change from Tiger to Leopard

Insert it and double-click the installer.

(73744)

I do not know what you mean by "formatted by the laptop utility," or what passport you mean. But whatever it is, it's independent of installing Snow Leopard. After you insert the disk, it should appear on your desktop. Double click on it, and it will tell you what to do.

If you mean you are trying to install SL on an external WD Passport drive (formatted for Mac), then here is an explanation.

Is your Tiger system PowerPC or Intel processor? SL requires Intel processor.

AppleMneu > About This Mac. What is processor?

Well ... so much for that theory.

She also has a MacBook Pro, all of which have Intel processors.

Good point ... my bad.

The most popular software for backups are CarbonCopyCloner and SuperDuper!

However, for your purpose, you can simply use the Restore function in Disk Utility.

Drag Macintosh HD to the source field, and the WD volume to the destination field, then click Restore.

It will take some time, so ensure the energy saver preferences are set to 'never sleep' before beginning.

When it's complete, restart and hold down the shift key no later than the chime. When the boot options appear, select the new WD and click the arrow.

You're now booted from the cloned Tiger installation. Check as far as possible that everything works as it should, then restart normally to go back to Macintosh HD.

Eject the WD and disconnect it from the Mac for now.

/pt.2 to follow

pt.2;

To install, insert the 10.6.3 retail disc and restart, holding down the C key to boot into the DVD (or you can use the shift key as before and choose the install disc from there)

OK the language page, then go to the menu bar (ignore the installer for now) and open Disk Utility in the Utilities menu.

Select your Macintosh HD and click 'Repair Disk' (not permissions)

If that comes up as volume OK, quit DU and start the installer by selecting the 'continue' button.

(note; if you see a message in DU 'updating boot partitions', ignore it and close DU)

When you're offered installation options, ensure you choose Rosetta to be installed or your PPC apps won't work.

The installer will replace the Tiger system files with SL ones and should not touch any of your data or settings. Note that the restart will take considerably longer than usual as files are moved from a temp folder to their correct places in the system.

Caveat; I did 8 of these at the beginning of last year, but two wouldn't install until I erased the Mac HD volume. No idea why the difference, but it does make that cloned backup important.

Be warned that printer drivers, and scanner drivers in particular will almost certainly need updating for SL. That could be a problem if the printer or scanner is more than a couple of years old.

Many third party applications (and some Apple ones) may need updates for SL (Adobe particularly), so check with the vendors for compatability before you upgrade.

Message was edited by: noondaywitch

Shouldn't be necessary unless the normal installation fails.

However. Your caveat: What about the notion of moving as much as possible to the
WD Passport and then doing a "clean install" to the laptop ?

If you follow the procedure above, it will copy everything over.

someone advised that the files are more
likely to be where they ought to be with a "clean install "

No. The files are put in the same place in either case.

If you do go that way, you will be offered the chance during setup to choose to import your data from various sources; choose your external WD (make sure it's plugged in of course). That will reimport your user account with all your data, apps and settings.