New Project-Drive causing problems

[dix]

Anyone have any idea why changing my main SSD project-drive would cause extremely long boot ups and other anomalies?

Since I find myself with several large active projects, I want to swap my main DP project drive, in a bay in my MP, from the current 500GB SSD to a 1TB SSD. I dragged everything to the new 1TB (plugged into a USB3 dock) and swapped the two. But when I did that the MP took forever to start and all the icons on my desktop were rearranged, when they eventually showed up. I've retreated back to the original SSD and everything is fine, but what's going on? I only have DP projects on that drive, why would swapping cause any problems?

Thanks!

[mikehalloran]

... I dragged everything to the new 1TB (plugged into a USB3 dock) and swapped the two. ...

That didn't work very well in System 6. It sure doesn't work now.

You can leave the 500G connected via USB when you do the following;

Assuming that the 500G drive is intact, reformat the 1T and then install the OS onto it. Now use Migration Assistant to bring everything over from the 500G. That will be faster than restoring from a Time Machine backup.

To reformat and install, hold down option-r on startup to boot into the repair partition. Once in, select Install the Mac OS. This will erase the drive, download the latest OS and reboot into Migration Assistant asking where you want to look for your apps, docs and system settings. If you get an install error, go to Disk Utility and reformat first.

If there is no repair partition, boot into (or hold down the option key to select) the 500G, reformat the 1T in Disk Utility, then install the OS. When done, Boot into the 1T and run Migration Assistant or Restore from Time Machine.

This will get you running with the performance you expect.

[dix]

Thanks Mike, but I'm only talking about transferring my DP project-drive (that only contains DP Projects) not my boot drive. ...you already schooled me on transferring my boot drive awhile back

[mikehalloran]

Thanks Mike, but I'm only talking about transferring my DP project-drive (that only contains DP Projects) not my boot drive. ...you already schooled me on transferring my boot drive awhile back

You did format the 1T drive first, right? If not, do so before anything else—after you copy any recent work done on the new drive into a folder on the old drive.

If the drive is formatted properly, trash your DP folder on the new drive and Empty. Zip your files on the old drive, then move them over and expand. If you have the room, you can zip your entire DP folder but if you did, why would you be moving to a larger drive?

The less room you have on the old drive, the longer it will take as you will have to do it in chunks. Remember to trash the zip archives on the old drive once you've copied them over and again on the new drive after you've expanded them.

The other way is to restore them from your Time Machine backup. Go into Time Machine, find the DP folder and 'restore' to the new drive. This will take some time but it works.

Work files from many applications must be done this way including Office. Unzipping files onto the new drive grants the privileges and permissions that your files need for your Mac to access and process them. Small files can be emailed—attachments are automatically zipped. Time Machine Restore and Migration Assistant accomplish the same thing.

Moving files via Dropbox, however, does not. My wife often receives Word docs into her Dropbox account from her students and occasionally they fail to zip them first. This has to be fixed before they can be read on her Mac.

[Michael Canavan]

Anyone have any idea why changing my main SSD project-drive would cause extremely long boot ups and other anomalies?

Since I find myself with several large active projects, I want to swap my main DP project drive, in a bay in my MP, from the current 500GB SSD to a 1TB SSD. I dragged everything to the new 1TB (plugged into a USB3 dock) and swapped the two. But when I did that the MP took forever to start and all the icons on my desktop were rearranged, when they eventually showed up. I've retreated back to the original SSD and everything is fine, but what's going on? I only have DP projects on that drive, why would swapping cause any problems?

Thanks!

What Mike said about formatting. Most blank SSDs are formatted out the box in Fat 32. Not a great choice for a fast SSD.

Almost sounds like overheating issues? You have the same computer I have.. I think the only possible danger to upgrading the CPUs is possible overheating issues. It's really trivial to solve, there are fan management utilities out there. I run mine almost twice as fast as normal, and it's not that noticeable, it's also possible to slow them down if you happen to be mic recording quiet parts. Everything Mike H said makes total sense if you're upgrading the boot drive, but I've never had the sorts of issues you describe just swapping out a drive unless the whole process got the computer hot.

[dix]

You did format the 1T drive first, right? If not, do so before anything else—after you copy any recent work done on the new drive into a folder on the old drive.

Well, I used the default in Disk Utility to format the drive just as I've done with all my drives. Is that the right way?

This got weirder. I just pulled out the sled with the old SSD project-drive, out of bay 1, and my MP doesn't boot at all. If I move it to bay 4 the MP started to boot but then did not. Is there something about bay numbers I don't know about? My boot drive is using the optical bay so I have all four open. Is there something special about bay 1? Is that where the Mac looks first for the OS. ...that might explain this...somehow...maybe.

[mikehalloran]

Without knowing the rest of your system, I'm making blind guesses.

How old is the CR2032 NV RAM battery?

The Mac needs to know where your boot drive is. Option-Boot to select the right drive and partition. Once you have booted into it, now re-select that drive in System Preferences and reboot. Otherwise, a Mac will have to go looking.

[dix]

How old is the CR2032 NV RAM battery?

Um, 2009? That''s how old my MP is. Anyway to test it, or should I just change it? ...doesn't look too hard to do.

[dix]

Well, changing the battery had no effect. The mystery continues:

My system will not boot without that specific 500GB SSD in a bay. If It's in Bay 1 my startup time is 50 seconds. If it's in any other bay my startup time is 1 minute and 50 seconds! If I swap it with another drive or just pull it and leave the bay empty my Mac Pro will not boot at all! I've actually moved everything off that 500GB drive onto the new 1TB SSD and trashed the contents of the 500GB. It's now just an empty volume that my system is somehow dependent on!

...It could be worse. Everything is working, but I might not want that drive one day! Any ideas?

[dix]

This is completely insane. My entire rig (and career!) remain completely beholden to this one, now empty, 500GB SSD being in Bay 1 of my MP. I've tried everything I can think of to be free of it. Today I tried removing the 500GB SSD and putting my boot drive, that was in the open optical bay, into Bay 1, but no go. Even with the 500GB SSD in the optical bay (and the boot drive in bay 1) the machine won't start. What the heck is going on?!

What next? Anyone?

[mikehalloran]

You clone drives, right?

[HCMarkus]

This is completely insane. My entire rig (and career!) remain completely beholden to this one, now empty, 500GB SSD being in Bay 1 of my MP. I've tried everything I can think of to be free of it. Today I tried removing the 500GB SSD and putting my boot drive, that was in the open optical bay, into Bay 1, but no go. Even with the 500GB SSD in the optical bay (and the boot drive in bay 1) the machine won't start. What the heck is going on?!

What next? Anyone?

I suggest you post over at MacRumors.com in the MacPro forum. Lots of really great people there with the general knowledge needed to overcome this obstacle.

As for me, I have no clue, but can suggest you try resetting NVRAM:

Shut down your Mac.
Press the power button, and as soon as you hear the startup chime, hold down Command-Option-P-R.
Keep holding down those keys until you hear a second startup chime.

and SMC Reset:

Desktop Macs: Disconnect the power cord (either from the Mac or from the AC outlet). Wait 15 seconds and plug it back in. Then wait another 5 seconds and turn the Mac back on.

[dix]

Yes, I tried the resets you mentioned. Thx!

MacRumors is probably a good idea. I was going to post on Apple Discussions next, but they can be unfocused.

Yet another mysterious thing occurred since yesterday that might shed light on this - though I can't see how! As an experiment I tried replacing the 500GB SSD in Bay 1 with a spinner of my cloned boot drive. It took almost 3 minutes, but my MP did boot. However, it booted into the cloned boot drive (in bay 1), not the SSD in the optical bay. In fact the boot SSD in the optical bay was not even seen by my system. ...not sure what this tells me, but there it is.

[HCMarkus]

Yes, I tried the resets you mentioned. Thx!

MacRumors is probably a good idea. I was going to post on Apple Discussions next, but they can be unfocused.

Yet another mysterious thing occurred since yesterday that might shed light on this - though I can't see how! As an experiment I tried replacing the 500GB SSD in Bay 1 with a spinner of my cloned boot drive. It took almost 3 minutes, but my MP did boot. However, it booted into the cloned boot drive (in bay 1), not the SSD in the optical bay. In fact the boot SSD in the optical bay was not even seen by my system. ...not sure what this tells me, but there it is.

Good luck sorting it all out!

[dix]

You clone drives, right?

Just my boot drive, for a redundant backup. ...are you suggesting I clone the (empty) mystery 500GB SSD and see if the clone allows the MP to boot? That's not a bad idea.