Q: Is Mt. Lion (10.8) OS compatible with FCP 7 and other FCP Studio 3 apps?

Hi Syd,

How are you?

Well, I did upgrade to Mt. Lion with no problem to FCP 7 but now I'm facing the same issue again with Mavericks (10.9.1). May I ask did you upgrade your OS to Mavericks?

I want to learn FCP X but I need Mavericks to run it yet at the same time I don't want to lose the use of FCP 7 and other apps like DVDSP4, Motion, Compressor.

Applecare says that Mavericks is 64 bit program and they cannot guarantee that FCP 7, a 32 bit program, will run properly on it.

Any imput on this?

Thanks,

Phil

Thanks for getting back to me, Syd. I'm running a mid-2011 27 " iMac. Apple told me that Mt. Lion, unlike Mavericks, was not a true 64 bit program which is why FCP 7 is able run on it. Therefore, they won't guarantee me that FCP 7, 32 bits, will run on it. On the other hand, FCP X is 64 bits, so it's no problem with Mavericks.

So, if I understand you correctly, you are still working in FCP 7 on Mavericks without a problem. 

May I ask did you do a "software update" over Mt. Lion or did you wipe your drive clean and install Mavericks and reinstall all your old apps? That would be a lot of work.

Final question: are you doing much work with FCP X and, if so, liking it? I took a tutorial on the trial version last spring and have to admit I wasn't too crazy about it. As a long time FCP user since 2001, it seemed like a stiff learning curve. I would love to hear your thoughts.

In any case, thanks so much for your valuable input.

Best,

Phil

Well, you're giving me quite a bit of encouragement to take the Maverick plunge via "Software Update" on my iMac. I'm an "old dog", too but I will probably try the FCP X tutorial again since it's been updated:

http://www.rippletraining.com/categories/apple-pro-apps-tutorials/final-cut-pro- x-tutorials/apple-pro-video-series-final-cut-pro-x-third-edition.html

There's a new file handling feature in FCP X called "Libraries".

Or I may switch to Adobe Premiere. Every editor I know LOVES it. But in the meantime, I'll be a happy camper if I can keep FCP 7 alive on my Mavericks updated iMac for a while longer. BTW, I love the way FCP 7 gives me the ability to manage my files (organize and discard them as I choose).

Thanks so much again for all your input.

Best,

Phil

Hi Syd,

Not to drive you crazy but I just saw this posting on the Apple discussion page re: Mavericks upgrade:

"My WD 6TB My Book Studio II with RAID 1 reads empty in finder and any other program after updating to OS X Mavericks. When I updated my OS I made sure none of my external drives were connected in case anything went wrong I wouldn't lose 5 years of work. [b]After the update was complete and I plugged my WD drive back in and found nothing[/b] I contacted WD's Tech Support as well as an IT professional I used to work with. Neither were able to help. I contacted a number of data recovery specialists and recieved a number of quotes starting around $1200 and up. Imagine my surprise when I came across this post with so many other similar issues all seeming to stem from OS X Mavericks. At this point I am afraid to connect any of my other external drives for fear they may also lose all the information I have stored."

Is it possible that Mavericks could cause the external drive not to read its files? I've haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else. This concerns me because I have an external WD 6TB My Book Studio II drive.

I assume you never had this problem. Were your external drives connected to your HD when you performed the upgrade?

Best,

Phil

Hi Syd,

It's lucky I saw this posting. All my externals are WD.

Thanks for sending the Macrumors link.

Best,

Phil

Hi Syd,

I called Applecare and they confirmed that this has been a problem that has not yet been resolved.  They suggested backing up everything to a different make drive and testing on that.

What make external drives do you us?

Thanks,

Phil

Hi Syd,

Well, I updated the drivers for the WD drives that will supposedly prevent the loss and or inability to see the data.

But I want to be absolutely certain I'm safe before upgrading to Mavericks which is why I want to backup my files to a non-WD drive. 

Thanks for the info on what drives you're using. I need at least 3 TB to back up my stuff. I've heard G-Drives and Rocstor are great but at that size are a bit pricey for me. I'm looking at Seagate for a non-WD backup drive. I will also check the Iomega ones, too.

Thanks again for all your valuable input.

Best,

Phil

Hi Syd,

Just wanted to let you know that I finally completed the OS upgrade to Mavericks (10.9.1) on my iMac. Everything, including FCP 7, is running fine. As a precaution, I purchased a 4 TB G-Drive, partitioned it 5 ways, cloned my Mt. Lion OS to two partitions.  I updated one partition to Mavericks as a test and kept the other untouched as a safety. On the other three, I copied my media from my three WD drives. When I saw all was OK with my apps running, I updated my internal HD to Mavericks.

Next project, when I have the time, will be to re-take the Ripple Training tutorial on FCP X.

Thank you so much again for your input and support.

Best,

Phil