Final Cut Pro 7 compatibility and the Mac Lion OS 10.7 upgrade

[Rebecca Haimowitz]

The end of this thread perfectly summed up the issue I’m having – I wonder if anyone found a solution yet!

I currently use FCP6 and OS 10.6.8

I could stay with this operating system and be fine – BUT I have all these problems now with iCloud and my iCal is a mess. They can’t sync because I’m not on the newest operating system.

But if I upgrade my operating system, do I also have to upgrade to FCP 7? And if I do that- will I run into problems? I rely on FCP for a living, so I can’t risk having it not work with my operating system.

What to do?!?!?!

Any advice would be appreciated. I definitely will not upgrade either until I am sure things will run smoothly.

Thanks,
Rebecca

[Adam n. Greene]

Hi Rebecca,

First of all, you can never be 100% sure on an upgrade and how smooth it will be. When it leaves Apple and becomes a user machine it is unpredictable to a degree, due to everything from how often and hard you run the computer, to your web activity, to your third party software, to your hardware upgrades, etc. It does take a level of research just like you are doing to make an informed decision–research on other filmmakers doing similar processes with similar software on similar machines. Then there’s an ounce of good luck you need.

I don’t know how old your mac is (hardware), but you should really look hard at biting the bullet and getting at least up to FCP7 (if that’s even possible at this point; see my revised assessment below*). So many advantages over FCP6 it’s silly–if your computer will run it FCP7 is a fantastic upgrade. I too relied heavily on FCP7, and have many many projects in the FCP7 format. I have been increasingly getting used to using FCPX since it has come a long way since the initial release, and there are products you can use to convert 7 projects to X projects. FCPX is crawling out of the muck, but FCP7 will over time definitely drown, so part of your staying in business will be future-proofing yourself as much as possible.

Currently, I’m using a mac book pro that started out on Leopard and gradually got upgraded to Lion 10.7.4. I’m sitting on the latest update to 10.7.5 due to possible software glitches I could encounter, and am not looking to go to 10.8 mountain lion yet, also for 3rd party software reasons. Maybe nothing bad would happen, but I haven’t accepted the risk yet, for the same reasons you are describing.

If I were in your shoes, after exhausting sites like this and the googles, and speaking with the folks at Apple, I would make a decision to either commit to the upgrade (make at least 2 backups; I like doing 1 time machine and 2 cloned drives), or commit to buying something new. You can only hang on to the past so long before you are operating so slowly you can’t sustain your business compared to the updated competition. If you were told you could have a guaranteed way to upgrade without it destroying your FCP6/7 lifestyle, but it would cost around $1000, would you do it? That’s basically buying a MacBook Air or Mac Mini with monitor, using it to test all this stuff, all the while keeping your older machine non-upgraded/non-updated, and thus still fully functional for your FCP classic work.

*From a few minutes spent googling, it looks like you are going to spend between $1000-$1500 buying FCS3/FCP7, either upgrade or new. Reason is it is not being produced anymore, and that means it is worth more. For that money you could buy a new computer, FCPX, 7toX, Compressor 4 and Motion 5. Then you could try the FCP6 on the new machine, if you really want/need to still use a dying product.

Best of luck with it,
-Adam

-Apple Certified Trainer / Pro-

[Rebecca Haimowitz]

Hi Adam,

Thank you for the thorough response! My MacBook Pro is not very old. It’s a 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i7 with 4GB 1067 Mhz DDR3

So I really don’t think I should need to upgrade my computer – should I?

Also, I have a copy of FCP7 ready to use that a client lent me, so I don’t need to purchase it new.

I honestly would be fine just using FCP7 on OS 10.6.8 OR upgrading to a higher OS – whatever makes sense. I am just so fearful of messing up a system that is working well now.

I suppose I could resign myself to not using iCloud and never synching my iPhone calendar with my computer’s iCal – but it certainly is annoying.

What do you think is best?

Thank you!!!
Rebecca

[Al Bergstein]

Wondering what to do with my Mac Pro, which has 10.6.8 and Adobe CS 6 along with FCP 7. My gut feeling is that some sort of dual boot is an option. Buying a new drive, swapping out the “old” one and leaving it in limbo. The installing 10.7 or 8 on a new drive, This should work. Or backing up the old drive, doing a disk image and upgrading in place.

While I don’t need 10.7 or 8, there is functionality I’d like to take advantage of. And I don’t use FCP much anymore except when called upon to edit an older project. So it’s not worth it for me to spend the effort in accidentally killing a perfectly workable setup.

Al

[Michael Gissing]

Dual boot is a good idea and can be done by partioning your system drive. David Roth Weiss did a tutorial on this.

https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/FCP-10-MAC-Lion/1

It is never recommended to update an OS over the old one with FCP7.

[Al Bergstein]

Thanks. I’ll give it a try. And yes, the last thing I want to do is give myself more work on fixing computers…

Al

[Rebecca Haimowitz]

I’m still confused.

I want to upgrade my OS so I can take advantage of iCloud. I also want to upgrade to FCP 7.
What’s the best plan?

Thank you!

[Adam n. Greene]

Rebecca,

I don’t think anyone on the Cow wants to make a definitive recommendation in the remote chance it does cause a problem that upsets your business. All I can suggest further is much of what I said in my longer post to you, with maybe one additional comment.

What’s more important: your FCP7 projects and business, or iCloud / syncing? Obviously, your business.

If the no-syncing is so annoying it is disrupting your business, you have 3 options:
1. Buy a second system (most expensive, safest)
2. Backup your current system with time machine, cloned drive(s), or both, then upgrade (less expensive, good security and recourse to going back, time consuming)
3. Hold your breath, cross your fingers, and just upgrade (least expensive, least safe)

Based on your budget, time, and personal gut feeling, you need to make this decision. If you can’t decide between those options, you have to forego iCloud for the time being. At the very least you should get on FCP7, which you should be fine to upgrade to from FCP6 on your i7 machine; if you’re really worried make a backup of your system.

The harder truth here is that one day you will be forced to either keep up with Apple’s OS to stay current with its latest software perks and commit to FCPX, OR live in the past with FCP classic and no more upgrading your systems, as the upgrade will eventually break FCP6/7 (OS code will no longer support it). If you have so many projects in FCP classic that you know you will have to go back to, and if you are not converting them into other more updated projects and softwares, you are going to HAVE to have a second machine anyway — one you leave not upgraded. This is what we plan on in order to access older projects until we have a better option.

Good luck,
Adam

-Apple Certified Trainer / Pro-

[Rebecca Haimowitz]

THANK YOU, Adam.

This makes a lot of sense and I will probably just stay on the old OS for now until I’m able to get a second machine.

It’s frustrating, but at least I know what I’m dealing with!

[Eddie Adams]

I may be a little late in the game, but what exactly are the compatibility issues you are worried about? I’ve been using FCP 7 on 10.7 for over a year now with no issues… but should I be concerned?