FCP 6 and Mavericks

Question

Level 1

14 points

FCP 6 and Mavericks

I want to upgrade my OS to Mavericks so I can buy/install Logic which is awesome and has vastly outpaced my current DAW, Digital Performer over the years. I'm still using FCP 6. I can't upgrade to FCP 7 of course (would if I could) and FCP X won't work for me: I have years of work for real, paying clients that isn't backward compatible with FCP X. (not to mention the investment in 3rd party filters that haven't been re-written for X)

Bottom line: I want to buy more Apple software (Logic), but if FCP 6 won't work at the end of this odyssey, I will be really and truly scr***d. Apple, you're not making it easy on a fellow.

Anyway, does anyone have experience running FCP 6.0.6 under Mavericks? My son has Mavericks on his iMac and FCP 6 opens and seems to run fine on it. But that doesn't mean there aren't hidden problems.

Thx

27" iMac - 3.4 GHz i7, 16 GB RAM

current os 10.7.5

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7), 16 GB RAM

Posted on Nov 22, 2013 4:46 PM

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Answer 1

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Nov 25, 2013 8:11 AM in response to Rob Page

Two thoughts,

1. run projects on your son's machine and see how things go.

2. create a second partition on your boot drive for 10.9 and run a dual boot.

x

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Answer 2

Rob Page Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 25, 2013 9:49 AM in response to Studio X

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, my son's iMac won't run my clients' projects - low power, no 3rd party filters.

SInce my original post I discovered something totally crazy, while FCP 6 seems to run fine in Mavericks, the installer won't. It won't even run on my current machine! (The only reason I have FCP 6 on my current machine at all is cause I used Migration Assistant to begin with to move it from my old PowerPC machine - which I've since given away!) Bottom line: if my machine were to drop dead for some reason, despite my solid backup routine, I have no way to finish three jobs I'm in the middle of for actual flesh-and-blood paying clients as I couldn't reinstall FCP6.

I'm totally working without a net and I didn't even know it. Wow, Apple. Thanks.

Again, if I had the option to upgrade to FCP 7 I would but I don't. It looks like Yahoo Studios - a company I cut for 5 days a week - will be switching to Premier CS6 so I guess that's what I'll be doing now. I'm so bummed. After something like 15 years on FCP...

(Here's another bit of irony, Yahoo isn't in the hurry I am to make the switch cause Apple made a special arrangement with them to provide FCP 7. It's just a little guy like me trying to make a living that gets left in the cold. Fun stuff.)

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Answer 3

dcouzin

Level 1

14 points

Nov 25, 2013 10:34 AM in response to Rob Page

Follow Studio X's second suggestion. It solves your problem.

Since you are running FCP6, you must have a volume with its operating system which can boot the computer and make FCP6 happy. Use Disk Utility to clone that volume, either to your internal hard drive, if there's room, or to an external FireWire drive. The volume will be bootable in either case.

If you want to shrink this volume discard whatever is unnecessary for how you use FCP6. Now the volume contents will be less than 15 GB. You can use iDefrag to compact the contents to the beginning of the volume, and then use Disk Utility to shrink the volume. Alternately you can use Carbon Copy Cloner to re-clone the clone to a small volume.

Ideally you'll end up with two bootable volumes on your internal hard drive. One is what you have now, which you can upgrade to Mavericks or whatever. The other is a small one for running FCP6 in an operating system you're sure will work for it.

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Answer 4

Rob Page Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 25, 2013 7:59 PM in response to dcouzin

Thanks dcouzin, appreciate the reply. I'm aware I could create a separate partition. But that's an awful lot of hoops to make a loyal customer jump through. And what about other apps that I use while FCP is running? Email? Logic? Hugely inconvenient. Now I know what you're going to say, I shouldn't be running the apps simultaneously or it's not a big hardship to boot back into the other partition. But I shouldn't have to conform my workflow to make the app happy.

But the bigger issue is, I've figured out that FCP 6 will run on Mavericks - how reliably? not sure -but it will run. What won't run however is the installer on the installation DVD - it's PowerPC only. My larger concern is, if my computer dies or something goes wrong with the migration, I have no way to re-install the program.

I cut a short job in Premier CS6 yesterday. Wasn't too hard a curve.

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Answer 5

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,303 points

Nov 27, 2013 9:47 AM in response to Rob Page

It is commonly misinterpreted that the installer for FCP 6 (FCS2) is PPC, but it is not. It has a "bug" that brings up the "PowerPC" dialog box which contributes to this confusion.

Jeremy Johnstone has posted on his blog the actual reasons for this problem and some solutions on how to get around it.

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Answer 6

Rob Page Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 27, 2013 10:28 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

If the alert, when you double click on the installer, says it will only run on a PowerPC Mac, what am I misinterpreting? Maybe that's not really the problem, but if that's what the alert says, that's what the alert says. Pretty cut and dried.

Anyway, thanks. I'll google for Jeremy Johnstone's workaround.

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Answer 7

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,303 points

Nov 27, 2013 10:32 AM in response to Rob Page

Most people come here for updated information... Others: not so much!

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Answer 8

Rob Page Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 27, 2013 11:04 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

Oh come on, I'm not here to start a war. I absolutely appreciate the updated information. I just took issue with your choice of words. "Misinterpreted" implies that I misunderstood something. What in fact happened is Apple's alert "misinformed" me. There's a difference.

I found Jeremy's blog and instructions on how to use the terminal to work-around the installer issue. Appreciate the help. Thx

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Answer 9

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,303 points

Nov 27, 2013 11:29 AM in response to Rob Page

Sorry you responded that way: I purposely said that "It is commonly misinterpreted..." so that it would not be personal to you and to show you that many others have come to the same incorrect conclusion. I am just trying to keep the written record straight.

If your landlord paints your windows with "daybrite white" while you are sleeping and you wake up at 4am and think that the sun has arisen, your misinterpretation of the time of day is indeed the landlord's fault!

Glad you found Jeremy's Terminal solution. Another blogpost of his will detail what the "bug" is and explain why the installer triggers the PPC dialog alert.

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Answer 10

Rob Page Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 28, 2013 10:42 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

I haven't been able to get Jeremy's work-around to work for me. I'm an editor, not a tech person, know nothing about the terminal, don't want to know anything about the terminal. (that's why I got a Mac.) I copy/pasted his code directly into the terminal after launching it and got "-bash: $: command not found" ... whatever that means.

Clearly jeremy Johnstone is vastly more knowledgable about this stuff than I. And he's pretty dissapointed in Apple as well. (read the last paragraph)

Anyway, thanks for trying. I'm switching to Premier now.

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Answer 11

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,303 points

Nov 28, 2013 11:24 AM in response to Rob Page

Jeremy has indicated to me in correspondence that he has a much simpler solution using Text Edit, but I have been unable to get him to document that solution in more detail.

I am a tech person, not an editor, know nothing about editing, don't want to know anything about editing. That is why I watch and enjoy the results of editing professionals, such as yourself!

That all being said, I attempted to purchased a used copy of Final Cut Pro 6 (FSC2) on eBay for a reasonable price, so as to be able to recreate Jeremy's solution and document it here for the many of you who have enjoyed using this program in the past. The cost, $200, was just beyond my capacity for philantropy.

My requests here for a "loaner" copy have similarly fallen on deaf ears.

Good luck with Premiere.

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Answer 12

Rob Page Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 28, 2013 11:34 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

You did that? Actually bought a copy of FCP 6 to help out the community? Wow, that's so cool. Thanks for all your help.

Sad, all of this could have been avoided if Apple would just make an upgrade from 6 to 7 available to regular folks like me and not just the big corporate clients. (Like Yahoo, who I edit for.)

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Answer 13

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,303 points

Nov 28, 2013 12:47 PM in response to Rob Page

I am sorry you have misread my message; unlike my purchase of a demo copy of a Pearson Educational software CD-ROM from Amazon that I used to help those students who needed a way to run their copies on their Lion and Mt. Lion Macs, I am unable to afford $200 just for knowledge's sake...

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Answer 14

Rob Page Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 28, 2013 12:46 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

Ah, yes, I did misread your post (not misinterpreted ;-). Still, thanks for your help!

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Answer 15

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,303 points

Nov 28, 2013 12:47 PM in response to Rob Page

I still await someone who is motivated enough by this problem to loan me their copy of FCP 6 (FCS2), so that I might be able to recreate Jeremy's solution...

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