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I recently bought a used Mac Pro which is a significant upgrade to my current Mac Pro. I'm trying to figure out the best way to make the transfer to the new machine. I'm considering a combination of (1) freshly reinstalling certain software, (2) using migration asst. for certain things, and (3) swapping internal hard drives where appropriate.

I've been having trouble with DP lately, with a number of editing functions not working. And when I tried upgrading Kontakt to the latest version, the install failed over and over again through multiple attempts and consultation with NI. This is why I want to approach the transition as carefully as possible and avoid transferring any corrupted material in the process.

A few questions:

1. In my current Mac, I have a separate hard drive for DP files and another drive for my sample library data. Can I simply put those drives into the new computer? I assume I'll have to freshly reinstall the actual programs (Kontakt, Play, Omnisphere, etc., etc.) themselves. Any thoughts, suggestions, or warnings about this?

2. What's the best way to deal with transferring software licenses, ILok licenses, etc?

3. Any other considerations and solutions I should know about?

Much appreciation for any helpful responses!

Thanks.

Richard

Are you still on hard drives or have you upgraded to SSDs?

You can try moving the drives over at first. Deauthorize any licenses that must be done over the internet except DP.

With 2T SSDs available under $600, the old PPC practice of separate drives for various functions no longer makes sense except for organization. Actually, it was SATA that did it with the G5 but old habits die hard.

Get a large 6T or so HHD for Time Machine and stick it in one of the bays. SSDs in the others.

mikehalloran wrote:You can try moving the drives over at first. Deauthorize any licenses that must be done over the internet except DP.

With 2T SSDs available under $600, the old PPC practice of separate drives for various functions no longer makes sense except for organization. Actually, it was SATA that did it with the G5 but old habits die hard.

Get a large 6T or so HHD for Time Machine and stick it in one of the bays. SSDs in the others.

Thanks for your reply, Mike. I currently use hard drives and I'm not sure I can afford SSD drives right now. (My equipment purchases this year are through the roof.) But just in case, would you have a recommendation for a 2T SSD? And are 2T SSDs compatible with a 2010 Mac Pro? I did a preliminary search online and didn't immediately find any.

In any case, my 2T sample hard drive is almost completely filled, so I may need either 2 drives just for samples, or a drive larger than 2T.

Thanks again.

Richard

The go to is the Samsung 850 EVO. Although Amazon has it for $625, its available under $600 if you shop around.
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch ... B010QD6W9I

For most Macs including the MAC Pro, you need an adapter/spacer. These work great.
https://www.amazon.com/Newer-Technology ... 2K922Y1R5R

If you do one SSD, make it your Boot/applications drive.

I moved from a 2006 Mac Pro to a 2012. I just pulled the drives out of the 2006 and put them in the 2012 upgraded the OS from 10.6.8 to 10.8.5. everything worked fine. The 2012 came with a 512 Apple SSD, I have spinners in the other 3 bays. I use 1 drive for OS and DP and record and do a Save As to the other ones.

You don't need a huge ssd to make life better. Start with a 250 or 500 gig 850 Evo for your boot drive. You can add more capacity in increments by adding drives as need and budget dictate.