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I decided to go with the Combo updater this time because I skipped it for the OS 10.5.4 update and just went with the 88 MB "Delta" incremental upgrade installer which I managed to download in an overnight session over my clunky dialup connection. I didn't encounter any problems with that update which went very smoothly, but the OS 10.5.5 "Delta" is a whopping 316 MB, so I figured I might as well go for the Combo.
Obviously for me, Apple's automated software update is not a practical alternative, but even if I had access to the fastest of broadband connections, I would still go with the standalone updates, at least for operating system upgrades. I keep Software Update turned off.
I hope to get a chance to run the OS 10.5.5 installer over the weekend, although we have company coming, so we'll see how that goes. OS 10.5.4 has been a rock of stability on my PowerBook, so I'm in no particular rush. Aside form that, what's the holdup? Well, before updating, I want to bring my Time Machine backup up to date (easy, and something we should all keep current anyway) and run a set of system cleaning and maintenance routines - Repair Permissions, dump various caches, and so forth with OnyX (more time-consuming), to ensure that the system being upgraded is shipshape, which I figure is worth the bit of extra time invested in the interest of avoiding potential problems with what for me is a vital tool of my trade. I don't believe the world would come crashing down around my ears if I neglected to execute these preparations, but I like to proceed with things in an orderly and unhurried fashion if possible.
Now, I expect that millions of Mac users will opt to just let Software Update to its staff, and the vast majority of them will achieve perfectly successful results, but then there are those who will encounter contretemps like stalled installers a variety post-upgrade issues of the sort that get reported on MacFixIt, MacInTouch, and other forums, including Apple's, after every OS upgrade or Security patch release. For a topical example, there's this entry on the Apple forums under the title "10.5.5 update and external monitor issues ** Confirmed by Apple Support":
"I updated my 10.5.4 Macbook with a working External Display to 10.5.5 and the external display no longer works. I called Apple Support and they couldn't fix the issue except for telling me to do an archive and install. They did confirm that they have received a lot of calls about this."
In that particular instance, the issue is being widely enough reported that there's a strong likelihood of a bad bug in the OS 10.5.5 update that will require patching, and that no amount of pre-upgrade preparation could have forestalled the unfortunateness, but while it is impossible to know for sure, I do have to wonder whether if folks reporting most upgrade woes had just taken the time and effort to clean up their systems and install from a standalone updater with no other applications running they might have avoided the grief.
It's hard to prove a negative, but whether coincidental to or attributable to my somewhat belt-and-suspenders mode of system upgrading, I've never encountered serious problems (and very few problems of any sort) with any Mac OS X version upgrade or update, dating back to OS 10.1, which is where I climbed on board this train. Maybe I would have done just as well using Software Update, but the thing about precautionary principles is that you take pre-emptive action before there is a problem in hope of preventing problems. If all goes well, as it has for me taking this approach, at least one has done no harm.
Actually, I used to also do disk optimizations or even defragmentation runs using AlSoft's highly-regarded Disk Warrior utility before running major system upgrades, but I haven't been doing that for the past couple of years, and so far so good. With today's larger hard drives, the the time investment involved with that sort of disk maintenance has become more daunting.
However, some folks think even the amount of pre-update caution I exercise is unnecessary and a waste of time, and that troubleshooting Websites like MacFixIt and others recommending such measures and sometimes more are irresponsibly sowing needless FUD.
For instance, THe Mac Night Owl, Gene Steinberg took MacFixIt to task in a column this week, alleging "lurid prose, various horror stories," and of instead of vetting reports of problems with Apple’s stuff, taking emails and message board posts and publishing them verbatim, "apparently without confirming whether the issues truly existed, or whether the alleged solutions truly worked as presented." Gene says he's not suggesting that MacFixIt is making stuff up, and grants that the complaint material is genuine and accurately quoted, but he questions their editorial judgment in publishing it, accusing them and other other sites of "turning themselves into the supermarket tabloids of the Internet."
As for users like me who insist on following what Gene disparages in another recent column as "a silly set of voodoo procedures to make sure that the update doesn’t somehow bite them or, at worse, consume their Macs in flames,... calling upon ancient deities or throwing tea leaves in a prescribed direction," he thinks we're "excessively paranoid."
Gene doesn't recommend taking a completely cavalier approach to OS update preparation, and does suggest making sure you have a current backup, preferably one that would allow you to return to what you had previously without too much hassle as a good idea, as is quitting all running applications during the update run.
I have a lot of respect for Gene Steinberg. I've read several of his books, found them interesting and informative, and enjoy reading his Mac Web commentaries, which we regularly link to in the Applelinks Tech Web Reader feature. I don't always agree with Gene, but probably do more often than not, and I freely concede that he has much more practical hands-on experience working on and maintaining a wide variety of Macs than I do.
However, I think he's being more then a bit harsh on MacFixIt, which I've also found a helpful and informative resource for many years. MacFixIt is frequently criticized for highlighting doom and gloom, but as one of their editors remarked a while back, the site isn't called "Mac Hunky Dory."
I agree that user evaluations of the nature of software (or hardware) problems isn't always an accurate assessment, but in a troubleshooting Website context I'm perplexed as to how MacFixIt could do much in the way of vetting of individual problem reports. It's often enough maddeningly difficult to suss out what is causing a problem even with hands-on access to the computer in question and a modicum of technical expertise. I think the MacFixIt folks do a pretty good job of what they do. In most cases if the fault or problem noted is from a single report, they inform us of that, so the reader can receive it with prudent caution until it's corroborated by more and similar reports.
As for poking fun as those of us who heed the counsel of MacFixIt (and others) "that Apple's Software Update, as presently implemented, is inherently dangerous," that it's simply common sense to to minimize use of the computer during OS installations, that the full Combo standalone update is a more fail-safe and superior alternative to the incremental update offered by Software Update, and that it's a good idea to boot the Mac into Safe Boot Mode (hold down the Shift key during a reboot before running the installer; note that starting up in Safe Boot Mode takes a long time because it runs a media scan during the bootup process, so be prepared to wait about five minutes or so before the login screen appears, which it will in Safe Boot even if you have automatic login configured, - I have to admit that I'm usually a bit lazy about that last one), I can only repeat that my anecdotal success with Mac OS X upgrades and updates has been excellent, although I can't affirm categorically that my precautionary approach has been key or just coincidental to that.
I will concede that most of the time running system and disk maintenance software, whether preparing for a system update or just as a housekeeping routine, is an act of faith, with no really tangible evidence to indicate that it's doing anything at all, but sometimes it does obviously fix obvious problems, which indicates that stuff can go wrong "under the hood" frequently without any notable symptoms. Whenever I run Disk Warrior, it almost invariably finds some flies that need repair.
Then there was the time after I updated the second OS X system on my hard drive (I keep two systems installed on separate partitions, which allows me to, among other things, check out system updates without burning my bridges to a system to boot from that I know is reliable). That proceeded without drama, but I was slightly pressed for time and decided to skip doing my usual maintenance preparations as outlined earlier in this article before running the Combo updater.
The system installed and booted just fine, but I soon discovered that the Finder's "Find" function was not working (nothing would happen), and the little third-party text search utility SpeedSearch could find document titles but was no longer able to display contents summaries. A similar problem had once manifested on my Pismo PowerBook running OS 10.4.4.
I figured I might have to run the system updater again, but decided to give OnyX a shot at it first. I ran the cron job scripts, Repair Permissions, and some selected cache dumps, but omitted optimizing the system since the update installer had just done that. When I rebooted after OnyX had done its thing, both Find and SpeedSearch had been restored to working normally. That sort of experience inclines me to believe that a precautionary approach to system upgrading is more than just paranoia, but whatever floats your boat.
For more information on the MacOS 10.5.5 update, click here.
Charles W. Moore
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