Will installing mac os 10.6.3 wipe off my hard drive?
Hello
I have a macbook running on a Mac OS X 10.5.8 and want to upgrade it to 10.6.3. I have the operating system disks. I haven't backed up my hard drive. Can I install the new operating system without fear of wiping off my hard drive?
Please only answer if you KNOW FOR SURE...>I don't need anyone to say 'maybe' 'probably'....
Thanks
Chiara
Welcome to Apple Discussions!
I agree with the former poster. It is not a question of if data will be lost, but when. Furthermore, not every piece of software that is compatible with 10.5 is compatible with 10.6. If you don't backup your data, don't come and complain when you have to erase your machine just to downgrade back to 10.5 to regain some sort of compatibility. Read my upgrade FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/upgradefaq.html
If you follow it, you should not have any problems.
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.
Similar Messages
-
Will Upgrading Mac OS X delete the windows off the hard drive?
Will Upgrading Mac OS X delete the windows off the hard drive?
Will Upgrading Mac OS X delete the windows off the hard drive?
If you're using multiple partitions, no. If you're using an image with Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion, only if an Erase & Install is done.
(40716) -
Will a Mac cinema display monitor work with an Acer hard drive
Will a Mac cinema display monitor work with an Acer hard drive?
Hello,
Which exact Cinema Display & which Acer HDD? -
How can you install Mac OS X Lion on a new, empty hard drive?
If the only way to install Mac OS X Lion is by downloading it via the Mac App Store, it's going to be very difficult to put it on a brand-new hard drive unless Apple provides us with workarounds,So what should we do when want to install Mac OSX Lion on new HD?
ThanQWhat you get from the Mac App Store will be an Installer Application. You will be able to transfer that Installer from Mac to Mac. I have not seen it yet, but we may also be able to burn an installer disk, we shall have to see just how things work.
Apple has always been known as an innovative company. And when they announce something new folks always go nuts with reasons that this cannot work. When Apple stopped making Macs with floppy drives and iMacs only had optical drives, people went crazy. Today no one makes computers with floppy drives. -
HT202328 Install mac os x 10.7 on an external hard drive?
I have a Mac Mini running OS 10.10.1. I have a few applications that have not been updated by their developers for compatibility with the latest OS X. Only solution would be to use a separate external HD with an earlier OS installed on it. I have the DVD install discs up to 10.6 that I used with my older Mac Mini model but have since then upgraded to the latest model. Problem is that I don't have a DVD drive in my Mac Mini. In my App Store there is a download option for Lion OS 10.7 but I can't download it because it won't let me. Is there any way to do this? I used to have a setup where I was operating 2 different OS.., one was on my main HD and the other external.
ThanksThank you so much for your response. My Mac Mini is a late 2012 model. I don't recall what OS it came installed with. Here's what I do know. There were some applications that never had an issue with until I upgraded to Mavericks. Then I eventually upgraded to Yosemite only to have a few more applications suddenly be incompatible. Most are games.
It is a catch 22 situation because since I upgraded to Yosemite I am now using its new features as well as applications that were developed to work exclusively with this OS. So downgraded to an earlier OS is not an option. My only option is to install the latest OS (prior to Mavericks) on an external HD. I know that it is possible to have separate OS's installed on multiple drives/partitions because I've had this set up before. I had 2 external HD's and one was divided into 2 partitions. One partition had an identical copy of the latest OS which I used as an alternative start up disc and the other partition had a previous OS installed on it. Even then I had certain applications that were incompatible with the latest OS. In order to use these apps I would have to select the partition with the earlier OS as my startup disc and then restart my computer. I was constantly changing startup discs and the restarting between 2 OS's on a regular basis so I know that it's possible. -
Power Mac 7200/120 won't boot off new hard drive. Says HD "not supported"
I just recently came into possession of a PowerMac 7200/120. The only thing it came with is a boot cd with Mac OS 8.1. It booted fine off the cd with only the date/time issues of a dead PRAM battery, but when I tried to boot the internal HD on its own, it was a no-go. Flashing ?. When I tried to verify the HD, the software would not even find the HD. Not even listed on the program. You can't initialize what isn't there, so I ordered a new HD from an online vendor. I replaced it according to the directions on the Apple .pdf file I googled. I also reset the logic board and replaced the PRAM battery. Upon booting after all this ... still flashing ?. I run the same verification process as before and I actually DO see this HD listed, but it says it is "not supported" and doesn't allow me to initialize it. It's virtually the same quantum fireball HD with the Apple logo as the old one I just took out, just a different GB size. Connections and slots are all the same. Is this just not the right HD for my computer? Is there something I need to download? I just rebuilt a Performa 6300cd with ZERO issues.
Ok ... a couple of mistakes on my part which of course could change EVERYTHING. I'm embarassed with the amount of mistakes in my own question. A couple of forgetful omissions on my part ...
#1. The drive DID start up just fine upon first switching out the HD. Original software on HD was 8.1, but as I needed to run older programs not compatible with 8.1, I initialized and installed 7.5.3 clean. (I know ... HUGE omission here, but be kind as I've been working on multiple computers and it has been a couple months since I did this). It worked fine after download. After coming back to this computer a couple of months later, I get the flashing ? again (like before the HD switch).
#2.The HD the online vendor sent me was not the one I ordered, but ended up being a carbon copy of the one I took out except the GB size (which was actually larger than the one I ordered). Didn't physically count the pins, but it plugged in fine. Everything fit.
#3. I also forgot to mention that while the CD drive worked, the floppy either spat my disks out at me or asked to initialize them. These were the same floppies that I took out of my Performa literally a minute earlier (which worked).
#4. The 8.1 cd is a mistake on my part again. Turns out it's the black-faced 7.5.3 cd (7200, 7500, 7600, 8500, and 9500 series). Got confused with the 8.1 drive.
UPDATE
The strangest thing ... I just booted up off the cd and it's now reading the HD. I ejected the cd and booted it up on its own ... and it works just fine. I did NOTHING since I asked the question. In fact, I just booted the computer back up in response to your response.
Before I delved into these boards and bothered to ask for help ... I had opened it up, cleared out a TON of dust bunnies with my can o' air, pressed the CUDA? chip, and then replaced the PRAM battery. Restarted holding down cmd-opt-p-r until it chimed again and it was still a flashing ?. You could hear it clicking as if trying to start the drive up at regular intervals. I restarted the computer well over 10 times hoping it was just something jammed up in the HD (though just bought) and it was the same flashing ?. And now today ... did nothing and it boots up just fine. I check the drive setup lite and it now shows macintoshHD there (instead of unsupported drive - original showed nothing at all).
Does it take time for the PRAM battery or logic board to reset? Did it just needed a thorough internal cleaning? Or should I chalk this up as just being a really old comp?
I really don't want to go delving back into it now that it's working to check the SCSI terminations, jumpers, etc. I'm going to assume those are ok now it's booting. -
Will it wipe my entire hard drive by installing lion?
will it wipe my entire hard drive by installing lion?
And backing up is so simple. Buy an external Firewire hard drive, (not expensive but get one that will boot a Mac, like LaCie) format it as GUI in Disc Utility, download Carbon Copy Cloner (free, donations accepted) (or SuperDuper although I have not used that) and schedule a bootable clone for 9 am every day. That way, if you have trouble you can clone back the backup to your internal and be back where you were at 9 am - all documents, applications, settings, pictures, movies etc. etc. Everything.
(I tried restoring from the Recovery drive an TimeMachine but many of my Mail emails did not return.) -
Can I install 10.6 Snow Leopard to a New Empty Hard Drive?
I could use some help.
*I simply want to boot off a 10.6 retail install DVD and install to an empty hard drive on my Mac Pro 8-core (it came with and currently runs 10.5).*
I will be pulling my 10.5 hard drive (for back up), installing a new drive for SL to start over from scratch.
After talking to Apple pre sales, I was told the $29 disk — MC223Z/A — was an "Upgrade" disk and would require an existing 10.5 install on the target hard drive.
The Apple rep also told me if I wanted the "Full Retail version" to install on an empty drive that I would have to buy the boxed version to get the Full Retail install disk.
Confusion at the store caused me to by BOTH the $29 disk MC223Z/A and the boxed version MC209A/A (it contains iLife and iWork which I don't need).
After scratching my head here and searching Apple and Google — I have concluded both MC223Z/A and MC209A/A are Upgrade disks.
I've upgraded many Mac OSes and thought I knew their terminology and between "Upgrade" and "Full Retail" but it is unclear on the retail boxes I purchased and their is no requirement noted for having a previous 10.5 installed.
Can anyone please take a moment explain how the Upgrade installer works (if 10.5 needs to be installed on a HD before the 10.6 installer can run on it)?
Lastly, what Apple part number is the actual Full Retail 10.6 SL Install CD?-g wrote:
V.K. wrote:
the actual SL disks in mac box set and in the upgrade set are EXACTLY the same. you can do it with an upgrade dvd without any issues whatsoever...
Thanks for confirming that, I have my 8-core "OEM" 10.5 disk and a "Full Retail" 10.5 disk.
Has anyone actually tried to install MC223Z/A or MC209A/A to an empty hard drive?
Does this work?
Definitely yes. I definitely have done it. All three Sno DVDs do exactly the same thing; everything.
Or do I need to have an existing 10.5 install on the target hard drive?
I want to remove my 10.5 HD so their is zero chance SL can modify it.
You do not need to have 10.5 installed. All 3 Sno DVD's will install on a clean drive.
I don't mind spending extra for Full Retail as long as I can confirm the >correct model number...
The two disk you mention both are "full retail." The up-to-date DVD that was mailed to those entitled to Sno because of their new-machine purchase dates is called an upgrade disk. But, as indicated, it will do anything the other two will do. -
I want to creat for the first time on my Mac Mini an iPhoto library. I have many seperate hard drives with pics I want to import but are concerned I will fill the hard drive with pics alone. Can I install the pics on one larg (1TB) external apple hard drive and use iPhoto functions still with the pics being installed on a seperate drive from the iPhoto OS?
This is our resident iPhoto guru, Terence Devlin's, advice:
You can move your iPhoto Library to an external disk:
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library Folder as an entity from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Once that is done you can import directly into the iPhoto library on the external HD. -
IMAC 24" screen went dead. Can I buy a mac compatible monitor and still use the IMAC hard drive?
IMAC 24" screen went dead. Can I buy a mac compatible monitor and still use the IMAC hard drive - which is still working? I took it to the Apple store and they quoted $500+to replace the monitor. No help as usual. Can I buy a MAC compatible monitor ($189) and use it as a primary monitor? Can I set it up if the screen on the IMAC is dead? Any other solutions?
The only negative to not having the original drive will be the work needed to reinstall all the apps and reconfigure to your liking. You will also have to decide whether to stay on Lion (which you should update to 10.7.4, BTW) or bite the bullet and take a leap of faith on Mountain Lion.
In either case, to simplify matters you would do well to concoct a Lion or ML bootable installer on a USB stick. In either case, you need to get the corresponding installer downloaded onto the hard drive and, instead of running it to execute the install, extract the coveted InstallESD.dmg image from which you construct the bootable installer. See here for details: https://discussions.apple.com/message/17782820#17782820 The procedure applies the same to both of the latest cat flavors. -
Will upgrading to a new OS like Lion or Mountain Lion delete my previous files on my computer? Will I have to back up my files with a hard drive first?
Upgrades do not delete your personal files in the Home folder. But any installation can go bad, so it would be wise to backup your current system to an external hard drive.
Upgrade Paths to Snow Leopard, Lion, and/or Mountain Lion
You can upgrade to Mountain Lion from Lion or directly from Snow Leopard. Mountain Lion can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $19.99. To access the App Store you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later installed.
Upgrading to Snow Leopard
You can purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order.
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store. Access to the App Store enables you to download Mountain Lion if your computer meets the requirements.
Snow Leopard General Requirements
1. Mac computer with an Intel processor
2. 1GB of memory
3. 5GB of available disk space
4. DVD drive for installation
5. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider;
fees may apply.
6. Some features require Apple’s iCloud services; fees and
terms apply.
Upgrading to Lion
If your computer does not meet the requirements to install Mountain Lion, it may still meet the requirements to install Lion.
You can purchase Lion by contacting Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service - this includes international calling numbers. The cost is $19.99 (as it was before) plus tax. It's a download. You will get an email containing a redemption code that you then use at the Mac App Store to download Lion. Save a copy of that installer to your Downloads folder because the installer deletes itself at the end of the installation.
Lion System Requirements
1. Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7,
or Xeon processor
2. 2GB of memory
3. OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
4. 7GB of available space
5. Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
Upgrading to Mountain Lion
To upgrade to Mountain Lion you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion installed. Purchase and download Mountain Lion from the App Store. Sign in using your Apple ID. Mountain Lion is $19.99 plus tax. The file is quite large, over 4 GBs, so allow some time to download. It would be preferable to use Ethernet because it is nearly four times faster than wireless.
OS X Mountain Lion - System Requirements
Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion
1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 7,1 or later
2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 5,1 or later
3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 2,1 or later
5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
7. Xserve (Early 2009) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
To find the model identifier open System Profiler in the Utilities folder. It's displayed in the panel on the right.
Are my applications compatible?
See App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps.
For a complete How-To introduction from Apple see Upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion. -
Can I back up my Mac and my pc to the same external hard drive? If so, could you explain how? Thanks. I am a new user with mountain lion.
You could partition the drive into 2 partitions. One formatted as HFS+ for Mac OS X back, and one formatted as NTFS for Windows backup.
You would have to move the drive from system to system to do your backups. If there are 2 systems, I would suggest just getting separate drives for each, unless they are both laptops, then you will be disconnecting the drives all the time anyway.
Unless Windows is running in a virtual machine on your Mac. Then a partitioned drive would be fine. -
Backing up Mac HD with Time Capsule AND an external hard drive
I am sure that this question has been asked one way or another but I can't seem to find the exact answer.
I would like to back up my Mac HD with the Time Capsule AND another hard drive essentially to create two backups. Should one fail, I still have another copy as a precaution. The Time Capsule will be my primary back up because my external hard drive is usually switched off and will only be turned on from time to time to perform "less frequent" backups.
With Time Capsule AND the external hard drive on, will Time Machine just update the backup on the external hard drive without becoming confused with the other copy on Time Capsule? In other words, can Time Machine distinguish between two different Time Machine Backup files and bring them up to date accordingly?
I understand there is an archive function on the Time Capsule, which would also serve the purpose. However, I am wondering if there is another way.
Thanks.Rheopaipo wrote:
I am sure that this question has been asked one way or another but I can't seem to find the exact answer.
I would like to back up my Mac HD with the Time Capsule AND another hard drive essentially to create two backups. Should one fail, I still have another copy as a precaution. The Time Capsule will be my primary back up because my external hard drive is usually switched off and will only be turned on from time to time to perform "less frequent" backups.
With Time Capsule AND the external hard drive on, will Time Machine just update the backup on the external hard drive without becoming confused with the other copy on Time Capsule? In other words, can Time Machine distinguish between two different Time Machine Backup files and bring them up to date accordingly?
I understand there is an archive function on the Time Capsule, which would also serve the purpose. However, I am wondering if there is another way.
I don't think it's possible to configure Time Machine to back up to two locations without modifying its settings frequently.
You might consider using that external drive to hold a bootable backup. You can create such a thing with either of the utilities SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. If you pay the registration fee for SuperDuper! (~US$28), there's a mode where it will back up only what has changed, which makes the backup operation run quicker. (Carbon Copy Cloner may offer a similar feature.) -
can I move all my photo that I can see on iPhoto from my Mac hardrive and put them on an external hard drive and still be able to see them as thumbnails in iPhoto? Thanks! The reason, I need to know if I can do this is b/c I am running out of HD space!sp
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD -
I currently have a nice home stereo component system. I also have a 500 GB external hard drive loaded with music. I am looking for a way to play the music off this Hard Drive onto my home stereo system. I currently have a WD home entertainment box that I can play movies that I download off the Internet on my TV, of course piped through my home stereo for the sound. I would like to know if the mac-mini could be used in this form also. Just have the HD hooked to it, the TV would become my monitor and the mac mini would play the music ... RANDOMLY ... with the use of iTunes. This of course would be hooked up to the home system with an hdmi cable and the HD hooked up through a USB connection.
Just would like to know if this could work?Yes. Is the short answer.
You can directly connect the speaker out port of the Mac mini to an input on the AV Receiver which then feeds your speakers. This would be an audio only solution. If you use a TOS-Link connection this will be a pure digital connection ensuring the best quality (important for audiophiles).
You can if you wish connect the video from the Mac mini to the AV Receiver, and if you have a Mac mini with HDMI or a Mini Displayport you can run the audio and video via a single cable. (Older models would use two cables, the aforementioned TOS-Link pus a DVI to HDMI cable.)
If you do connect the video output from the Mac to the AV Receiver you can then display this on your TV, and have as one possibility iTunes displayed with perhaps one of the iTunes visualisers playing along with the music. Another possibility would be to use FrontRow on the Mac.
A different approach would be to have the Mac mini stream over a network to a device e.g. the Sonos Zoneplayer which is then connected to the AV Receiver. An AirPort Express is also able to do this.
Maybe you are looking for
-
I got a new computer and don't know how to get music from ipod touch to itunes library
I recently got a new computer and don't know how to get music from my ipod touch to show on my itunes library.
-
An exception that could not be caught occurred.
While creating shopping cart at the very first step I am getting following error message. Error when processing your request Note The following error text was processed in the system: An exception that could not be caught occurred. The error occurred
-
Having problems choosing sound output through HDMI to my television, any one any ideas?
Though listed in the sounds options, I can't seem to choose a sound output to my TV through HDMI. I have sound output to headphones via the headphone socket or usb, but when I highlight to the HDMI TV option it justs returns to the top of the list, a
-
Hi everyone, ok, once again a silly question, but apparently in the past I committed mistakes so... I'm shooting HDV with an HDR FX1, will import as SD for sake of time and hard drive space. Final destination will be DVD and TV. What easy setup shoul
-
Hi all.... Premiere CS5.5 can not import file mov from Canon 5D Mark 3. Help me