mdsalemi
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Can I move an SSD Boot Drive from a Mac Pro 1,1 to a newer 5,1?

I have a MacPro 1,1 (2 x dual core Xeon, 3.0 GHZ) with 8GB RAM and updated with an ATI 5770 video card, driving a 27" Cinema display; I'm running OSX 10.7.5. There's an SSD boot/OS/App drive, and the data is on a secondary hard drive with backup to the data on an identical third drive. Because it's time to update (I've had this flawless machine for nearly 4 years but need one with 64-bit capability) I've arranged to buy a 2010 Mac Pro 5,1, also with a 5770 card. I don't need the hard drives that are in that "new" one. I would like to just swap the three drives I have in the old one, and put them in the new box. Will I encounter any problems?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Oct 6, 2014 8:10 AM

by The hatter,Solvedanswer
The hatter The hatter
Level 9 (60,935 points)
A:

You should be fine. I would be worried about carry any extra baggage in your system even now.

 

Grab etrecheck and see what it points to and brings up.

 

An old trick was to just run the full combo update again.

 

Setup Assistant / Migration Assistant make transferring a system easier, and CCC 4 is now Mavericks and requires 10.8.5+ There are changes in 10.10 Yosemite that affect CCC and other programs and need more testing.

 

As long as everything works now on Lion that means you are not using anything that required Rosetta so should be fine.

 

The 5,1 is not just 64-bit kernel support, it has much better PCIe support 2.1+ and supports more PCIe cards as well as booting an SSD - which you might want to play with when you can afford to, as well as more memory.

Posted on Oct 6, 2014 8:41 AM

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mdsalemi

Q: Can I move an SSD Boot Drive from a Mac Pro 1,1 to a newer 5,1?

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  • by The hatter,Helpful

    The hatter The hatter Oct 6, 2014 8:18 AM in response to mdsalemi
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Oct 6, 2014 8:18 AM in response to mdsalemi

    The drive sleds are a different length on the 5,1 so even if you have an Icy Dock for the SSD you need to change that.

     

    I would cover my bases and clone the SSD to a new test system, or do a clean install - I assume you will be downloading (and saving) the installer for a newer OS and not still using Lion.

     

    If you are going to stay with Lion for now, you could. But again, have your safety net! Carbon Copy Cloner was just updated to 4.0 and excellent tool.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Helpful

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Oct 6, 2014 8:31 AM in response to The hatter
    Level 9 (60,719 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 6, 2014 8:31 AM in response to The hatter

    There are two types of base Systems:

     

    a) "shipped in the box" with a specific model Mac. These will boot only that model, and software Update does not change that capability.

     

    b) "Full Retail" or "Purchased" (even for $0). These will boot any appropriate Mac, because they contain "Drivers for every appropriate Mac."

     

    Your 10.7 computer shipped with software much older, so I presume you purchased that 10.7, and would therefore expect it to boot any appropriate model Mac.

     

    "A Mac can generally boot software no OLDER than what it originally shipped with."

     

    This table shows the original shipping versions (some of which are custom builds) for these models:

     

    Mac Pro

    Date introduced

    Original Mac OS X included
    (see Tips 1 and 3)

    Later Mac OS X included
    (see Tip 1)

    Mac OS X Build(s)
    (see Tip 2)

    Mac Pro (Late 2013)Dec 201310.910.9.2, 10.9.413A4023, 13C64, 13E28
    Mac Pro (Mid 2012)Jun 201210.7.310.8, 10.8.311D2001, 12A269, 12D78
    Mac Pro (Mid 2010)Aug 201010.6.410.7, 10.7.2, 10.7.310F2521, 10F2554, 11A511a, 11C74, 11D2001
    Mac Pro with Mac OS X Server (Mid 2010)Aug 201010.6.410.7, 10.7.2, 10.7.3 (Server)10F2522, 11A511a, 11C74, 11D2001 (Server)
    Mac Pro (Early 2009)Mar 200910.5.610.69G3553, 10A432
    Mac Pro (Early 2008)

    Jan 2008

    10.5.1

    10.5.2, 10.5.4

    		9B2117, 9C2031, 9E25
    Mac Pro

    Aug 2006

    10.4.7

    10.4.8, 10.4.9, 10.4.10, 10.5

    		8K1079, 8N1430, 8N1250, 8K1124, 8P4037, 8R3032, 8R3041, 9A581, 9A3129

     

     

    Mac OS X versions (builds) for computers


    This table show that any build after 10.6.4 (custom) should work to boot a Mac Pro 5,1 2010.

    CAUTION: the last version shipped on a "Full Retail" DVD was 10.6.3, which will NOT boot that Mac directly.


    NB> If staying with 10.7, you should check whether you are running 64-bit kernel. If not, a terminal command and a re-Boot will fix that.

  • by mdsalemi,

    mdsalemi mdsalemi Oct 6, 2014 8:33 AM in response to The hatter
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 6, 2014 8:33 AM in response to The hatter

    OK, so the first thing I need to do is move all three drives to the different "sleds". That's easy.

    I plan on staying with 10.7.5 until the new box is up and running; I have some software not compatible with Mavericks.

    I'm trying to avoid doing a full clean install, since I have a lot of applications and that's kind of time consuming…yeah, looking for an easy way out.

    I have CCC and can clone the SSD boot drive to the drive that's on the new machine. I do have a Mavericks USB boot stick too, so when it is time to update I can w/o too much issue.

    My concern is that the OSX that is on the SSD now, might be missing some key components to take advantage of the new 5,1 box; but I don't know enough about the operating systems to make that determination.

  • by The hatter,Solvedanswer

    The hatter The hatter Oct 6, 2014 8:41 AM in response to mdsalemi
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Oct 6, 2014 8:41 AM in response to mdsalemi

    You should be fine. I would be worried about carry any extra baggage in your system even now.

     

    Grab etrecheck and see what it points to and brings up.

     

    An old trick was to just run the full combo update again.

     

    Setup Assistant / Migration Assistant make transferring a system easier, and CCC 4 is now Mavericks and requires 10.8.5+ There are changes in 10.10 Yosemite that affect CCC and other programs and need more testing.

     

    As long as everything works now on Lion that means you are not using anything that required Rosetta so should be fine.

     

    The 5,1 is not just 64-bit kernel support, it has much better PCIe support 2.1+ and supports more PCIe cards as well as booting an SSD - which you might want to play with when you can afford to, as well as more memory.

  • by mdsalemi,

    mdsalemi mdsalemi Oct 6, 2014 8:42 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 6, 2014 8:42 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Grant Bennet-Alder,

     

    Yes, the OS I have now was "purchased"; actually I bought the USB boot stick at the Apple Store. When I got the 1,1 box (used), I didn't even run it at all, I immediately installed the ATI 5770 so I could use a Cinema Display; I immediately installed the SSD and 2 x 1TB auxiliary data and backup drives. THEN when all this was in, did I boot and install the OS and then the applications. It has been updated several times, but I've held off on the Mavericks since some software I'm running won't work on that yet. Funny you mention the 64 bit kernel since the ostensible reason for update to the 5,1 box is to be able to run the 64 bit which the 1,1 cannot do. An update to one of my programs requires the 64 bit kernel and that was what pushed me to update the box!

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Oct 6, 2014 9:25 AM in response to mdsalemi
    Level 9 (60,719 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 6, 2014 9:25 AM in response to mdsalemi

    10.6 and 10.7 can run either 32-bit kernel or 64-bit kernel, and both versions are present on the Boot Drive. The proper version is selected by settings that can be set with a Terminal command if they are not correct.

  • by mdsalemi,

    mdsalemi mdsalemi Oct 7, 2014 9:39 AM in response to The hatter
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 7, 2014 9:39 AM in response to The hatter

    Update: after verifying that the new 5,1 box worked by itself (it had the original, older software from 2010 as believe it or not, this was an unused in the original box purchase) I moved all three drives from my 1,1 box over to the new. As noted, it required physically removing them from the old sleds and putting into the new ones which are longer. Placed all three drives in the new box, and all booted up just fine. There were a couple of software updates it wanted to do, including a firmware update, and those went w/o incident and only after I "forced" a "check for new software". It also recognized that the computer name/box was different so I had to "import" the backup disk to allow it to work here. Additionally, QuarkXpress and Adobe CS6 required validating product serial numbers; but MS Office did not. I suspect some other software I use on occasion might want re-validation as well. But for the most part it's all done, all working fine so far. Working on the new machine now… Thanks for all your help Grant and Hatter.

  • by The hatter,

    The hatter The hatter Oct 7, 2014 11:29 AM in response to mdsalemi
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Oct 7, 2014 11:29 AM in response to mdsalemi

    Congratulations on the NEW Apple Special!! had that happen once also.

     

    Hardware changes, and software tied to a particular machine...

    MS Office is one that gets flagged and there are some tips and pointers out there if need be.

  • by mdsalemi,

    mdsalemi mdsalemi Oct 8, 2014 4:55 AM in response to The hatter
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2014 4:55 AM in response to The hatter

    One minor curiosity: the Mac 1,1 booted from cold, to full-screen ready to roll in 35 seconds. This new Mac 5,1 is doing the same in 66 seconds. Remember it's the same OS, same set of disks and the boot disk is an SSD. Any idea why? There's more memory here (16GB as opposed to 8GB), and more processor cores (8 as opposed to 4) and an identical video card (ATI Radeon 5770, 1024 RAM) but since all the software-related startup processes are the same, I want to assume that the slower startup has to do with hardware? Are there memory checks or other things going on that I just don't know about?

  • by The hatter,

    The hatter The hatter Oct 8, 2014 6:32 AM in response to mdsalemi
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Oct 8, 2014 6:32 AM in response to mdsalemi

    PCIE cards, externals, Startup Disk setting, number of drives, SMC NVRAM too.

     

    Mine boots 10 seconds with 16GB 1,1

     

    Cold is not useful, after the bong.

     

    NVRAM and externals...

  • by mdsalemi,

    mdsalemi mdsalemi Oct 8, 2014 7:44 AM in response to The hatter
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2014 7:44 AM in response to The hatter

    Nothing of your reply made a lick of sense to me. You are on a vastly elevated knowledge plain than I am, I'm afraid...

    Software is the same, there are no external anything, no cards. The only difference here is the box (1,1 vs. 5,1); and the internal hardware that the new box has as noted in my previous post. It's set to boot to the SSD just like the old one. I don't know what SMC NVRAM is...

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Oct 8, 2014 9:20 AM in response to mdsalemi
    Level 9 (60,719 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 8, 2014 9:20 AM in response to mdsalemi

    35 seconds is fine. You do not have a serious problem. Don't worry, be happy.

  • by The hatter,

    The hatter The hatter Oct 8, 2014 9:36 AM in response to mdsalemi
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Oct 8, 2014 9:36 AM in response to mdsalemi

    Sometimes you need to go to Control Panel => Startup Disk and reselect the boot drive. Even take it off then reselect it.

     

    Yes it is "fine" but I never timed from cold, only after the chime.

     

    a PCIe SSD controller is popular and can add SATA III / 6G performance but also inc5rease the boot time - after chime - to 45 seconds.

     

    I don't know how to make it more simple than that, and in 8 yrs on Mac Pro assume a certain familiarity

  • by mdsalemi,

    mdsalemi mdsalemi Oct 8, 2014 9:47 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2014 9:47 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Hi Grant,

     

    It's not 35 seconds; it went from a consistent 35 seconds on the 1,1 box to 66 seconds on the 5,1 box with the same set of disks and same software. I don't think anything is wrong, just trying to understand why the change, when presumably the 5,1 hardware is faster…but I'll try Hatter's suggestion of removing and replacing the startup disk.

     

    Hatter,

     

    I don't have a PCIe controller card. Still have the 3G SSD running in the built in controller.

     

    Just trying to understand how it all works, and what's happening so in a few years I can be as smart as you guys!

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