I use the “archive and install” option for upgrades and recommend it over Apple’s default “Upgrade” option. Basically the “A&I” method moves your system and user files out of the way then installs a complete, fresh system. Once that’s done (and without operator intervention) it runs Migration Assistant to pull all user accounts, network settings, and so on over to the new install. I did four upgrades yesterday while doing other things and each went smoothly.
Last night, the fifth one reminded me why the “make a complete backup before beginning” advice you often hear is such a good idea. The install bombed about 4/5 of the way through on an older G5. A helpful little message pane asked if I wanted to try again so I said sure.
What I didn’t realize was that on the 2nd try it would just do a clean install. I sensed things were going wrong when the system asked what I wanted to use for my short user name. Ever susceptible to moronic responses, I gave it my usual user name—which meant that by the time I finally realized that I could run system migration using the “archive” portion of the original “archive and install” sequence that bombed, it was too late. It was able to migrate all the accounts except the one that clashed with the account I’d just created.
For that account, I had to delete my “newly created” version, then run migration assistant from a disk image backup that was a couple weeks old. Took 6 hours to get the data out of the .dmg file but it did eventually finish and everything migrated. This isn’t the time machine that Apple marketing is talking about.
Got Root?
The Netinfo utility isn’t in Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), so how are you supposed to enable the root user? Most people will just tell you it isn’t necessary but I disagree. While I appreciate the benefits of Apple’s walled garden (things do tend to work better) I also like to poke around the foundations of that wall from time to time. Besides, to use DTrace (new to OSX in Leopard), you’ll need to run your queries as root.
May be an easier way, but here’s one I’ve found that works:
System Preferences -> Users -> unlock the “click lock to make changes”
Then go to Applications->Utilities->Directory Utility and under the edit menu you’ll find “Enable Root User”