[stewtheking]

PLEASE don't make this a Mac vs Pc issue.

I have a mac mini (2GHz Core 2 duo, 1Gb RAM) that is approaching its second birthday. I recently did a Snow-Leopard update. I have noticed (possibly since the update, possibly a bit before) that I am experiencing some slowness, with the system seemingly doind a lot more 'beach-balling' than usual.

Would anybody recommend an OS-reinstall? I can't think of any reason why it might hurt (other than the time lost to back-up and then perform it) but am I likely to see any improvement in (or rather, recovery of) performance?

 

[That dude]

If it's no trouble, then do it. Just back up the important stuff and throw out the junk. You may even get an increase in speed just by backing up and clearing out your mac. I'm enjoying my snow leopard experience but I did a clean install first time round, so I can't really comment on the speed difference.

 

[Currawong]

The best way to install Snow Leopard is: Clone your entire drive to another, using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!. Check that the clone boots or at least the files can be accessed and opened. If you don't have a whole hard drive to clone to, you can create a disk image of a suitable size using Disk Utility and clone to that.

Then, DISCONNECT THE CLONE and boot from the SL DVD and open Disk Utility from the menu. ERASE your hard drive (this is why I wrote that you should disconnect your clone first, so you don't accidentally delete it). Then, install SL, and run the Migration Assistant on first boot and let it import everything from your clone drive.

I don't know about the beachballs though... I get them at different times than I did in Leopard. Noone as far as I know has nailed down anything in particular about them.

 

[krmathis]

Yeah, I do not see how it would hurt to perform a clean reinstall.
Just make sure you have proper back-up of all your important files and settings before going that route. Either with the help of a complete Time Machine back-up, or any other way.

At least that way you eliminate old issues to persist.

 

[IceClass]

You might want to defrag your drive too if you haven't already done it in a while.

 

[santacore]

It could be RAM related. I noticed similar stuff on one of my machines that didn't have much RAM. After a RAM upgrade, things seem to be performing nicely. I think snow leopard likes lot's of RAM. Something to look in to, anyways.

 

[Bones13]

I have done the "upgrade" install on one of my machines. I have not noticed much difference. My other 2 machines I did a clean install. To the point that I reloaded the programs, and brought over my documents folders.

The clean install is worth it in my opinion. I usually have a few programs that I want off my system, that don't fully uninstall by dragging the application file to the waste bin.

 

[stewtheking]

Okay, so I am back, after my clean install. All files backed up successfully and all the ones I need back on the drive.

Speed does seem to be improved, which is pleasing, and makes the exercise worthwhile.

Interestingly, even with a complete erase-drive re-install, entourage managed to find all of my settings for the exchange server. Rather freaky...

And @santacore, I only have 1gig of RAM, and looked into increasing that a while back, but unless I am brave enough to prise into the thing myself, it would be a fairly pricey endeavor...

 

[dallan]

Sounds like I should just keep my normal Leopard on my new mac(2 months old). I was waiting for any bugs to be worked out of SL but the process seems to involved for me, I just thought you bought the new OS and installed it and that was it.

 

[stewtheking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dallan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sounds like I should just keep my normal Leopard on my new mac(2 months old). I was waiting for any bugs to be worked out of SL but the process seems to involved for me, I just thought you bought the new OS and installed it and that was it.

Oh, I wouldn't worry. Most people have just bought the disk, clicked 'update' and it's been cool. I think it's just a combination of a slightly-hungrier OS with a computer full of 2-years of junk that started to kill mine.

 

[santacore]

Dallan,

You should be cool. You have a new computer that should have plenty of ram(thanks to amarra). Installation should be easy and painless. The biggest issue I had was that it took almost an hour. Apparently there's a lot going on behind the scenes.

 

[dallan]

Hate to mess with my new toy but maybe i will do it after just a bit more to see any potential problems, especially with the music software I bought for it-kinda pricy so want to hear if it works glitch free for others.

 

[santacore]

I'm rocking Snow Leopard with Amarra and it's working great. Should be no problem for you.

 

[stewtheking]

$1000 dollars for a computer audio player? Youch!

 

[krmathis]

Nice to see you got a fresh install up and running, and that it feels like the speed have improved.