Should I upgrade from Mavericks to Yosemite or go for a new install of Yosemite?

kellyjdrummer wrote:


Do you people think it an imprudent act to wipe everything and start over or a better idea to update with the Yosemite release over/on top of Mavericks?

I know there will be bugs.

I think it is an imprudent act to run a Beta release on anything other than a test installation.

YMMV

Rule number 1: If your computer is used for mission critical

use, i.e. part of your lively hood, never update to a first release of

a new OS unless you have a means to restore your system back to

its previous state quickly. Make a clone of your current system so you can

reclone back if there are any issues.

Rule number 2: Always, always backup mission critical data before

upgrade. This should be done anyway, upgrade or not.

Rule 3: Do not upgrade until you are sure that all mission critical

apps and device drivers are up to date an compatible with the new OS.

Rule 4: Remove any "tweak ware" as these are almost always a problem

with any upgrade and really should not be used in the first place.

Generally, clean installs are not required (I haven't done one since 10.4).

The only clean installs I have done since is when I was selling a Mac

or changing an old Macs use.

To be safe, you can clone your current system to an external drive,

install Yosemite on it and test it before committing to installing on your main

drive.

woodmeister50 wrote:

Rule number 1: If your computer is used for mission critical

use, i.e. part of your lively hood, never update to a first release of

a new OS

Even more important when it is not a released product but a test Beta. Which is what we are talking about.

No, it's a Beta, a polished one perhaps but it's intended for testing. Apple's warnings are quite clear, "don't install it on anything you are not prepared to erase"

But an external hard drive makes for a great test platform if you install Yosemite on it, safe method.

kellyjdrummer wrote:

I had thought the fall release of Yosemite would be a release candidate (baked.) Am I wrong? I know it's hard to know.

Through my years as a Windows user, I always waited at least a year after their OS releases before jumping on them.

There is no good answer anymore. All of the responses you have had in this thread are excellent. But Apple keeps changing the plan. I say wait until the 2nd minor release of Yosemite. The first 10.10.1 will be a bug fix release, probably within 3 weeks. The second will be a security update two weeks later. That is the point where it will probably be safe to install. You'll have a good 8 months of usage before having to worry about upgrading again. Also, this strategy applies to all releases, not just major ones. Apple doesn't do "bug fixes" like you may have been used to in the past. Builds 10.10.1, 10.10.2, etc. will be designed not to break any public interfaces, but that is as far as it goes. Otherwise, Apple is liable to change anything. The old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it" simply doesn't apply anymore. Wait a week or two after each incremental update to see if there are big changes. Since you are a heavy Photoshop user, always check the Adobe forums before updating the OS.

kellyjdrummer wrote:

Good deal. All three of you answered exactly as I was thinking.

To Csound1, I will never touch a beta of anything. I had thought the fall release of Yosemite would be a release candidate (baked.) Am I wrong? I know it's hard to know.

The fall release of Yosemite will be the official release.

Anything prior to the official release will be a release candidate or a GM.

A release candidate is not the official release.

It will be the first release.

One option is to create a new partition (~30- 50 GB), install Yosemite, and ‘test drive’ it. If you like/don’t like it it, you can then remove the partition. Do a backup before you do anything. Saves an erase and revert if you don't like it.

Eric Root wrote:

One option is to create a new partition (~30- 50 GB), install Yosemite, and ‘test drive’ it. If you like/don’t like it it, you can then remove the partition. Do a backup before you do anything. Saves an erase and revert if you don't like it.

Not up on current events, eh? Just remember that reverting applies only to the files on your hard disk that make up the OS. Any changes you make to your own documents may be lost when you revert because Yosemite may change the file formats. Apple is doing an awful lot of that these days. That also applies to your documents in iCloud. We are all beta testers now, regardless of the official release date.

Etresoft makes a very important point. There will be changes to some data files resulting from the use of Yosemite, not all will be simply revertible so a complete backup from prior to the upgrade should be considered mandatory.

My method would be to install on an external drive and operate it 'in a vacuum' as it were.

I was considering upgrading and giving it a test drive on my new macbook. Only problem is, you dont get install discs anymore (yea, I'm old). I've been out of the OSX game for a while so I dont remember if Time Machine backs up everything or should I mirror my present drive as a backup? I could always go the route of booting from external I suppose. Suggestions?