Need a new old MacPro

[HCMarkus]

Snow Leopard will run nicely on your new machine… I'd throw your old boot drive in your new Mac and see what the App Store offers… I agree Yosemite is still teething and would heartily recommend Mountain Lion if you can get your hands on it.

PS: Might want to make a clone of that 10.6.8 drive before you start messing around.

PPS: http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6377 ... ntain-lion

[dix]

Thanks for this! At least I now have the of option going to ML, assuming that the version of SL installed on the 4,1 is compatible with a 2,1 Mac - anyway, I'll know soon enough.

So ML is more solid than Mavericks, eh?

[kgdrum]

Snow Leopard will run nicely on your new machine… I'd throw your old boot drive in your new Mac and see what the App Store offers… I agree Yosemite is still teething and would heartily recommend Mountain Lion if you can get your hands on it.

PS: Might want to make a clone of that 10.6.8 drive before you start messing around.

PPS: http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6377 ... ntain-lion

HC,
Are you saying use a boot drive from another (older Mac) as a boot drive in a newer Mac?
I have been under the impression that should be avoided,I hope I'm wrong......
I still need to make the transition from my 2008 to 2012 MacPro,can I just put the drive in boot up and then clone to a newer SSD?......I'm looking for the easiest way
Thanks
KG

[dix]

I have been under the impression that should be avoided,I hope I'm wrong......

That's been my impression too, but HCMarkus seems pretty smart - if # of Motunation posts equals intelligence, then much smarter than me I wonder if I can damage something if this is wrong.

[dix]

So, searches of Apple Discussions and advice from a trusted source confirms that swapping should work. I'ma give it a try.

[kgdrum]

Cool! Please let us know how it goes ;~)

[mikehalloran]

So, searches of Apple Discussions and advice from a trusted source confirms that swapping should work. I'ma give it a try.

Of course this works if the OS will boot both Macs (with one exception). My wife's iMac, for example requires 10.6.4 and mine requires 10.6.3 so a 10.6.2 or earlier drive will not work on either.

Probably the reason most think it won't is because PPC drives from a G5 will not boot an early Intel machine–even though OS 10.5.8 was common to both. Intel boot drives are formatted differently and, likewise, won't boot a PPC. They will appear if connected but won't boot.

De-activate any internet 'phone home' licenses (Finale, MasterWriter, Final Draft among others) before the swap or you may be talking to tech support when those files don't work on the new machine.

DP 8 will reauthorize over the internet, no problem (make sure you type your name, serial# and email exactly the way you registered); 7.24 will need the CD again. iLok is not an issue. Most apps and plugs that authorize first time only like Izotope don't have an issue either–you may have to verify again via their web site but that's no big deal.

[dix]

So, swapping the drive from the 2,1 to the 4,1 does seem to be working. However, the "new" Mac actually came with Mavericks installed, not SL as advertised! So I'm being advised by the aforemetioned trusted source to use Migration Assistant to move to the 4,1 with it's fresh install. Since I'll need to reauthorize most apps anyway I'm inclined to go that route.

[HCMarkus]

FYI, Post Count generally corresponds inversely to intelligence. Of course Shooshie and Frodo (and possibly MLC ) are the exceptions that prove this rule.

Have fun with those new Macs, boys!

[dix]

Minimum GPU for DP8 video seems to be ATI5770. 4,1's usually have a weaksauce GT120. Lots of GPU options because, starting with Lion, drivers started to be included for a number of NVidia cards.

Actually the GT120 seems just fine. It looks much better than the GeForce 8800 GTS on the 2,1 and seems as least as smooth on both monitors even with a movie in full screen.

...In fact I'm thinking of picking up another, for a third monitor, since they're so cheap. Would that be ill advised? I've only been running the "new" Mac for a day. Perhaps I've not yet experienced why I'd need a better graphics card.

[HCMarkus]

Minimum GPU for DP8 video seems to be ATI5770. 4,1's usually have a weaksauce GT120. Lots of GPU options because, starting with Lion, drivers started to be included for a number of NVidia cards.

Actually the GT120 seems just fine. It looks much better than the GeForce 8800 GTS on the 2,1 and seems as least as smooth on both monitors even with a movie in full screen.

...In fact I'm thinking of picking up another, for a third monitor, since they're so cheap. Would that be ill advised? I've only been running the "new" Mac for a day. Perhaps I've not yet experienced why I'd need a better graphics card.

Are you running (and do you need to run) movies within DP? As I recall, when MOTU migrated its video engine to the current model, those with cards that were less powerful than the (very common) ATI5770 reported trouble. This "old news" could be moot if MOTU improved the video engine since then. That said, especially if one doesn't care about a boot screen, there are many very powerful yet inexpensive current GPU options available to the Cheese Grater Owner these days, and 5770's are very available, flashed or factory-built Mac ready.

[dix]

Thanks. Yeah I went for the 5770. Only $20 more. Seems like a safer bet. Plus it looks like it runs 3 monitors, so I think I could sell the GT120.

[dix]

My new old Mac Pro seems to be pretty stable now, but before I sell off the old old Mac Pro, I'm wondering about a couple of things that don't seem quite right with the new 2009 MP.

- Boot time is much slower. On the newer 2009 2.23ghz 8-core with 16mb RAM w 10.9.5 compared to the old 2007 3ghz 8-core with 12mb RAM w 10.6.8. Like 2+ mins on the 2009 vs. 1 min on the 2007

- System operations are often slower. DP is snappier once projects are open on the 2009 MP, but launching DP and opening files is slower as are system operations like opening folders and System Prefs etc.

Does this seem weird? Am I seeing the the dif between 3ghz and 2.23ghz m'be? - even the though geekbench rating is higher/faster on the 2.23ghz machine. Does more RAM mean slower boot times?

Thanks!

[HCMarkus]

Not sure if you are comparing the computers or operating systems dix.

Get an SSD boot drive. Once your machine posts (which takes a few seconds, maybe 20, depending on how many drives & peripherals you have attached to your Mac) booting is almost instantaneous. Mine takes about 7 seconds from Apple Menu to desktop.

I (sort of) hate to come off like an SSD evangelist, but can't help myself. If you make any money with your Mac, it simply makes no sense to wait around for your hard drives.

SSD Theme Song: "You… you make me feel brand new…"

And if you want to know the relative speed of your new vs old machine in single-threaded tasks, look to that Geekbench metric. http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

[mikehalloran]

Get an SSD boot drive. Once your machine posts (which takes a few seconds, maybe 20, depending on how many drives & peripherals you have attached to your Mac) booting is almost instantaneous. Mine takes about 7 seconds from Apple Menu to desktop.

By comparison, my 2010 iMac can take as long as 15 seconds. This includes opening anywhere from 50-70 tabs in Chrome on two windows and connecting to as many different sites.

I used to boot and then get my breakfast while waiting for everything to come to life.

If you make any money with your Mac, it simply makes no sense to wait around for your hard drives.

Absolutely.

Now that great 1T SSDs can be had under $400...