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!

 

[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.