[Patrick Sheppard]

Which version of CCC are you using? If v4, then CCC will read but not write to APFS (if memory serves, double-check that info if needed). If v5, then you’re good to write to APFS.

I would backup to HFS+. I currently use APFS only on my boot drives, and that only because Apple requires it for boot drives on Mojave and later. If I had my preference, I would still be on HFS+ (as was the case when I was still running High Sierra). Not to say that APFS is unreliable, but HFS+ does have the advantage of being time-tested, tried, and proven.

I’m still using HFS+ on volumes that are for file storage only. Until I’m convinced that APFS is mature enough — and until Apple releases full APFS documentation so that third-party utility software companies can implement full functionality in their products for diagnosis and repair of APFS volumes — I will likely continue to use APFS only where I have to.

If you mean cloning a volume to another volume, then bootable clones are possible with both HFS+ and APFS. I’m a CCC user and the software does this very well in my experience. Bootable clones are very useful as backup boot drives. In my opinion this is a good practice, because it safeguards against potential boot drive issues that might otherwise cause downtime. In fact, I usually clone my boot drive to a dedicated boot backup volume and to a disk image prior to a major OS update (e.g. High Sierra to Mojave). After a major update, I also clone the newly updated boot drive to a separate disk image so that I have known good OS installs from both before and after the update. I tend to do these same backups about 2-3 times a year because of things that change on the boot drive over time (software updates etc.).

Cloning your boot drive won’t result in cutting your disk space in half unless you already happen to have 2TB full on your 4TB drive, in which case CCC would warn you about having enough space for the backup anyway. That said, another good idea would be to get a second external drive for dedicated system/data backup. And that dedicated backup drive should be kept offline except when needed, for backups or for getting up and running quickly in the event of an issue with the primary boot drive.

How do you intend to use the same drive for Mac and Windows projects? Will the external drive be physically connected to either computer at a given time? Or will the external drive only be connected physically to the Mac, for you to copy files from Windows to Mac over a network connection?

[Patrick Sheppard]

Darren,

Some specific information would be good.

What are your system specs?

Did you update to Mojave during the same time period as your Photoshop update, or was your computer already running Mojave?

Did you update any other software during the same time period as your update to Photoshop CC 2020?

Did you change any of your computer’s hardware during the same time period as your update to Photoshop CC 2020?

If your computer’s RAM is user-upgradeable, have you considered adding more RAM?

Is your boot drive an SSD or a conventional “platter” aka “spinning disk” hard drive?

[Patrick Sheppard]

Marc,

Just did a search for system requirements for Photoshop and Lightroom, and according to the links below it looks like your computer mostly meets the system requirements for both apps, with one exception that I see. For Lightroom it says that Nvidia GPUs should support DirectX 12, but the GPU in your computer supports 11.2. Not sure if or how that would affect Lighroom functionality.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/system-requirements.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/system-requirements.html

https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon%20E5-1603%20v3.html

https://www.pny.com/legacy/nvidia-quadro-k420-2gb

[Patrick Sheppard]

Adobe Creative Cloud gives you the option when updating to keep the current version installed, instead of uninstalling it. So as far as I know, it shouldn’t be necessary to maintain two separate computers or operating systems.

But if you want to be super-safe about it, you can of course do a full backup of your hard drive before updating Premiere Pro to v2020.

[Patrick Sheppard]

Between Mojave and Catalina, I’ve read that Mojave is a lot more stable. A lot of users have reported issues with Catalina. I had to deal with some of those issues recently with a friend’s computer.

But, Catalina is currently at version 10.15.4, so it’s likely to have two more updates before the next major OS release (that is, assuming past patterns hold true). It may be that those issues (or at least some of them) will be dealt with in 10.15.5 or 10.15.6.

Either way, if you decide to upgrade, FIRST be sure to do a full backup of your hard drive, so that if you run into any issues you can simply clone your backup back to the hard drive.

[Patrick Sheppard]

Terry,

Glad to hear you were able to move the 4M2 and see better performance! Nice thing about that card is that when you do step up to a new Mac, you’ll be able to take advantage of the high speed it was intended for since you’ll be on PCIe 3.0.

As for concerns about temperature, I suggest buying TG Pro by Tunabelly Software. It’s on sale for $10 right now (usually $20). It will allow you to manually adjust the fan speeds in your Mac to bring the temperatures down, and of course it monitors the temps and provides that info in real time. The developer issues regular updates as well. I’ve used this software myself for many years and highly recommend it.

Patrick

[Patrick Sheppard]

Terry,

To your note about the OWC drive — which I assume is the Accelsior 4M2 based on the 6,000 MB/s spec — there may be a few things going on there that are affecting the read/write speed.

First, your Mac Pro model uses PCIe 2.0, which is about half the speed of PCIe 3.0. The 4M2 is PCIe 3.0 and therefore achieves the advertised 6,000 MB/s speeds with PCIe 3.0, even though it is backwards compatible with PCIe 2.0.

Second, the 4M2 is an x8 (aka 8-lane) card, so even if you have it installed into one of your bottom two PCIe slots, which are x16 (aka 16-lane), you would only see a theoretical maximum speed of 4,000 MB/s (and in reality it would be less than that due to system overhead).

But based on your stated read/write speeds, it sounds like maybe you have the 4M2 installed into one of the top two PCIe slots? If so, that would explain the 1,300 MB/s speeds you reported. The top two PCIe slots are x4 (aka 4-lane), for which the theoretical top speed is 2,000 MB/s, and in reality is more like 1,500 MB/s — which is very close to the 1,300 MB/s that you’re seeing.

To sum up, it sounds like what’s happening is that the 4M2 card is being speed-crippled three times over:

— first, by the speed difference between PCIe 2.0 and 3.0;

— second, by the fact that the 4M2 card is only x8 and therefore would only get up to x8 speeds even when installed into one of the Mac Pro’s x16 slots; and

— third, if I’m right about the 4M2 actually being installed into one of the top two PCIe slots, then you’d only have an effective speed consistent with PCIe 2.0 x4.

If the third factor is true, then you should see a significant speed increase by moving the 4M2 card to one of the Mac Pro’s bottom two PCIe slots. Or if it is already installed into one of those slots, then there’s something else affecting the read/write speed.

[Patrick Sheppard]

You’re welcome! ☺ Yes, it can be challenging to keep up with the pace of technology changes these days. I happened to be researching along these lines because I’m planning to upgrade my legacy Mac Pro to Mojave, but I have to get a Metal-compatible GPU first and update the firmware.

[Patrick Sheppard]

[Andy Edwards] “back on track”

Pun intended? 🙂

[Patrick Sheppard]

Yay! 🙂