I did send this to the WAMUG Mailing list when Snow Leopard was released and probably again at some time. But after Chris mentioning he did not know how to Prepare for Snow Leopard, I have sent it again just in case there are people wishing to upgrade to SL.
Prepare for and Installation of Snow Leopard 1. Check your Computer can install & run Snow Leopard: <http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html> 2. a) Check all your Applications you might be running and see if they have updates. b) Clean Up your computer. Uninstall old software you no longer use or require (if you don’t have the uninstaller for the application, download & use AppZapper: http://www.appzapper.com/, delete any files you no longer need. c) If you use any add-on software such as plug-ins for mail or programs that rely on input managers such as 1Password & Google Desktop, make sure you have upgraded to Snow Leopard-compatible versions before you upgrade. (A software compatibility check is included in the installation that has a list of known “bad” apps, and disables them. Those programs are moved to an “Incompatible Software” folder.) Note: Installation initially triggers a large chunk of data to be copied from the installation DVD to the user’s primary hard drive. The bulk of the installation is then managed from the hard drive, speeding up the installation process considerably. After a successful installation, that large chunk of data is automatically removed. 3. Check that your Printer will work in Snow Leopard. Mac OS X v10.6 Printer & Scanner software included on the Snow Leopard Install DVD: <http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3669> 4. Repair Permissions on your computer. 5. BACKUP your Computer & check your backup before you commence the Installation 6. Disconnect any peripheral devices (external USB or Firewire devices, unplug them from your system before doing the upgrade) 7. Decide whether you are going to install Snow Leopard as A) Automatic Upgrade or B) Erase and Install. A) AUTOMATIC UPGRADE: This is the default install. “The Snow Leopard installer’s single upgrade method attempts to make the transition as simple as possible by leaving almost all your files, applications, and settings in place. The installer simply replaces all the components of your old Mac OS X installation with their Snow Leopard equivalents, and it deletes those that are obsolete.” B) ERASE & INSTALL: This will give a fresh install, erasing your entire disk and installing a clean copy of OS X 10.6. 8. OK, if you are ready … YOU HAVE BACKED UP … right! 9. Insert the Snow Leopard DVD and double-click the Install Mac OS X icon. A window appears with two buttons: Utilities and Continue. Click Continue: The Software License Agreement appears next; click Agree to proceed with the installation. 10. If you only have one volume on your computer it will already be selected. 11. If you don’t wish to customise what software is installed, click the Install button, when asked are you sure you want to install Mac OS X, click Install again; then enter an administrator username and password, click OK. Make your self a cup of tea (or pour a glass of wine )… only don’t spill any on or near your computer. DON’T INTERRUPT THE INSTALLATION. The Default Installation should only take around 30mins. (I did a Customise install and it only took approx. 45mins.) 12. When the installation is finished, a Restart button appears—but if you don’t happen to be paying attention at the time, your Mac restarts by itself after 30 seconds—this time under Snow Leopard. The first time you use Snow Leopard, a program called Mac OS X Setup Assistant runs. You’ll know that’s what’s happening when you see the animated “Welcome” message and hear the music playing. Because you performed an automated upgrade, you needn’t manually enter information in Setup Assistant (which you had to do with older Mac OS X installers, and which you still must do in an Erase and Install upgrade). On the Thank You screen, click Continue to quit Setup Assistant and begin using Snow Leopard. That’s it … that is the Installation done! BUT … one more thing to do … 13. Repair Permissions Cheers, Ronni 17" MacBook Pro Intel Core i7 2.66GHz / 8GB / 1067 MHz DDR3 / 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200rpm OS X 10.6.7 Snow Leopard Windows 7 Ultimate (under sufferance) -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
