What's your game plan for updating a working Hackintosh? Please share!

[gregginca2]

I started out with a 10.6.7 Hackintosh and have updated twice, once to 10.6.8 (very painful), then to 10.8.2 (not quite as painful). I'm holding off on a 10.8.3 update because of the reports here. In both cases, I did the update, found that it didn't work, then studied the situation (and the posts here at tonymac86.com!) and kept trying things until something worked. (If you have a better process, please tell me!)

Here's my question: I have a working (more or less) 10.8.2 system. I want to (at some future point) try using the Apple 10.8.3 Combo Update. What's a good "game plan" for preparing to do this so that, if all fails, I can restore my 10.8.2 system? I have an external drive with blank space, I have utilities like SuperDuper and Drive Genius 3, and I've used them before. I've even considered cloning my root hard drive and working on the copy.

I'm sure you're smarter than me! What would you do? Many thanks!

 

[Adrian B]

Not knowing what your hardware is makes in-depth info rather difficult.

If you were to clone your existing 10.8.2 install over onto a second drive, then that would give you a working backup - good practice to always have one, even on a real Mac or Windows machine. This would let you update to 10.8.3 with minimal problems - it shouldn't be that difficult in any case if you are on 10.8.2 now.

Seek out some info using the search facility (top right of screen) type in the motherboard model and search for similar builds using the same CPU. See how others have achieved the update.

Updating on a Hack isn't as bulletproof as if it were a real machine - you are already aware of this. Depending on your hardware it may be possible to wait for 10.8.9 which should be available in a couple of months. If you have Sand Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPU/ motherboard, then this could be a viable option.

Adrian B