Snow Leo-- Archive and Install?

[Frodo]

Installer installed 10.6.0, leaving non Apple files intact, without any intervention on my part.

Very cool, and very encouraging to know!

Thanks!

[David Polich]

I've never had any problem with simply installing a new OS using the
"Combo Updater". I regularly backup using Carbon Copy Cloner, onto an
external drive.

Here's where you don't want to backup your drive and then install a new
OS - when it's your system drive and it is failing. A backup of a failing
system drive will likely contain corrupted files and even a corrupted OS. I learned this the hard way. In this case, it is always best to start with
a new drive with a new OS and transfer your backed up files and documents from your last known "good" backup, and then re-install ALL your audio applications,plug-ins and VI's again from the original installers.

[Frodo]

Here's where you don't want to backup your drive and then install a new
OS - when it's your system drive and it is failing. A backup of a failing
system drive will likely contain corrupted files and even a corrupted OS.

Of course.

My SL drive is still, by all intents and purposes, a "test" drive. After all this time I've only recently moved forward with installing other VIs and plugins to get things working to spec, but I'm light years from being fully functional in 7.21 and 10.6.4. Just to show you how safe I am, I could lose my entire SL drive and all of its backups and not be hurting one bit where projects go.

I'm still puzzled by certain quirks like stuck notes and disappearing track assignments that I just haven't had the heart in 18 months to fully migrate over to 7.21 and 10.6.4 without a bit more info and a few more updates. That's why I say I could wipe it all out in the blink of an eye and not be any worse for wear.

Stripes have served me better than spots (ie: tiger vs leopard/snow leopard). I guess it's time to get that hot new 128-Core MacPro with the "Sandy Bridge" or "Haswell" processor and kiss Nehalem good-bye?

[rentadrummer]

I was reading the MacIntouch site and came across a post about reinstalling Snow Leopard from scratch, which reminded me of the discussion in this thread. Apparently it's a simple process, and as you can see, at least in the case of the person who posted, produced good results.


"Thanks to everyone who wrote in with their experiences and fix-it attempts regarding the loss of network connectivity after installing the Snow Leopard 10.6.5 update. One thing is clear, there is definitely an issue with the update even if Apple claims to have not heard of it.
To those who wrote in with suggestions, I have a few thoughts. As stated in my original post, this appears at first to be DNS problem but it isn't so changing DNS servers won't do anything. I personally like to use OpenDNS but changing over to Google's servers or Fairpoint's or Verzon's has no effect on this. Changing or removing proxy settings, if any are set, will not fix this either, nor will deleting any browser client's plist. This is a system glitch introduced by the new 10.6.5 upgrade for as yet unknown and unexplained reasons. Rather that a true bug, I suspect that the system upgrade is running into some artifact it doesn't get along with that exists on a limited number of machines that have been in service for awhile.
To those who suggested various Terminal commands to kill the hanging mDNSResponder, or Activity Monitor to force quit the Responder my questions is, then what? My experience doing that was that you can get back your network connections without rebooting but you haven't fixed the problem. It will reappear again 24-48 hours later, so you still end up back where you started. I'm sure some geeks out there will drill down until they find the exact snippet of code or whatever insidious little software culprit is causing this issue and I hope someone does so, but for many of us this is not a practical use of our time or beyond our abilities. Living with rebooting every few days to get back on the internet or use my networked printers is entirely unacceptable in my book. This is a Mac after all!
I've gotta' say that over the years I am always amazed and gratified by how well Apple does tech support when compared with other companies. Even though they claim that they have not had any other reports about this particular issue they were not in the least dismissive. In each of the three calls I made to AppleCare on this case number I promptly got someone on the phone who was friendly, knowledgeable and eager to try to figure out the problem. The last call provided what so far seems to be the ultimate fix-it and I thought I would relate my experience for the benefit of anyone who wants to go this route. Some may consider it overkill, but at this point I wholeheartedly recommend it.
The third tech guy at Apple started in by suggesting a few new system tweaks and tinkers but suddenly stopped himself mid sentence and said, "You know, what I was going to suggest may or may not fix this but if you are willing to take the time, THIS is what I think you should do."
Here it is: Re-install Snow Leopard from scratch using your original 10.6 DVD. As soon as you complete the install run Software Update and it will download the entire Combo 10.6.5 Updater package. (this will take awhile, folks). As soon as you complete the install of the Combo package run Software Update once again and it will find other new items to install. Each time you finish the new install run Software Update again until there are no more updates. (your mileage will vary). Mine involved the DVD install and two runs of software update. The whole process takes about an hour or so. Some here have suggested what amounts to a version of this approach but here you are starting with a complete virgin 10.6.0 system and not installing over a previously updated system.
Since doing this I have not had any further connectivity problems and my computer seems to be noticeably "snappier" in all functions.
Many of us who have been using Macs for years know what a tedious process a complete system reinstall used to be. People like me who have been doing this since System 7.x know it could take days of reinstalling applications, moving files and resetting things before you would get your machine back to the state of functionality it was in before the re-install. Reinstalling a system was always a dreaded last resort after every other option had failed. (Hopefully, you would now see no more bomb icons for awhile!) Personally, I have not had any reason to do a complete system reinstall since Tiger and while this was a vast improvement over previous systems this still involved the Archive and Install procedure and a previous system file folder. Reinstalling Snow Leopard really is a revelation. You don't have to boot from the DVD; no bothering with archive and install. Just slip the DVD in the slot and hit install. That's it! (I did happen to have a pre-10.6.5 Time Capsule back-up on hand if this all failed, however, and you all know you should be doing regular back-ups, right?) After you've gone through the entire updating process described here you are back up and running with a pristine operating system with all your software and settings exactly as you left them. Pretty slick! And the problem I had is gone! I imagine this may work for other post 10.6.5 update issues as well as this connectivity problem. It takes awhile, but it was well worth the time spent and seemed relatively effortless."

[midiw]

Thanks MR rentadrummer, i think i have to do that because there some strange things going on after the 10.6.5 update via software update.

For example, i can't download the "combo" directly from apple. I only get about 234 mb. My isp sezs my ultra high speed account has no download limits but could NOt explain why the download gets cut off at about 234 mb and referred me back to apple.

[Frodo]

Apparently it's a simple process, and as you can see

Thanks for posting that.

I must chuckle, though... "a simple process", then I saw the epistle of life!

Not to make light-- it's great info. Much obliged.