Installing a new operating system, or a major upgrade to an operating system like Mac OS X “Tiger”, is, for me anyway, an exciting experience akin to opening Christmas presents or driving a new car off the lot for the first time. This week we’ll go through the installation process together.

We’ll assume that you’ve already backed up your essential data somewhere, even if you’re planning on doing an Upgrade or Archive and Install type installation.

So, you place the Tiger DVD into the drive. You double-click the DVD’s icon, and (if it didn’t open automatically) a window opens displaying the DVD contents. Read the “Welcome to Tiger” and “Read Before You Install” PDF files. They contain invaluable information on Tiger’s features and the installation process. You’ll also see many other folders that contain the new system parts, as well as a full-blown OS X system. To begin the installation, simply double-click the “Install Mac OS X” icon. A welcome window opens directing you to Restart your Mac. When you click the Restart button, your Mac restarts using the system on the DVD to run your Mac during the installation process.

Once your Mac reboots, you’ll be guided through the installation process. Before clicking the Continue button, quickly note that there is an item in the top Menu Bar called “Utilities”. If you are doing an “Erase and Install” and want to partition your hard drive, you can access the Disk Utility application from this menu. When you quit any of these utilities you’ll be taken back to the installer.

Select your language, then agree to the Licensing Agreement. Next, select the drive you’re installing on, and click the Options button. It’s very important to select the installation Option you planned for. Unwittingly selecting the Erase and Install option when you had planned on an Upgrade installation would be disasterous. Next, you’ll have the option of customizing your installation by clicking the “Customize” button. Do it!

Your installation will go faster, and you’ll have more space on your hard drive, by not installing things you won’t be using, like drivers for printers you don’t have, foreign languages you can’t speak, and foreign language fonts you can’t write with. Plus, you probably won’t need the X11 Linux emulation environment either. Depending on what you have selected, installation will take from 30 to 45 minutes.

More on Tiger next time.

© 2005 Peter F. Zimowski