[Craig Alan]

Funny I have read a bunch of posts that the Mac refuses the installation of an older OS. Maybe from the Apple store, but I thought a clone might work.

So basically on an older Mac like my 2011, there is no good reason to upgrade (though some feel it sped things up significantly); but on the 2015 Mac, the latest OS will support the new hardware better. So unless there is a reason to downgrade, stay with the latest OS. It definitely has a brand new graphic card and I ordered it with an SD drive not in the old machine and the CPU is a different speed i7.

As far as using migration utility: I have always done clean installs. I thought the thinking behind clean is that you aren’t putting any old bugs or incompatible files or populating the new system with clutter files that are not needed.

I’ve just used the Apple store to download everything I’ve bought and then manually brought over apps that aren’t in the Apple store like CCC, disk warrior, MS OFFICE 2008, Handbreak, etc. Then I copy my documents file into the new documents folder. The only tricky part is stuff hidden in the system library like internet links and mail. But preferences, also hidden in the library, in most cases, eventually need rebuilding anyway. And even the apps might have new versions with bug fixes and or rewrites for the next OS.

Is migration utility more advanced now that it doesn’t install anything that will doesn’t work with the new system?

And I’m hoping that it will accept MS OFFICE 2008 which i have no need to update. MS has a habit of making older files not quite compatible with major up-grades. You don’t loose your content, but formatting can become a mess. It happened to me when they got rid of macros in 2008. It’s been years since I’ve used macros so I stopped caring. But kinda like FCP 3-7, it took me a while to learn it and it was painful to have it EOL. MS brought it back in 2011. But I stopped caring so I don’t know if its the same or compatible with the 2004 files. I think I needed to upgrade to 2008 when Yosemite came out.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

I just got a new iMac but haven’t set it up yet. Can I clone my current system to the new computer? I’m using 10.10.5. Not really looking forward to a learning curve of slightly different interface and features I don’t need.

OTOH some FCP X users claim the “faster” OS is indeed faster. Can’t say the 10.10.5 is bug free either. Also as a new machine it save me the trouble of having to reformat and doing a clean install. Though the recover my apps and email files and so forth would be the same pain.

Also usually Apple does not allow a computer to install an older OS. Though I have booted to one as an attached drive or even target disk mode as a drive.

Anyway what do you think?

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Interesting. Thanks.

I usually wait for renders to finish. And can easily wait till I’m ready to work again.

the long period of unattended use is usually backups and copying media cards. The imports once copied are fairly fast. They now sell thunderbolt and USB 3 card readers for p2 so that should speed that up. Cloning my raids however is my biggest concern. There you are using both copies of my media and would hate both copies to go down. Again, the ups should handle brief interruptions and according to Pegasus the newest firmware prevents corruptions due to a power failure. I also have been running on a now aging 2011 iMac. This was first gen thunderbolt and although undocumented I really think it had problems with some external drives forcing a reboot.

At home I just got a brand new iMac, interested to see if this solves anything though I tested the most problematic drives, mercury dual pros, on another resent iMac and it was still forcing a reboot. Will be sending these raids back to owc under warranty once I get the media off them.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

I have an isobar 6 outlet surge protector. Rated at 2350 Joules.
Life time insurance against surge damage including lightning.
Of course there is a lot of fine print connected to this insurance.

What you are saying is that it offers no protection against surges.

Is that correct?

So basically it just serves as a multi-outlet electrical strip.

Is there any harm in using it in order to easily unplug all connected devices so that I can easily shut down all if I’m leaving for any length of time and to run my test of the UPS? In other words using it as a multi-outlet.

So the actually best way to protect gear from a real surge is to have the electrical panel of the house or office properly grounded. Best done by a trustworthy electrician? I assume this has been done but could have it checked.

[wes thom] “Your ‘unplug the UPS’ test is quite useful and recommended.”

And what UPS would you recommend if any? Specifically for an iMac and several raids.

Other than testing it do you see any problems with the Cyberpower unit as shown above.

I do not buy things out of fear or emotion. Nor am I fully knowledgeable about the science behind most of the products that I use or buy. I chose the option on my new iMac for a AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory.
Do I know the science behind that graphic card giving better performance when using FCP X and other editing software? No. Do I trust that it will, given the recommendation from several professional editing sources including editors on this site? Yes.

It was pretty easy to find well informed recommendations about this graphic card option. UPS units? No. And again you seem, knowledgable, but it’s not like I read your post and understand it now. And it’s filled with emotional rhetoric along with some useful information. I wouldn’t be asking if I bought the sales pitch.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

[wes thom] “For example, many ‘know’ a pure sine wave is needed. Total bull. “

[wes thom] “And still so many want a pure sine wave only because emotion says it is necessary. “

What I have read, and I have no emotional need to buy one type or another, just want to get something that will help and be done with it, is that Active PFC power supplies play better with a pure sine wave power supply and iMacs use Active PFC power supplies.

Now you seem very knowledgable on the subject but so do the other dozen articles and opinions I’ve read on the subject. You’d think in the info age that there would be some objective and clear and consistent advice on a UPS that will work with a IMac and raid set up and what you get at a certain price point.

But I guess I’ll test the one I have from costco and see what happens when I pull the plug.

This would be easy to do if I plugged the UPS into a surge protector with an on off switch.

Which is another subject where opinion seems to differ. Some suggested that the surge protector would protect the UPS from going down from a surge and some manuals for the UPS say not to do it for what ever technical reason.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Yes that is my concern. You would think that if you used Apple’s shut down command in system preferences that it would be designed to proceed with the shut down.

I think the least risky way to test this is having word open with an unsaved document. See how it handles that.

I don’t usually loose any thing when the computer/system drive looses power or reboots from a crash. But connected raids is another matter.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

[Patrick Donegan] “” this would cover my needs with room to spare””

[Patrick Donegan] “That is so very subjective. “

Meaning that it’s watts rating will cover the devices I told him would be plugged into it.

It’s not a generator and it cost $100 (costco) or $140 (bh on sale) if i go for the one that provides Pure Sine Wave UPS. ? if that is needed?

What I need is: cover brown outs and provide power when needed with the feature to power down the computer.

My concern is not running on battery power for long renders or exports (though if money were no object that would be nice) but rather what happens if an app like FC is in the middle of an operation or some unfinished process. Will the Mac still power down if battery power has kicked in and the energy saver system preference is set to power down after x minutes?

Hopefully that system preference is smart enough to handle the shut down regardless of what any given app is doing.

I have been surprised how hard it has been to get clear advice on what to buy and how it works when it comes to UPS.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Hi thanks. I contacted Cyberpower and the guy was very helpful. We reviewed the power requirements and he felt this would cover my needs with room to spare. They have downloadable software that will shut down the Mac if needed and cover power during brown outs. The only thing he raised was whether Macs need Pure Sine Wave UPS.

I ordered one with this feature from BH but it’s backordered so I should have time to test this one and cancel if this one works. I read on some forum that a Mac would only need that if running on battery for a period of time and that it is not needed for a brown out or for shut down. Pegasus rep feels that their updated firmware covers the ability to not get corrupted under these circumstances.

What I plan to do is plug in just the mac with a small project playing an endless loop in FC. I’ll unplug the battery back up so it needs to have the battery kick in and see what gives. If that works I’ll try it with a raid running a test project.

You are right other than maybe audio components this sure is hard to figure. Every device seems vague in terms of power requirement specs.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

That would be a nice option and I know they should offer this but whether a given model works with the latest Mac OS, I’ll need to find out. But there are times power is lost for a second. Is there any harm in continuing? Or should you always reboot after a black or brown out?

And regardless of how long it will continue to power the Mac and raids, it needs to be able to supply power to all of them when power is lost … so my original question remains. If I added up the listed power consumption of each device, am I ok if they do not exceed the 810 watts?

If FC is open and doing a long render or ingesting a 64 gig media card, what will happen if power is lost and the UPS software is programmed to turn off the Mac – is that safe? Raids like to be ejected properly not be shut down in the middle of an operation.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Can I just add up the listed “power consumption” in watts and compare that to the 810 watts of output the battery back up claims it provides or is there more to it than that?

My guess is that if you have a long power outage the battery will run out. But it should be able to handle brown outs and short outages.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.