10.6.8 is an update that prepares the app store to distribute OS updates. It makes a partition on your primary hard drive that you boot from to upgrade.
Technically, you restore from your Mac's original restoration media (either DVD or USB stick). If it was Snow Leopard, then go to the App Store and download the Lion update again for free because it remembers you bought it before.
I assume Apple will sell a DVD version for MUCH more money (full $129 or higher) that you can use to do a fresh install or upgrade from Tiger and Leopard.
I also assume the Lion upgrade in the App Store will be super cheap. Probably $30. Possibly as cheap as $10.
Multiple partitions won't help if the drive goes bad.
With Apple's insistance that new HDDs in all their newer devices (*except the Mac Pro) are not user serviceable, no one should care about that because the new harddrive will be pre-loaded with an OS after you get it back from the Geniuses or AppleCare.
If you want to downvote, that's fine, but please provide an explanation. My comment was not derogatory, rude or against any of the HN guidelines.
Recent iMacs have been known to have their harddrive fans spin at full after a stock harddisk is replaced with an aftermarket replacement. Rumor is circulating that recent MacBook and MacBook Pro models are similar. Apple has hijacked some unused SATA wires to use for onboard temperature control on their branded drives. Unless you have access to genuine apple parts, any harddrive replacement on those models of computers won't work well.
Long story short: To Apple, Harddrives are not user servicable components, thus to Apple, "no one should care", because the computer will come back to the consumer after any repairs to a failed harddrive with a clean copy of the new OS.
I don't agree with that, but this is how things will be. I'm just a messenger with an opinion.
No downvotes from me. I've had two iMac HDDs die, lots of friends' too. My heart sunk when I found out about special temp sensor, I live a long way from any Apple repair centre.
As for Lion, it's anyone's guess whether we'll get a burnable/USBable DMG or not...
I haven't played with the Lion developer preview myself, but here's guessing:
One of the "features" of Lion is a restore partition—I think that means a partition that is simply a copy of the install disc. That, combined with the fact that OSX has been able to in-place resize mounted volumes for a while now (originally coded for Boot Camp), makes me think that when Lion installer "app" starts, it simply makes 8GB of room at the beginning of your hard drive, writes its disc image there, then reboots into it.
