MacBook :: Risky To Upgrade Snow Leopard Without Backup
Sep 10, 2009
I've never upgraded an OS before. I'm considering upgrading to snow leopard, but I have no backup of my data anywhere. I've been trying to get around to purchasing an external drive because it's so worth it, but ATM I don't have one. Is it risky upgrading to snow leopard with no backup?
I just purchased a Seagate 3 TB USB 2.0/3.0 external drive to use as my time machine backup drive. I have a MacBook Pro that was purchased about 3-4 years ago. The MacBook Pro has a 120 GB hard drive and is currently running MAC OSx 10.6.8. I also have another WD 1 TB FireWire external drive that I use to store all of my media files.
After I followed the instructions for installing the new Seagate drive for use with the MAC OSx, I initiated a time machine backup. It very quickly determined that it needed to back up almost 900,000 files totaling just about 400 GB. It started the backup process at a rate of about 1 GB per minute. In a little less than an hour it reach 53 GB and remained there for an additional two hours before I decided to stop the backup.
Once I got the backup stopped, I deleted the backup and decided to look at my energy saving settings. I noticed that the "Put drives to sleep whenever possible" check box was checked, so I unchecked that option and restarted the MAC. I then initiated the time machine backup again. Like the first time it quickly determined that it needed to backup the same amount of data as before and started the backup process at a rate of about 1 GB per minute. Before going to bed at around 11 PM last night it was at about 60 GB so I thought I was out of the woods (having gotten further than the 53 GB earlier). When I woke up this morning at 5:30 AM it was sitting at 69 GB.
I am really frustrated at this point and don't know why the time machine back up would be failing on a brand new hard drive. PS - I was previously using a Seagate 1.5 TB USB drive as my time machine backup and never had any issues with it. I decided to use the 1.5 TB drive for a different purpose, which is why I have the new 3 TB drive to use as a backup. And I still have the full backup on the 1.5 TB drive just in case anything were to go awry.
I have an iMac with Mac OSX 10.6.8 and 2.4 GH2 Intel Core 2 Duo processor.I want to upgrade to Lion so that I can use iCloud to share documents with my iPad.Do I have to upgrade to Snow Leopard first or can I upgrade directly to Lion?
If I put my MBP to sleep (by closing the display) and then decide to use it right away (in a minute or less), are there any risks to the hard drive involved or any sort of issue?
... long time reader, first time poster!! So I'm doing it. I'm switching from PC to Mac. I've been waiting for a while now and the new MacBook Pro's have convinced me. I'm buying the 13 inch this week.
However I'm slightly worried about the upgrade to Snow Leopard in September.
My question is if I buy a new MacBook Pro this week and upgrade from the current version of Leopard to Snow Leopard will it be the EXACT same as the version of Snow Leopard that ships with new MacBooks after September?
Is the upgrade just the same as the full software version available post September? Does the upgrade it just detect if you have the previous software and installs as if it were the full? Or does it just "patch" things depending on what's different from previous versions?
I can wait till after Snow Leopard is released in September 09 if it is different to Leopard upgraded to Snow Leopard.
I want the Mail Exchange Server support in Snow Leopard. If I buy a new MacBook today shipped with Leopard, can I get the upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard for free? (No, right?) When will SL be released? And how long will it take to have SL shipped with MacBook after that?
I've never updated an OS before, so this probably appears to be very noob-ish. I currently have a refurb 2.4 al macbook. I can't return it, so instead of whining and complaining (past that stage) I'm looking at it as thus: I'm one of very few people to have an aluminum macbook. I want to upgrade to a SSD when Snow Leopard is released in September. How do I make this happen? Is it as simple as swapping the hard drive and then booting from the SL install disks? Almost seems too easy. Also, do you guys think it's a good idea to swap the stock 250GB HDD for an SSD (120GB Vertex) and use the HDD as an external?
I just bought a used macbook pro and once I powered it up I just followed the steps to set it up, once done, the OS is 10.5.8. I want to upgrade it to Snow Leopard but what's the best way to do it? I already spent half a day setting many things up, and I don't want to start everything all over again, what's the best way to upgrade? I don't want to have SL on a different partition
MacBook Pro Version 10.5.8 Processor: 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Memory: 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
I'm currently running 10.5.8 and expect delivery of the Snow Leopard disc today. The end result being the upgrade to Lion, but...well, you know. My question is two-fold:
1) Are there any "housekeeping" tasks I should do before proceeding with the initial upgrade to Snow Leopard? I've already run a backup and have important files copied on a flash drive. Is there anything I should clean-up, upgrade, etc first?
2) Has anyone had any problems losing files/music/etc during these upgrades? I've had this MacBook Pro for about four years and haven't had any issues with it. Before that, I always had PCs with all kinds of problems, including losing just about everything during upgrades (which is why I've been hesitant to upgrade up to this point).
My macbook air uses OS X 10.6.8 and Xcode 3.2.6. I want Xcode 4 but it requires OS 10.7. How can I upgrade OS from 10.6.8 to 10.7? I guess 10.7 is Lion not snow leopard. Is it free or need purchase? What is the newest version of Xcode which works under 10.6.8?
I'm currently using a MBP 13 inch and am running Leopard on it.
I just bought a copy of snow leopard today but i don't know if I should do a direct upgrade from leopard to snow leopard, or wipe my MBP and do a fresh install so i have snow leopard on a clean slate.
Have any of you tried the second option before? Or do any of you have advice on which path I should take?
Well I just upgraded my computer to snow leopard, and I am very happy. It went very well, and was incredibly easy. I haven't run into one problem as of yet. No compatibly issues, no spotlight problems, nothing. I also heard of people complaining that snow leopard was very slow when they upgraded and didn't do a clean install, well for me, I noticed a speed increase over leopard, and I just simply did an upgrade. I am very pleased with this new OS. I think apple did a very good job refining leopard. I just thought id share this with people, so they don't always have to read the things going wrong with an upgrade over a clean install. Not sure if it matters, but I installed off of a usb drive.
I almost bought the upgrade disc today, however on further thought and reading around here, i've gathered that people seem to have A LOT of problems with macbooks in general. Since i bought my computer used and it doesn't have apple care, i'm thinking the age old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Because i'd hate to upgrade then i start having wireless problems etc.
Is it worth the upgrade? I do a lot of digital audio oriented stuff and i'd really like to upgrade simply because some virtual instruments and plug in's only work with 10.5 or above.
will i still be able to run illustrator CS2 okay if I upgrade to snow leopard? i was told by employee at the apple store i need to install snow leopard to take advantage of the cloud and sync my itunes to my iphone 4s. mainly use my laptop for design work using illustrator CS2 and cant afford to have it not work properly if i upgrade to snow leopard.
Anyone out there using CS2 through snow leopard on a MacBook Pro that can give me some feedback on this?
I have OS X.5.8; I bought OSX Snow Leopardabout two years ago, but never installed. I want to upgrade to Snow Leopard at long last (and maybe to Lion). But when I put the Snow Leopard disk in, I can hear my disk drive trying and trying, and then it just spits it out. I know disk drive works. & I bought the disk from an Apple store. Is the disk bad - or is it that my MacBook can't be upgraded to Snow Leopard?
I want to upgrade to snow leopard from tiger before I get an Iphone. My system is: Macbook 1.1, Intel core duo, 2 Ghz, 1 processor, 2 cores, L2cache 2 MB, 1 GB memory. When I went to purchase the upgrade on line, it said it required intell core 2 duo.
What Is Memeo Backup and why is it on my MacBook Pro w/ Snow Leopard? Does it slow down my Mac? Seems like someting has slowed down my Downloads, Updates, Backups, etc. & I don't know how to locate the source. Any Wizards avail to share some Wisdom? I am using Ethernet Cable/Port for Internet Connection, I Use a Seagate FreeAgent Go Flex Ultra-Portable Drive w/ Seagate's Firewire Adapter Cable.
I've upgraded my old MacBook (MacBook1,1/Early 2006) with a new SSD, 2GB RAM and a fresh installation of Snow Leopard (Retail). Everything runs much smoother now, except that there is no more sound (no sound device found). I don't think it's a hardware problem, since the startup sound (chime) still works perfectly. Everything worked fine with OS X 10.4. I tried a SMC and PRAM reset, but didn't help. Some results on Google said that I should try to stick in some headphones and that should do the trick, but it didn't.
I went from Leopard to Snow Leopard last night and now my battery status is NOT CHARGING. It seems I am not the only one who has this problem.My question is WTF.I have replaced my power adapter magsafe and my battery within the past 1.5 years.Do I need to go back to Leopard? Will this even solve my problem?I have the older 13" white macbook.
I took my laptop in to a shop to have a new hard drive installed and the guy in the shop upgraded me to Snow Leopard. I then tried to use migration assistant to get my files back off an external HD and it's telling me my password and/or user name is incorrect. Is it possible the guy in the shop changed it? Is there a generic password when you reinstall things? Or do I need to restart my Macbook using the old Leopard disk?
trackpad not working /I bought a new Macbook Pro 13 and a few weeks later upgraded to Snow Leopard the day it launched. It seems now like my trackpad gets "stuck". It will just randomly not scroll until I "click" on something, then it works again. Sometimes the dock won't pop up when I point down to it until I click something. Anyone else?
I recently bought the Snow Leopard 10.6.3 cd and was looking forward to the upgrade. I forgot my cd drive is broken. How can I get around this? I tried zipping the file on a friends computer and unzipping on my computer (so I could fit the software on a thumb drive). Not successful.
Info: MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8), Broken disc drive.
o I took the plunge and giddily purchased Mac OS 10.6 aka Snow Leopard the day it was made available. Usually, I have very little worries being an early adopter to new OS releases considering the successful upgrade experiences I've had through the years of being a Mac user.
After upgrading to Snow Leopard from 10.5.8, my MacBook Pro 17" (2.6 GHz, 4GB RAM, 200GB @7200 RPM HDD, non-unibody) would consistently drop it's internet connection whether it was via Ethernet (wired) or through AirPort (wired and wireless are using DHCP). I've applied several supposed fixes suggested everywhere on the Googled web with limited success:* Reset Network settings, deleted "Automatic" settings and created a new setting (called untitled) * Zap the PRAM (hold Command+Option+P+R on restart) * Flush the DNS cache(using: dscacheutil -flushcache on the Terminal)
These 'fixes' worked only for a few minutes, and the internet connection would eventually drop again. NOTE: Although other computers and drives were visible on my network, and Instant Messaging via Adium is still functional, which is weird, I could not connect to the internet through a browser, or connect Mail.app or even to the iTunes store.
Tired and frustrated at this point, I decided to finally call Apple Support (Case #134733179) and was suggested to try the following steps:* Shutdown the MacBook Pro, remove battery, disconnect the power, and then hold the Power Key for 15 seconds. After which I was told to replace the battery, reconnect power and zap PRAM and wait for 2 chimes before letting the keys go.
I was able to get connection for a while but lost it again after a few minutes of usability.And so I called again and was told this time to try:* Trash the SystemConfiguration folder (~/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration) and all of it's contents... then reboot.
The above suggestion seemed logical as it would obliterate any existing preferences that may be corrupted and affecting the connection setup. The system would then recreate a fresh preference file free of any lingering old settings. This again worked for a while, but sadly, my wired and wireless connection both drops within a few minutes of usage. It is also worth noting that simply restarting the MacBook Pro regains connectivity as well but drops after a few minutes on both Ethernet and Airport settings.
So today has been an unproductive day considering I spent all my efforts troubleshooting Snow Leopard (10.6) on the MacBook Pro, and couple that with the inability to use several key functionality such as SynergyKM to sync all three machines I have with one keyboard/mouse (not to mention the unpredictable behavior Adobe CS3 has been displaying (especially InDesign losing menus and drawing blank palettes!) and the loss of Letterbox's (plugin) features on Mail.app) and I am now forced to downgrade back to 10.5.8 via Time Machine Restore until Apple resolves or acknowledges this problem (or some knowledgable individual throws this dog a bone and help me out of this misery).In the meantime, I need to get work done and something as fundamental as a stable internet connection should have been high on Apple's "must work" priority list.
I convinced/helped a friend upgrade her 1.83Ghz CD MacBook to Snow Leopard. It has not been a smooth ride. Right off the bat there have been persistent and recurring DNS problems. She has also found that it won't shut down without her going through and quitting or force quitting open apps--skype being of particular issue. Tonight she had a kernel panic, it seems. It appears skype is the problem app, but this didn't occur before the SL upgrade. Is it coincidental or correlated?