How to erase Leopard to install Snow Leopard

Hello Patrick:

IMHO, no one should do an erase and install (Apple does not use +clean install+ terminology) except in the case of a disaster.

The regular upgrade works just fine.

Barry

I agree with Barry - the default upgrade is solid. But if you insist (and I know some people use OS upgrade time to clean up their computer) after booting with the SL disc, go up to the menu and select Utilities and Disk Utility. Erase the drive there and then exit back to the installer.

But if you do want to do a clean install, start up the Snow Leopard installer and when the menu bar appears, choose Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. That will let you erase your disk.

Yeah, I noticed there wasn't an option to do a "erase and install" or "archive and install" as with previous versions of 10.x.

You can boot from your install DVD by pressing the C key after you insert the DVD and reboot, then open up Disk Utility and press the Erase button, then conduct a "normal" installation from the DVD. However, I don't think you have to do the installation this way.. a lot of unnecessary work.

"Unnecessary" is in the eye of the beholder. I bequeathed my "old" (2 years old) MBP to my son when I got a new one. I had a bunch of stuff on it that he would never use. I deleted what I could and set him up as a user, but the home directory is still "jdoe" because my name is John Doe whereas if it had been his computer from the start it would have been "bdoe" because his name is Bob Doe.

I've always wanted to start from scratch for him. I could have reinstalled the OS that came with the computer but never bothered. This seems to be a great time to get rid of my junk and set it up just for him. "Unnecessary"? Not for me...

BTW, the install instructions that come with SL are wrong. They tell you to put in your original install disk and do a bunch of stuff. All you need to do is go to the Utilities menu after the first reboot and use Disk Utility to erase the disk, just as it's described here. Note that the SL disk doesn't have iLife. If you do this kind of install you'll lose iLife and will have to either install it off the original OS X disk that came with your computer or from a more recent disk that you purchased.