[Jim Bruce]

Thanks again Shane!

I’ve ordered new RAM and an SSD Drive for my old 2011 MBPro which I’ll have installed with 10.8

Also managed to find a late 2012 iMac (built for 10.8)) that I will pack with 32 Gb RAM (SSD install seems dodgy there). Fingers crossed that between the two of them I can get one more big project done with FCP 7 while enjoying modern Thunderbolt storage…

Much obliged for your guidance as I struggled to navigate this “upgrade”…

Jim

[Jim Bruce]

Hi Shane,

Many thanks for even more good advice. One more question if I could:

Called an Apple authorized tech place and if they install a new SSD for my MacBook Pro they’ve offered to load “any OS I’d like”…

So which OS would you most recommend for FCP 7?
10.8
10.9
10.10
Any of the specific versions within those?

I believe you said you’re occasionally operating FCP 7 with 10.9.5 on one of your systems – but mostly sticking to 10.6 for maximum happiness.

I need to have at least 10.8 for the Thunderbolt storage this whole process is aimed at utilizing.

I will be keeping my 2 old iMacs with 10.6 and the full studio setup for use with Compressor (my fave for converting Archival footage) and emergency situations. I never use Motion, Soundtrack Pro, or Color.

I will also be getting a refurb’d iMac 2011 with 10.9.5 installed and am wondering if there’s some wisdom in having 10.8 on the MBP so hopefully if I have FCP bugs they won’t be the same problems on both systems.

As always, much obliged for your advice…

Cheers,

Jim

[Jim Bruce]

Hi Tom,

I saw your post from several years back with the great trick for installing FCP 7 on iMacs running 10.9.4 – just curious how your experience using FCP 7 and other Final Cut Studio apps (particularly Compressor) has gone.

I’ve heard Compressor doesn’t work with 10.9 – also horror stories about audio sync issues.

Up to now I’ve stuck with old systems running FCP 7 and 10.6 which is a smooth combination.

Am considering a refurbished iMac that will enable me to upgrade to Thunderbolt Storage – the catch is the system would come with 10.9.5 installed so I’m wary of compatibility issues when installing and using with that OS.

Would love to hear your experience.

Thanks,

Jim

[Jim Bruce]

Thanks for the links to your MBP setup. The Thunderbolt Dock option looks like a cool way to manage the external monitor / TB Raid bottleneck.

Last question – for my 2nd system I found a link to buy a refurbished mid 2011 iMac (MC813LL/A) with SSD from a reputable seller but it comes with 10.9 installed – but when the computer came out (it still has USB 2.0) it was definitely either built for 10.7 or possibly even 10.6

Any thoughts or concerns re: the best path to downgrade to 10.8?

Buy the 10.7 install disks on EBay and then upgrade?

Is there a way to go from 10.9 to 10.8 on the App Store (10.8 is the first version where there were no disks)?

Thanks once again,

Jim

[Jim Bruce]

Thanks again for weighing in, Shane…

I haven’t purchased the new iMac I was considering yet – so trying to explore options that remain now that you’ve crushed my (misplaced) dreams of a new iMac running 10.8…

I do have a 2011 Macbook Pro with Thunderbolt – and I need to replace the hard drive anyway – so I could install an SSD and go that way though I do find the laptop with External monitor + keyboard more annoying to work with than just a simple Mac Pro or iMac.

But I’d love to have a 2nd system for helpers – which I guess relegates me to searching for 2012 iMacs of the refurbished kind.

Or rolling the dice on a new system with 10.10 or 10.11.

If all else fails and I have to go FW 800 on the old systems is there any large capacity (12-16 TB) single Firewire drive you’d recommend?

Not trusting those options was what drove me to the Caldigit T4 in the first place.

And daisy-chaining 4 or 5 TB firewire 800s seems like a recipe for unhappiness.

Thanks again for any and all advice.

Jim

[Jim Bruce]

Thanks for your reply, Shane.

The main reason I’m hoping to upgrade CPU is to take advantage of faster/larger capacity Thunderbolt Storage (CalDigit T4 – we will have prob 10 TB of footage when we’re in the can – so we’re beyond the simple 1 firewire drive scenario) and also like the idea of an SSD which should make my ProRes HQ timeline hum smoothly along.

I’ll still have the old systems standing by. Just trying to see what problems lurk before buying a new CPU.

Any thoughts on installing 10.8 on the new iMac to try to work around some of those compatibility issues? (Compressor would be the only bummer for me and I could run that on the old machines – graphics will be done in AE, color at a facility)

Or cloning my current iMac 10.6.4 hard drive and running that from the new SSD on the iMac?

Thanks again,

Jim

[Jim Bruce]

Hi Shane,

Thanks for your reply. It’s been a long day so I gave FCS Remover a shot seeing as how I didn’t have much to lose in trying.

After Remover and reinstall FCP opened just fine, so tentatively speaking it seems to have worked.

Will let you know if I have troubles down the road.

Thanks,

Jim

[Jim Bruce]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your help. For the life of me I couldn’t imagine how these files “became” 25 fps but now I know.

Much obliged.

Jim

[Jim Bruce]

I have “solved” my own mystery…

By changing my sequence preset and then exporting the m4a to AIFF using QT conversion and then importing, I can cut into my 23.98 sequence no problem…

But that doesn’t explain why your sequence preset matters when exporting from the browser window (it shouldn’t) or why compressor (which I did not open through FCP) converted files were having the same problem.

Haven’t gone into Compressor yet (I do want to set up an applet so I don’t have to touch buttons on future AIFF conversions) to test it out. I’ve blown enough time on this one already.

Will post when I do.

Any further enlightenment on the whys of all this very welcome.

Jim

[Jim Bruce]

Hi Clint,

Thanks for your response. Didn’t know about the option of combining or splitting BPAV folders in Clip Browser. Sounds interesting.

I have discovered upon a closer look that I have tons of duplicate names because I didn’t realize the camera would use repeat clip names (or maybe it was my replacement camera that caused this).

So I have started a new thread….

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/142/867336

Any advice you’d be willing to add would be great.

Thanks,

Jim