Upgrading to Leopard

[DaleMeyn]

I just noticed that I installed Leopard on the primary (original) volume, Macintosh HD. Maybe that should instead be done to the Sandbox: that is, do a clean install on the Sandbox, then boot from it, and use Migration Assistant. That way, Macintosh HD will still have the old OS. Then update the backups, leaving Macintosh HD (original volume) alone until everything checks out. If so, then back copy from Sandbox to Macintosh HD. Does this make sense, or is the first method better?

[dnanian]

No, do NOT install Leopard in a Sandbox. But your step #6 seems like it would erase the old backup.

[DaleMeyn]

Step 6 would erase the old backup if I left it on the backup schedule, but I have 2 backup drives, so I would leave one off the schedule until all worked as expected (Leopard), then put it back on the backup schedule. That way, I would have a fallback system (10.4) if necessary. Not sure that would ever occur, but it's a security blanket for me.
Dale Meyn

[DaleMeyn]

BTW, one Mac expert suggested to do the Leopard install over the existing System, then download and run the 10.5.4 combo update, then run software update to get all the latest bits and pieces. He seems to think that would work as well as a clean install and Migration of files from the backup volume. Any comment?

[dnanian]

If you're going to do that, sure, you can upgrade and then just run Software Update. Up to you.