drag them to the dock from there.

Problem with tiger to snow leopard upgrade

Hi,
I wanted to upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard and bought a retail 10.6 Snow Leopard install disc MC223Z/A. on the box. 2Z691-6428-A on the disc.
It would not let me install it unless I erased and partitioned the destination disc thus losing my settings and preferences like the old Archive and Install as it suggested in the article mentioned below..
I tried this after reading this article
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137147/Upgrading_to_Apple_s_Snow_Leopard _OS_What_you_need_to_know.
I presume now that the article was written for upgrading from Leopard and not Tiger.
Perhaps I missed something when I tried.
Any ideas from the experts.
Regards from UK,
Alan

Hmmm,
10.4.10
# Disk 1: 2Z691-6089-A
# Disc 2: 2Z691-6113-A
Compatibility
17" iMac (Late 2006 CD) Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz, Mac Pro Intel Xeon 5100 Series Dual Processor 2.0GHz, 2.66GHz, 3.0GHz, Mac Pro 8-Core Intel Xeon 5300 Series Quad 3.0GHz, 13" MacBook (Late2006) Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz, 2.0GHz, 13" MacBook (Mid 2007) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz, 2.16GHz, Mac Mini (Mid 2007) Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz, 2.0GHz
Machine ID: iMac5,2, MacPro1,1, MacPro2,1, MacBook2,1, Macmini2,1
http://www.welovemacs.com/2z6916089a.html
Could you have installed some Server update in the past?

Grey screen after tiger to snow leopard upgrade

I've just upgraded my macbook from tiger to snowleopard via leopard. All seemed to work OK until the snow leopard login screen. It just hung there with the beach ball. I shut down and restarted and since then all I get is the grey screen.
I've tried:
a safe boot ----- result grey screen
boot from disk --- grey screen
resetting PRAM and eventually after leaving it for 20 min it booted from the disk. I then went to disk utilities and tried repairing. It failed and I got a message telling me to backup and format the disk.
So then I tried backing up via firewire target disk, but the host computer can't see the harddrive of the macbook (it does see the snow leapard installation dvd thats still in the macbook).
Any ideas on how to retrieve the data on the macbook? or is it a lost cause?
thanks

[See this read.|http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2990] The message is try to do a repair install of Sno by installing Sno over whatever part of Sno is on your internal drive.

1st Gen Intel IMac - Will Tiger to Snow Leopard upgrade work?

My IMac dates from late 2006 & was purchased when Apple first started selling the Intel Dual Core machines. Here's my specs:
Model Identifier:    iMac4,1
Processor Name:    Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed:    2 GHz
Number Of Processors:    1
Total Number Of Cores:    2
L2 Cache (per processor):    2 MB
Memory:    2 GB
Bus Speed:    667 MHz
Graphics card is an ATI Radeon X1600
Current Tiger version is 10.4.11
Disk space not an issue, have > 177 GB available
Snow Leopard supposedly requires only 1 MB of RAM, but I've seen other discussions with commenters recommending 2 MB minimum (kinda took me back to my PC days..."look at the specs on the Microsoft package and double them"). I haven't opened the Snow Leopard package yet, so I can still return it if necessary. So what do the community's experts think...will I be able to do the upgrade without any problems, or am I setting myself up for a world of pain? Thanks in advance to all!

Yes you can, as the great Kappy guy sez, but the Core Duo only supports 32 bit mode, not 64 bit mode. & 10.6.x is as far as you'll ever be able to upgrade it.
Do max the RAM out if it isn't already...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/

Tiger to Snow Leopard upgrade for iCloud?

Be gentle with me I am a user but a technophobe!
In the first instance...I have received a free upgrade CD for Snow Leopard and been told to pay for an upgrade to Lion first then instal Snow Leopard. Not really sure which one and where to go. I want to be able to see my mobileme emails on my Power Mac G5
Machine Name:          Power Mac G5
Machine Model:          PowerMac7,2
CPU Type:          PowerPC 970 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs:          2
CPU Speed:          1.8 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU):          512 KB
Memory:          4.5 GB
Bus Speed:          900 MH
I have noticed some comments that make me think my machine will not support these upgrades?
What should I do?
Will I still be able to remotely access my .me account emails after the change ie; online?
Why the **** isn't it easier for existing customers who are paying for this service to change over!!!?
...one very confused person here!

You cannot install Snow Leopard or Lion on your Mac: an Intel processor is required.
You can set Mail up manually in Tiger to access your iCloud emails once migrated from MobileMe:
Entering iCloud email settings manually in Tiger
The migration is done at http://me.com/move though I'm not sure wether Safari on Tiger can access this: you may have to find another more recent machine to do it on.
You will not be able to sync your calendars or contacts, nor access any of iCloud's other facilities.

Tiger to Snow Leopard upgrade not working out

I bought the Mac Box set over the weekend and tried to install it yesterday. We were running - I think - 10.4.7, and wanted to upgrade to 10.6 in order to run some game apps our kids got recently. Right from the get go, things did not go well. On installing the OS, I repeatedly got an "Installer quit unexpectedly" message. We tried rebooting but it just kept doing the same thing - Installer quit unexpectedly. After a few minutes, we realized that the OS did in fact install OK, but all the other Optional Install materials were not installing. So, it seems, the QuickTime update and anything else included was not installing. They still won't. The iLife and iWork packages won't install. And aside from Firefox, all our apps are not working now. I don't mind reinstalling the apps - but nothing will install!!! Should I uninstall 10.6 and try again? Not sure what to do at this point.
John

For an install of Snow Leopard (as opposed to updating it), I would not worry about updating the previous OS version nor about repairing that version's permissions. The Snow Leopard installer is much different from previous ones & does little more than test the target drive & write some pre-install files to it before rebooting from the DVD's copy of Snow Leopard, which it does as root user. And if it can't do those pre-install steps, it quits with an error before rebooting from the DVD.
So, if it successfully reboots from the DVD, permissions on the target HD are irrelevant (because root user has essentially unlimited access to the HD's files, even to the few that can be changed only when starting up as root user) & the old OS version even more so because it is completely replaced by the new one.
Also, it is not necessary to run fsck or Disk Utility's 'repair disk' step if the installer successfully reboots from the DVD because one of the pre-install steps does exactly the same thing as Disk Utility's 'verify disk' step, so if it gets this far, you know the corresponding repair would find nothing to do.
If it gets this far & you get an "Installer quit unexpectedly" message before the final reboot into the login screen, you probably have one of the following problems:
• A hardware issue of some kind, including a defect in the optical drive that prevents it from reading all the files on the DVD accurately, one or more substandard or out-of-spec memory modules (especially if any are 'generic' aftermarket ones), or in some subsystem of the Mac (graphics processor, power supply, whatever). Running the Apple Hardware Test from your original gray installer disc will often (but not always) detect this kind of problem.
• A defective, scratched, or dirty Snow Leopard installer disc. This is particularly a likely cause if the installer quits at about the same point in the process each time. Visually check it carefully for any signs of damage or contamination & if possible test it with another Mac.
• An attached peripheral that is interfering with the install process. Disconnect all but the essential ones (keyboard & mouse for an iMac) & connect them in the recommended way: keyboard to a USB port on the Mac & mouse into a keyboard port if they are wired. Then try running the installer again. Note: this does not apply to a network connection to the Internet, which is used in the pre-install phase to try to contact Apple's list of incompatible software & update what is on the DVD's list.
• A nearly full HD. The pre-install tests do include a check for enough space for the installation but since this is not completely predictable there is small chance the installation process will run out of scratch space to assemble files if you are very near the calculated limit. The installer typically needs about 6 GB of free HD space for this, so try to free up an additional several GB if you are close to this limit before doing the install. However, note that the final OS installed will need at least this much scratch space once it is running, so plan accordingly. 10 to 15% of the total drive capacity is a rule of thumb many recommend.
There are other issues to consider if the process completes & reboots into the login screen but that doesn't sound like what's happening here.

Upgraded from Tiger to Snow Leopard - now have problems with basic apps?

I have a 2007 iMac (5.1, 2007) dual core. It's capable of running Snow Leopard and Lion (but not, I believe ML).
I just bought the upgrade SL discs from Apple and installed them as an upgrade, moving up to 10.6.3 (from the discs). After running software update I'm now on 10.6.8.
Since upgrading I've successfully run Time Machine. However I have the following problems:-
A bunch of emails were present in the Inbox, but contained no body text - just the subject line. I have managed to since find most of them successfully from TM. This is a minor annoyance but I thought I'd mention it.
ITunes won't boot up. It booted the first time I tried it, but since then the little icon just bounces up and down.
Certain apps won't quit properly. I quit from the top menu, but the little blue light remains under the icon in the dock. I then have to 'Force Quit - Application Not Responding' *every time*.
Safari frequently won't load up bookmarked or seach pages, the progress bar gets stuck part way across and I stare at the rainbow pinwheel for ages, before having to quit, then Force Quit, then restart Safari and try again.
Now, I'm tempted to do a Clean Install, but after four international moves (Singapore-Australia-UK-Canada) I no longer have any of the original discs, and thus as I understand it will lose iLife. And iLife 11 needs Lion.
I've done a disc permissions repair thing via the Mac Disc Utility. I've run a few clean-up operations via Onyx.
Any suggestions gratefully received. My Mac as been running great for years, but this upgrade has been extremely disappointing thus far.
thanks
Feargus

Hi baltwo
Many thanks for your advice. I've read all the links and will be buying a 2nd external HD to do a SuperDuper back up. I already had a 1Tb drive with Maxtor back up on it, and I also managed to get a Time Machine back up as well, so at least my data should be safe.
Qn - If I back up the System and Utility folders as well as the Home folder, I don't suppose I can restore them after an install and everything (eg iLife) will 'just work'?
Anyway, I went straight from Tiger to Snow Leopard. I don't have any Tiger discs either (see reasons above) so now have no way of restoring original set up. I tried to boot from the SL install CD and then hold 'C' but must be getting something wrong as I don't get the Disk Utility pop up. It just boots as normal to the desktop.
Anyway, via the normal Disc Utitlity I've done a Repair Permissions again with no major issues. However, my Onyx software now won't run at all so I can't clean any caches a second time.
I've contacted the Apple rep who sold be the SL discs but she's not got back to me yet re iLife.
This weekend I'm going to try a fresh upgrade. If that fails I'll try Erase and Install, if I can get the 'C' button timing right. I'll update if I have any successs.
cheers
f

Upgraded from TIGER to SNOW LEOPARD

Hello,
How can I uprade from TIGER to SNOW LEOPARD? Do I simply use the upgrade snow leopard to do so? Will that create any instability or issues?
thank you very much.
Alex

Yes, you can upgrade from Tiger to Snow by purchasing the SL DVD. Doing so would only create stability problems if you already have problems, so you should be sure you have a clean system before upgrading. See the following:
System Upgrade and Installation Procedure
Basic Caveats
1. Disconnect all peripherals except the original mouse and keyboard.
2. Quit all applications if this is not an installation from an Installer DVD.
3. The installation process should not be interrupted. If a power outage or other interruption occurs during installation you may have to erase the hard drive and reinstall from scratch.
4. Once the installation begins do not use the computer in any way except to reply to dialog prompts or to restart when the installation is completed. This is especially critical during the installation stage known as "Optimizing the System."
System Update Procedure
A. Repair hard drive and permissions.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.) After DU loads select your OS X volume from the list on the left, click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.2 for Leopard) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X. Note that Disk Warrior will not work on Intel Macs.
B. Clone your existing system to an external Firewire drive.
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Drag the startup or source volume to the Source entry field.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the leftside list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Check the box to Erase Destination. Skip this step if you've already formatted the drive.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
C. Decide upon an installation option (This does not apply to Snow Leopard.)
You have three upgrade options. If you use the Upgrade installation option be sure you have repaired the hard drive and permissions first and made your backup. If you choose the Archive and Install option then you only need to repair the hard drive.
Neither of the above options will erase the disk. Some of your software may not work with a new system. You will need to upgrade those programs. It would be best to do the upgrades to your software before upgrading to the new system version.
Personally, I would erase the hard drive and do a fresh install of Snow Leopard then use Migration Assistant to migrate your old Home folder from the backup. This may take some extra time but is less likely to have problems that may be the result of an upgrade installation.

Safe To Upgrade From Tiger To Snow Leopard?

Is it safe to upgrade a Mac from Tiger straight to Snow Leopard, therefore bypassing Leopard?
If you're running Tiger on your Mac, can you insert the Snow Leopard Install DVD and run it as normal, and the upgrade will go fine?

Hi Reuben
I think other folk have covered the potential 'gotcha' of data loss by suggesting you do a back up first. I went from Tiger to Snow Leopard directly by way of the family boxed set on both a MacBook and an older Mac Mini. Of course there is no "Time Machine" app on Tiger so back up consisted of copying all personal data to an external drive and copying it back after completing the OS upgrade by installing from the DVD. I didn't attempt to update AND keep any data, the thought of a nice, clean, new installation was irresistable.
The only issue I've had since the upgrade has been a minor niggle, which is that while I can use the 'sudo' command when logged in as the main administrator, additional users, even if they are assigned "administrator privileges", cannot use 'sudo'. Maybe I should look for answers to this elsewhere. It may not even be related to the Tiger -> Snow Leopard upgrade.
Go for it :-)

What problems are associated with an upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard?

Hi folks.
Is it possible to upgrade directly from Tiger to Snow Leopard, without having to buy Leopard? I've seen many answers around the web, many of them conflicting. There appear to be possible associated problems if you bypass Leopard. But as I'm not certain that what I read is correct I thought I'd come straight to the Community and ask.
Thanks in advance.
(Only reason I'm asking is I persuaded my mother to buy her first Mac (second hand) and it has Tiger loaded onto it. I'd like her to have a more up to date software.)

The computer has to be an Intel Mac.
The basic requirements for Snow Leopard are as follows:
An Apple computer with an Intel Processor
1GB of Memory (RAM)
5GB of hard drive space (Storage)
DVD drive for installation
You can go directly from Tiger to Snow.
Possible problems: make sure the current third party Tiger apps will be compatible. 1 GB RAM is bare bones. You want more than that.
Before upgrading make sure you have the current Mac configuration backed up completely. Use a cloning program like Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable clone on an external drive.
http://www.bombich.com/
Message was edited by: WZZZ

Trouble upgrading from Tiger to Snow Leopard

I have a 5 yr old MacBook Pro running Tiger, bought Snow Leopard ($29), was told I could upgrade but I'm not getting proper install screen (the one where you have to check off the "I agree" button, then install, etc). This is what happens... I pop in the install DVD, a window pops up where I have three options: 1) install Mac OS X, 2) Optional Installs, 3) Instructions. I double click on "Install Mac OS X", and get another screen with a big "X" that says "Click the button below to restart your computer and begin the installation process", with a "restart" button at the bottom. When I click "restart", I get an authentication pop up asking me to type in my password. When I do this, the computer restarts. As the computer restarts, just as it gets to the blue "apple" screen, it spits out the disk.
Tried restarting holding down the "C" key, nothing happened.
I've got lots of room and all the requirements, checked all that before I bought it.
Calling Apple was no help, they said it might be the disk (checked it with "first aid", it's fine) so they're sending me a new one but I doubt it'll make a difference. I was told it was against their policy to help me through the process as I should have bought Leopard, however if that was still an option I would have bought Leopard first, then Snow Leopard, but I can't get Leopard anymore... don't want to wipe the HD as I no longer have the Install disks that it originally came with.
Any help would be appreciated!! I'm no great techie so "dumb it down" for me...

Disk - Disc... lol, knew I'd mess something up
I checked the disc by inserting it into the drive, then going to Utilities > Disk Utility and selecting the Installation DVD disc and then "first aid" to check if it was a bad disc, but it says it's ok. There were no scratches or anything on the shiny side of the disc and it was a sealed package bought right from the Mac online store.
When I go to Utilities > Disk Utilities and select my HD, I get options to "Verify Disk Permissions", "Repair Disk Permissions", and "Verify Disk", but "Repair Disk" button is not selectable... don't know if this means something?
My MBP has 1 GB RAM, and 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor so not the one with "issues" from what I see... I would not have bought SL if I didn't meet requirements.
It wasn't my intention to skip Leopard and go right to SL from Tiger... she was running fine up until a few months ago when I noticed I could only update iTunes and other applications up to a point and now I can't update anything anymore because I need 10.5 or higher. When I looked into buy Leopard, it was no longer available (nor was the "boxed set" others were recommending). So now it seems I'm SOL... unless I get it off ebay and I'm not 100% sure buying software from ebay is a great idea.
I've been scouring the forums and sites for answers as to why I'm not even given the appropriate Install prompt screen... no one seems to know the answer to that... At this point, I may just have to suck it up and bring it into a repair shop and pay 10x the price just to fix my baby...

Can a Mac iBook with OSX Panther be upgraded to Tiger or Snow Leopard?

I have disks for OSX Tiger and Snow Leopard at home. I just discovered that 10 years ago someone generously donated several Apple iBooks to my church. The iBooks have the OSX Panther on them. Can they be upgraded to Tiger or Snow Leopard? if they can be upgraded, can I use my disks to upgrade them or do I have to purchase new disks? Any information or suggestions will be helpful. Thanks.

Leopard System requirements
You must have a Macintosh computer with:
an Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (867 MHz or faster) or G5 processor
a DVD drive >built-in FireWire
at least 512 MB of RAM (additional RAM is recommended for development purposes)
a built-in display or a display connected to an Apple-supplied video card supported by your computer
at least 9 GB of disk space available, or 12 GB of disk space if you install the developer tools

I want to upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard on my 2008 MacPro. How do I avoid problems with the upgrade process?

I want to upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard on my 2008 MacPro. How do I avoid problems with the upgrade process?

#1 Do a complete bootable backup of your drive before upgrading. That way should anything happen you can revert back to the start and try again.
Make sure you meet Snow Leopard 10.6 Technical Requirements - http://support.apple.com/kb/SP575
You might also want to make sure you don't have software issues with SL:
A Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Application Compatibility List - http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

Tiger to Snow Leopard upgrade/drive reformat/data backup

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