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Am I stuck risking the loss of files while upgrading?

I need to upgrade my iMAC from OS X 10.2.8 to 10.4. However I'm afraid I'll lose pics, music, documents...etc.

I opted for an external hard drive to back up these things. I bought a WD 250GB passport on a recommendation that the MAC would recognize it as a mass storage device. Now i've learned I may need to reformat the drive. NTFS3g may work but I need the OS 10.4. FAT32 is read only, so i've read..(no pun intended)

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  • Why don't you format it with the Mac native file system HFS+?
    – orkoden
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 13:21

2 Answers 2

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There is always the risk of losing files in case something goes wrong, I'd back up your files ASAP just in case. Since you just purchased an external hard drive, I see no reason not to!

From 10.2.8 -> 10.4 I believe you can go an upgrade install, which should not delete your files. FAT32 volumes should be readable and writable as well.

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  • k. thanks for the quick response. I'll look for a way to reformat it. till then, any hints/suggestions....
    – gyve
    Commented Feb 3, 2010 at 5:57
  • John T - nice axe btw.
    – gyve
    Commented Feb 3, 2010 at 6:10
  • What axe are you referring to? the guitar? :O
    – user1931
    Commented Feb 3, 2010 at 6:12
  • yes the guitar. i'll be buying a les paul one day. got a freind that works for Gibson here in Nashville. playing a strat 4 now. **anyway, seems FAT32 is my best option for running both XP & OSX systems. apps/utilities/disk utility to get me started. still rtying to work out which drop down is for FAT32
    – gyve
    Commented Feb 3, 2010 at 6:22
  • You're more than welcome!
    – user1931
    Commented Feb 3, 2010 at 6:45
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What John said about backing up, and it's best to do a clean install in any case: you should treat these events as opportunities to do spring cleaning of the OS.

Tiger is supposed to be snappier than Jaguar, but if you have typical Jaguar hardware, your box will probably not deserve the name Greased Lightning. Take a look at What is a fast and modern OS for an old iBook G3? for some suggestions...

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