Why "upgrading" OS X over "wipe install" is a bad idea?

[Carter]

I don't need to be convinced otherwise but I need to create a detailed list to email faculty about why upgrades are bad. We have a new 10.8 image ready for the new school year but faculty do not want to backup their files and have their computers re-imaged. Instead they want their computers "upgraded" from 10.7 to 10.8. We do not support upgraded computers period but now needing to have backing behind it.

 

For one I know I will have issues with the local & Active Directory users after an upgrade & the prior system will always have under lying files in place.

 

As most of the users on this forum are those from enterprise I'm sure most would agree with me so wondering what are your thoughts & what should I be adding to this list?

 

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Edited May 15, 2013 by Carter

[SYNACK]

We don't upgrade either however Windows now does a good job of it. Why are their docs on the machines anyway, the best thing about a managed domain is that all docs, profiles etc. are stored and synced off the server, also backed up so if a system breaks or gets stolen you can just swap a new machine in, either that or just bang a new image over the top.

 

If it is not managed on a server is it backed up at all by the teachers?

 

Upgrades can lead to slower machines, more mess and general weirdness that you don't get on a fresh install there is also always the chance of something going wrong during the upgrade which will leave the user without their docs etc. If the user has not bothered to back it up and it has been left saving everything locally like a home computer.

Edited May 15, 2013 by SYNACK

[Norphy]

Why are their docs on the machines anyway, the best thing about a managed domain is that all docs, profiles etc. are stored and synced off the server

 

If the Macs in this place are used like ours (entirely possible that they're not but anyway), they'll be used primarily for video editing which you can't use a network drive for. The files would be too big to transfer to a network area and an external drive would be too slow (non of our Macs have USB3 or Thunderbolt). This effectively means that the work has to stay stored on the local machine which admittedly is a bit of a sod but there doesn't seem to be any way around it.

 

Otherwise I agree with the content of your post. Upgrades on OS X tend to be a tad better than Windows upgrades but when you're doing this many machines you really want to do a clean install because it'd be considerably quicker

Edited May 15, 2013 by Norphy

[Carter]

We don't upgrade either however Windows now does a good job of it. Why are their docs on the machines anyway, the best thing about a managed domain is that all docs, profiles etc. are stored and synced off the server, also backed up so if a system breaks or gets stolen you can just swap a new machine in, either that or just bang a new image over the top.

 

If it is not managed on a server is it backed up at all by the teachers?

 

Upgrades can lead to slower machines, more mess and general weirdness that you don't get on a fresh install there is also always the chance of something going wrong during the upgrade which will leave the user without their docs etc. If the user has not bothered to back it up and it has been left saving everything locally like a home computer.

 

Similar to "Norphy" reply most of our faculty deal with a lot of video, photography etc. The faculty do look after their own backup to an external HD but I find for most the issue is because the laptop turns into more of a personal computer than a work computer. We have no issues with users having their own pictures etc. heck I do as well but when times comes to update the OS for a new image it's very straight forward. Backup your files and your computer is imaged. There are extra apps that they have installed but this gets copied when we double check that everything is backed up.

 

As for home folders, though running with AD credentials, AD has not always played fair with OS X. Login mapped drives have not always been solid. Mountain Lion does certainly help this year with support for Microsoft DFS shares.

 

The biggest issue is that they become to personal than a work computer and so hard to police.

[Driftingashore]

The main reason to perform a clean install is to prevent "general weirdness", strange goings on, or kids causing trouble in the neighbourhood after bedtime. Really, it's just a preventative measure against the unknown interaction of unknown stuff.

 

Reasons to tell people:

 

1) Would you rather we do things properly, or hope it works?

2) It's a spring clean for your mac.

3) It's not a big deal, you're backing up your data.. right?

4) You want it to work the way Apple intended, don't you?

5) If the upgrades failed, we'd have to wipe it anyway.

6) We like doing things right the first time

6b) We'd rather not spend time fixing problems caused by taking shortcuts.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Driftingashore

[Carter]

The main reason to perform a clean install is to prevent "general weirdness", strange goings on, or kids causing trouble in the neighbourhood after bedtime. Really, it's just a preventative measure against the unknown interaction of unknown stuff.

 

Reasons to tell people:

 

1) Would you rather we do things properly, or hope it works?

2) It's a spring clean for your mac.

3) It's not a big deal, you're backing up your data.. right?

4) You want it to work the way Apple intended, don't you?

5) If the upgrades failed, we'd have to wipe it anyway.

6) We like doing things right the first time

6b) We'd rather not spend time fixing problems caused by taking shortcuts.

 

 

And this is why i love EduGeek.net!!!!! People here actually know what we go through in the world of enterprise and education! If I posted this on a regular forum it would be a reverse debate of why users should upgrade!

Thank you for your input everyone!

 

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