“why do you need the Combo package to go from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7?”

Strictly speaking, you don’t, and as I noted I sometimes use the Delta updater if pressed for time, and have never experienced any problem.

However, as someone else noted, “if someone applies a delta update like 10.5.7 without having previously installed security updates, it can lead to problems,”and as I keep Software Update turned off (self defense when you’re stuck with dialup) and rarely bother downloading the security updates between numbered releases, the Combo has all the bases covered.

Bill Burkholder has a good formula if you are using Software Update.

CM

I always download the combo updater… but thats mostly because I update several macs at once, and being a mac service tech, will need it at work as well. When I update other peoples macs, I backup, (usually scan for filesystem & drive surface scan), apply the combo updater, and things usually go just fine, but I’m also getting systems of unknown history, so I’m extra cautious. On my own machines the main update is still combo updater, but all other software updates are done through the Software Update system.

are you 13 yet?

YES, I back up my system drive before updating. YES, I then shut down and unplug everything but my network connection. YES, I run Disk Utility from the OS X installation DVD and then reboot before doing the update. NO, I don’t run any other software while doing the update. NO, I never use “warez” or illegally-obtained software. And absolutely YES, I run Disk Utility after the upgrade, to fix all the disc permissions that seem to need fixing after a software installation of any kind.

I have ten-year-old G4 AGP 450 towers and a G5 at home on Tiger, a G4-17-inch PowerBook 1.67 on Tiger here in the office, and my main machine is a MacBookPro (Early 2008) 2.6 GHz running Leopard. Again, I’ve been able to update all of them successfully with Software Update when needed.

To the guy in #3 who claims “blue screens” are exclusive to Windows PCs: Occasionally, during a software update, you WILL get a blue screen. But it is not (usually) a blue screen of death (BSOD). It is a “Please be extremely patient and go away while I think” sort of blue screen. I’ve left these overnight, on occasion, and come back to a fully functional Mac.

I do remember one time when I got a blue screen on a G4 that wouldn’t go away after 9-10 hours of waiting. I held the power button down, restarted, and all was well after a lengthy restart.

Make a backup, do the software update install. Done.

In the vast majority of cases this will work perfectly. In a few cases, something will go wrong. All the voodoo in the world won’t prevent a few cases where things don’t go smoothly.

The last thing you want to do is scare people into not doing system updates. Far more problems are going to be encountered with outdated system software than with the updates themselves.

All the more ironic as it happened to two people and the msiwind.net comunity is now analyzing what’s the x-factor…

In other words, everyone is reporting something wrong and nobody updates. That’s no big deal, it’s not as if Google cached it…

I don’t understand – why do you need the Combo package to go from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7? I thought they were only needed when you were jumping up more than one version?

It’s somewhat daft to quote a MacFixit April 2007 article in relation to Leopard. System updates for Leopard don’t install while users are logged in. Once the download is complete the user is asked to restart. This logs all users out of the system and the update then begins installation and then the machine restarts. The same is true for other updates that contain critical system components such as security updates.

Unless one has more than one machine to maintain, there is no inherent reason to prefer stand-alone installers over Software Update. Indeed, relying on stand-alone installers in preference to Software Update can be a source of problems. For example, if someone applies a delta update like 10.5.7 without having previously installed security updates, it can lead to problems. In that event a user may have to resort to the Combo updater in order to overcome the issue. The best way to ensure one has all necessary updates is to run Software Update. It will read the package receipt files on a system and then determine what updates are necessary. For most users, that is safer.

MacFixit is a very useful resource. However, it relies on its users to report issues and possible solutions. Inevitably it cannot access problematic machines and diagnose problems itself. Users may encounter problems with updates for a variety of reasons – including the presence of third-party software, failure to have applied previous updates, corrupted disks, faulty peripherals, etc. Sometimes applying software updates can bring undiagnosed problems, like disk corruption, to the fore. Because of these complications, MacFixit has come up with a “one-size-fits-all” routine that it recommends users follow to minimise problems when installing updates. Most of what it recommends is unnecessary and the majority of Mac users will encounter no problems with updates. Unfortunately, MacFixit’s advice seems to have led to superstitious attitudes, such as it being better to apply a combo updater rather than relying on Software Update.

Personally, the only thing I’d recommend aside from having a backup (a Time Machine backup is more than adequate) is that people use Disk Utility to verify their disk before applying updates.

Alec

Then second time round I had learned of the supposed benefits of the combo updater, so used that. My mac got stuck on the blue screen for ages, eventually meaning I had to force shut it down with the power button. fortunately after that it installed fine, but it just goes to show that no method is foolproof…