Upgrading to Leopard

[alextwitchen]

Please excuse what might seem an obvious question! I have a MBP running 10.4.11 and I'm now planning to upgrade to 10.5. My machine is over 2 years old and whilst my internal HD seems ok from testing it with disk utility I'm keen to do a clean install rather than an archive and install. If I go for the clean install can I use migration assistant to bring back my files and settings from my SD clone and hence replicate an archive and install but with the benefit of a clean HD. I'm presuming that I can connect my external HD which I keep my SD back-up on and when prompted use this to migrate my current settings etc.... Apologies again if this is a rather obvious question but I just want to check before I go for the clean install option. Thanks

[dnanian]

Assuming it's a regular bootable backup, yes, you can do that.

[alextwitchen]

Thanks Dave, that helps to put my mind at rest.

[alextwitchen]

I've done my clean install of leopard and updated to 10.5.4 all seems to be working well and the computer is much quicker than before so I think it benefitted from a really good clean out. Now to restore my data from SD, I presume when I'm in Migration Assistant I click on 'from another volume on this mac' rather than 'from another mac' and with my external HD connected go from there - sorry if this is a lame newbie question.

[dnanian]

Correct. But you'll want to do this DURING the first boot of Leopard. Do not migrate after you've already set up, as your user IDs won't match and you'll have permission issues.

[alextwitchen]

Thanks Dave, so when I install leopard have my external HD connected via firewire then go through the leopard install process and select my internal HD for the install, but when I get to the set-up pane after leopard installs then select 'another volume on this mac' and my external HD should do the migration before I create an account for the first time. I understand how this would give me permission problems if I have already created a new account that is different to what I have on my external. So it seems best to reinstall a clean version of leopard again and don't pass on the migration assistant this time!!!!! What a newbie!!!!!

[dnanian]

Exactly. Should be pretty painless.

[alextwitchen]

Sorted!!! Reloaded a clean install of leopard and transferred my files from SD on my external. Really was painless and now back up and running with a system that seems much more slick. I will definitely recommend SD to all my friends and colleagues.