Upgrading OSX 10.5.8 to 10.6.8

[mikester]

So as I bought my Macbook with Snow Leopard pre-installed I've never actually gone through the upgrade process with OSX. My girlfriend's Macbook Pro is still running 10.5.8 and I've gotten my hands on 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

Every tutorial I read suggests I back everything up. Time is an issue here, and I don't want to spend the next three days backing up four years' worth of documents, pictures and such.

I assume there is a pure upgrade path for Leopard to Snow Leopard that does not affect files - how risky would it be to go ahead and upgrade without backing up?

Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 77746]

I have never heard of any upgrades failing in the past 11 years of my life in IT. You can never be too sure. Get that data backed up if it's important to you.

I don't think this is a case of 'should I back up' it's a case of do it incase the device fails.

 

[mikester]

Unfortunately this Macbook hasn't been backed up in four years (I'm resisting the urge to make comments...) so it'd be a nightmare. It's gathered up so much crud that I'd rather do a fresh install.

Web trawling has indicated the upgrade path is relatively low-risk, but since it's not my computer I had to be sure.

Guess I'll wait until I have more free time to do it properly.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

Wait till you have time to do it as there is always a risk to hardware / software failing. If your data is important enough not to loose I do suggest it's done properly.

I have spoke to people who have been clever saying 'oh I don't backup e.t.c' and wham..... it's lost forever.

 

[theheyes]

Backups are always tedious and time consuming until you need them. If you've got 4 years worth of stuff that you're concerned about losing then its about time you took a backup anyway.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

I certainly wouldn't like to loose 4 years worth of data.