Time to Upgrade - Help!

Question

I currently have a 1.8 G5 that I bought in 2005. It came with Panther 10.3.7 and up to now has been relatively stable. Since I bought the computer within the Tiger realease window, I have the Tiger disc in hand. Since I now need Tiger to upgrade iTunes, Quicktime and other items, I now want to upgrade to Tiger (also as a prep to Leopard).
My migration from System 9 to to 10 on my iMac was a total disaster, even as I had compltely mapped out the change. I don't want this to happen again. I have read many useful helps in these forums and are now trying to put together, hopefully, a good plan of implementation.
At this time, I have repaire permissions using Cocktail, updated all other items using Mac Janitor and am in the process of saving certain folders & files to a DVD.
I am most concerned about, after the upgrade:
1. If my Airport connection will still operate or do I need to save additional settings.
2. Will I still be able to connect to the internet without any additional settings.
3. Am I missing anything in the process so I don't lose my Home settings.
I'm sure somewhere along these items, they may have been many items posted and the ones I have read have been informative, but I'm looking at the big picture and want to make sure I cover all the bases.
Do I really need to back up the entire hard drive? I'm not sure how to do that, but I did purchase a new LaCie DVD RW to assist me if that's the case. I have already used it to back up certain files and folders.
I've been a Mac user for years, it just seems that as more is added to these software update, you have to increase your learning curve by quite a bit.
Hope I've been clear enough on what I am looking for and I appreciate any assiatance. Hope I didn't get too wordy.
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

First backup your current system. Make a bootable backup to a second internal drive or an external Firewire drive.
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
8. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Verify the settings for Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only. If they are not correct then reset them.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.
Second, repair your hard drive:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Tiger Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) 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.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) 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.
Third, proceed with the Tiger installation. The default should be an Upgrade install. This preserves all from your previous system. Bear in mind that any third-party software you currently use that isn't compatible with Tiger will require upgrading.
Fourth, after restarting into Tiger run Software Update and install the required updates to bring Tiger to its current version.
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