Q: Installing Final Cut Express on a new iMac

Yes, it would be nice if software and hardware were like solid walnut furniture that would last 100-200 years in steady use. The reality is computer stuff is more like paper towels - a totally disposable consumer experience.

Under OSX 10.9, your realistic options are Final Cut X or Premiere. FPX can be had for ~$200 from the Apple store (and operates very differently than FCE) or Premiere CC which is available in a subscription from Adobe  (and operates very much like FCE).

x

Do you still have the hard drive from the Mac that died and does it work?

Al

You can get an external drive dock like this one to boot from and run FCE and everything else on the old drive.

http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/411

You basically have a dual boot sytem.

Al

Hey Al -

Regarding dual-boot in this case, do you have any more info about booting a late model Mac (one that came with Mavericks pre-installed) off an external drive with Snow Leopard or Leopard on it?  If the external drive is Tiger or earlier I don't think it will work at all, and I haven't seen it done with 10.5 or 10.6 myself.

Here is the skinny on FCE 3.5 in Mavericks on your new iMac:

1)  FCE 3.5 is a Universal app that will run on Intel Macs; it is not PowerPC and does not require Rosetta.  See:

http://roaringapps.com/

2)  Similar to FCP 6, there is a "bug" in the installer app that generates the "PowerPC" dialog box and prevents its installation in Mavericks.  Use one of these two methods to install FCE 3.5:

A) Pacifist - http://www.charlessoft.com/

B) Use the Terminal method described by Jeremy Johnstone on his blog:

http://www.jeremyjohnstone.com/blog/2012-03-11-installing-final-cut-pro-studio-2 -0-on-mac-os-x-10-7-lion.html

G'day Martin,

Not exactly sure on versions of OS.

I ran a 2.5 drive from my older MBPro 3,1 2007 model and all worked OK through a late 2011 running OS 10.9.1.

I think I have some older drives to test out as well.

If I come up with anything interesting I'll post back.

Al

Here's the problem.

If your machine came with osx 10.9, you will not be able to boot into anything less than that.

x