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a brody Author

Level 10

83,011 points

2012 versus 2010 Mac Pro

According to:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/by_capability/mac-specs-by-emc-number.html

The EMC# 2629 fits for both 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro servers. And according to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro

The Machine ID is 5,1 for both 2010 and 2012.

And even some of the CPUs are the same.

The one thing that is different is the model# such as:

MC560*/A MC250*/A MC561*/A

My question is, short of someone having the box that it shipped in, is there a way on the back panel to find the model#? Or does it appear on the system profiler? Or would someone need to submit to the https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do the support status of the serial number to obtain the model#? Cause I know with logicboard upgrades sometimes even the serial # is unknown. I see that the Mac Pro has the serial number and EMC# on the back panel in the indentation where the PCI ports have their panels. But I didn't see any evidence of the model # there on images I find on the net.

OS X Mountain Lion, * Links may give me compensation

Posted on Mar 14, 2013 7:31 AM

26 replies

Mar 14, 2013 12:39 PM in response to a brody

because of system specific drivers

Incorrect.

OSX installs the same drivers for EVERY machine (that is to say it installs all available drivers). Any MacOS installed on any Mac and updated with software update will work with every Mac that is capable of running that OS.

Using gray installation disks and not updating the install with Software Update is the only time that is not true. They are machine specific because they are released with driver support the retail version does not yet contain.

That is why the retail version of Snow Leopard (10.6.3) will not work on your 2010 Mac Pro and you have to install 10.6.5 as the base, 10.6.3 does not contain drivers for the 5770 or 5870 video cards.

That said, I said the prior method was "the EASIEST method" of doing it using a retail DVD, not the only method. If you have the 2010 gray Mac Pro installation disc, you can install directly from it.

Mar 14, 2013 12:43 PM in response to a brody

But if you take any other Mac that can boot and run 10.6.3, and

use a Full Retail 10.6.3 Install DVD, then

Software Update it to 10.6.8, ...

... that image can be cloned to your Mac Pro and will contain all Drivers.

a brody Author

Level 10

83,011 points

Mar 14, 2013 12:43 PM in response to OM617.952

Afraid you are mistaken:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2186

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2681

Which is why I say, unless you have actually tested it, and have not found any problems no matter what you try, I wouldn't jump to conclusions that it would work.

Mar 14, 2013 12:49 PM in response to OM617.952

I do not think that is exactly right.

The discs that ship in the box [or re-downloads] contain only Drivers for that specific model. Just Software-Updating that is not enough to get you all Drivers.

Think of it as Mac OS X theft-deterrent.

If you use a "Full Retail" DVD or download (not a reload) then you have paid for Mac OS X and you can spread it out to a handful of Macs you own -- all Drivers are included from the beginning and are updated as you do Software Updates.

Mar 14, 2013 1:27 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

But if you take any other Mac that can boot and run 10.6.3, and

use a Full Retail 10.6.3 Install DVD, then

Software Update it to 10.6.8, ...

... that image can be cloned to your Mac Pro and will contain all Drivers.

Thanks for repeating me.

Afraid you are mistaken

Thats why its called "unofficially supported". If all you want is to parrot Apple's documents, then you don't understand why forums exist. 😉

The discs that ship in the box [or re-downloads] contain only Drivers for that specific model. Just Software-Updating that is not enough to get you all Drivers.

That is false information.

The correct wording is "The discs that ship in the box contain additional Drivers for that specific model."

Installing the 10.6.8 combined update will add ALL drivers to EVERY system.

Think of it as Mac OS X theft-deterrent.

There is no such thing.

a brody Author

Level 10

83,011 points

Mar 14, 2013 1:38 PM in response to OM617.952

I am not parroting Apple's documents. I've attempted the wrong discs with a nice pretty kernel panic. So have others. Now unofficially supported might work, if you have tested a specific configuration, and none of the hardware has actually shown any signs of not being registered. But way too often we see people who Energy Saver lockups, kernel panics, etc...who might be facing the issue of an unofficial install gone bad. This is why I say it is especially important to document the exact steps you tried to ensure it works.

Mar 14, 2013 10:35 PM in response to a brody

"document the exact steps"?

What is there to document besides "Clone 10.6.8 to internal drive"?

a brody Author

Level 10

83,011 points

Mar 15, 2013 5:19 AM in response to OM617.952

Have you tested the bluetooth drivers? have you tested that Energy Saver doesn't create a non-wake from sleep condition? Have you tested the SPDIF ports give you 5:1 audio? Have you tested all the RAM is recognized? Have you tested that the profiler correctly registers all the hardware? Have you tested to make sure the hard drives spin down when they are supposed to with Energy Saver. I can think of a number of things that can go wrong when you are cloning from one system to another that are not of the same vintage. So you must document these are all tested with no ill side effects before saying it works.

Mar 15, 2013 12:37 PM in response to a brody

Yes, all those components you listed are exactly the same in the 2012 model as the 2010. The only thing that changed was the processor options.

brody, please go cause troll elsewhere.

a brody Author

Level 10

83,011 points

Mar 15, 2013 12:43 PM in response to OM617.952

How do you know they are exactly the same? Do you have both and have actually looked at their profiler reports?

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 15, 2013 12:58 PM in response to a brody

for goodness sake it works on our mac pro and for sake of what was done for a decade the combo update. system profile shows active loaded, folks gk from 2006 1, 1 to 4, 1 or 5, 1 w/o trouble.

more likely to have trouble with 10.7+ when upgrade is on top or over 10.6.8 and carrying around old pile of junk processes and extensions and such

2012 versus 2010 Mac Pro