Creating A New Boot Drive For Mac Pro Desktop

I have a Mac Pro 1,1 using Lion:
I would like to create a new and bigger boot drive but having not done this before I would appreciate any direction that would make this as painless as possible. I will continue to use Lion but am a little lost when it comes to doing this with the download process of Lion as well as transferring what has been created on the current HD in the MacPro. I have a new WD Black 2 TB SATA that I would like to use as the new boot drive. Again, thank you for the help.

Don't. Use. 2TB for system. Seriously.
Use that for data.
Get yourself a $89 Samsung 840 120GB instead along with Icy Dock $15. You will. Love it.
You don't need a large drive for the system. All you need to do is MOVE all the data and media files and every thing else, just leave the small 4GB /Users/myuseraccount/Library on the boot drive with the OS and apps. Everything else gets off loaded.
Leave your drive you ahve now as is for backup. Move data and clone the system.
Clone your system:
How to Clone a Volume
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy
See also Erasing a Drive, How and Why to Partition a Drive, RAID.
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone.html
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-partition-your-hard-drive-on-mac-os -x-snow-.html
http://pondini.org/OSX/DU.html
How to relocate system and user data to another drive:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4337http://chris.pirillo.com/how-to-move-the-home-folder-in-os-x-and-why/To successfully relocate your operating system, user accounts and data from one storage device to another, meet the following conditions:
The destination storage device (SSD drive or hard drive) you are migrating to should be physically located in the same computer. Moving operating system files from one computer to another computer using software not specifically designed for that computer can cause issues due to software, hardware, and firmware version mismatches.
Always back up your storage device with Time Machine or Disk Utility before you start.
Icy Dock $15
http://www.amazon.com/2-5-3-5-Ssd-sata-Convert/dp/B002Z2QDNE/
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 128GB
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE120BW/dp/B00E3 W15P0/
2x2GB FBDIMM DDR2 667MHz @ $25
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/

Similar Messages

SSD Boot Drive for Mac Pro

Apologies in advance, I’m really not great with this sort ofstuff.
Basically, what I would like to do is add an SSD to my MacPro and use that as my boot drive. Ihave a 1TB HDD which is currently doing everything but I’d like to use thispurely to store music, videos etc.
As well as booting to Lion, I’d also like to use the SSD torun Windows 7 with VMware Fusion – presume this doesn’t cause any problems?
The plan would be to have the system software andapplications on the SSD and everything else on the HDD. Only thing I’m not sure of is where the homedirectory should go?
Does this all sound like a realistic goal? Also, will this be an relatively straightforward process? Migration Assistant?
Thanks.

So in effect, lets just say your SSD drive fails. As you are currently setup, can you boot from your secondary drive to your backed up OSX, or do you have to have restore that backup image to a new hard drive?
My whole rational of keeping the home dir separate (disk) from the boot dir is that I can switch among any number of boot drives any time I want to. For example, as a hypothetical case*, I use 10.6.5, and I want to update to 10.6.6, 10.6.7, or 10.6.8, I just do it to my ssd. Now I can still boot from my 10.6.5 backup, say for the sake of comparison to some weird behavior I see on the update, without a blink of the eye. I'm still using my same (common) home dir because it is not involved with the update. If I want to go "back" I can restore the ssd from my 10.6.5 backup.
Of course I would actually do it the other way and boot and update from the backup leaving the ssd alone (don't want to write to it any more than I have to). Only if I was satisfied with the new OS on the backup would I then update my ssd.
The point of all this is keeping the home dir off the boot dir allows you to "flit", "jump", switch, whatever, to different OSs (or backups of the same OS) at will. Your home dir is none the wiser unless the OS dramatically changes or screws things up (so that's why this technique may or may not work across major OS revisions -- Snow Leopard to Lion for example, but its great with a single OS sequence).
While everyone always debates the pros and cons of keeping the home dir separate from the boot dir, what always seems to get lost or not mentioned is the benefit of being able to switch among the OSs when they are separate.
So all of this was a long way of answering your question -- no you don't have to backup to the original boot drive before using it. Just boot from the backup. Your home dir couldn't care less.
* For me going to 10.6.6, .7., .8 is hypothetical since I use 10.6.5 and have no current plans of updating beyond that (can you say "app store"? -- don't want it my machine -- and I won't debate any comments on this -- its my personal decision. And besides this is off topic.).

Ss d boot drive for Mac pro

which graphics adapter for MacPro 1.1 running cs6

SSD? any.
video card: your sig says "10.4.7" but that would mean it was never upgraded since Sept 2006.
Lion 10.7.3+ you have more 3rd party GTX options, otherwise 10.6.8 and Apple has ATI 5770 (5870 also @ $449)

Can I create an external boot drive for an updated Mac OS Maverick system?

I'm currently running Mac OS Snow Leopard (10.6.8) on my 24" iMac and would like to clone my current drive to an external drive & then update that external drive to Mac OS Maverick. First, can this be done to create an external Boot drive for my iMac System? Secondly, can I then select the internal system (OS 10.6.8) or the external drive Maverick OS system at boot time?

Probably will depend on just what your machine is - i.e. how current and fast is the internal hardware.
Generally though, the performance booting off a firewire 800 should be fine for most things with little if any system lag. My late-2008 MBP ( 2.53Ghz core-2 duo, 8GB RAM) runs quite well when booted from a firewire 800 drive (7200rpm - even my 5400rpm portable clone is perfectly useable).
Just remember if using the external for a long or serious work session, if the power goes out, that external is not going to be powered off battery (I keep my full size external drives plugged into a UPS because of that).

Upgrade boot drive in MAC PRO Early 2008 to SSD

Looking to upgrade my boot drive on Mac Pro Early 2008.
Possibly with SSD, but wasnt sure of compatibility. Also, is it a huge sacrafice in storage?
I'd appreciate any assistance.
Thank you!!!
Lyle

Establish a Boot Drive on the fast SSD, and move all User files off to other drives. These articles may help:
Japamac's Blog: Make space for performance -- Moving the Home Folder
http://chris.pirillo.com/how-to-move-the-home-folder-in-os-x-and-why/
OSX Tips: Setting-up a new Mac from an old one or its Backups
Transferring Home Folders not on a Startup volume
be sure to heed Pondini's warning:
If you do put home folders on a separate volume, it's strongly recommended that an Admin account and its home folder remain on the Startup volume. If there isn't one, and you have a problem with the separate home folder volume, you cannot log on to your Mac! And in some cases it will greatly complicatetransferring to a new Mac.
So if you're transferring from an available Mac that doesn't have an Admin account on its Startup volume, create one via System Preferences > Accounts before starting.
I have created a new User Tip with this information in it:
User Tip: Creating a lean, fast Boot Drive

Any recommendations for a new Graphics card for Mac Pro?

Any recommendations for a new Graphics card for mac pro edit in Premiere 2014 and I need to have output to a monitor my current graphics card is ATI Radeon HD Graphics 5870 1024 MB I find better for what I need?

Look at this EVGA card for the Mac

Purchasing a new Boot drive for Power PC Mac dual G5 2.7 GHz ( early 2005)

As I’ve mentioned I have Power MAC Dual G5 2,7 GHz( early 2005)
I’m doing “ erase and install” on my boot drive Caviar and starting from the scratch - Basically doing whole new setup with my music apps,sample libraries and back up.
To describe it little better - My plan is to move Caviar to second slot ( mostly will be used for I-tunes,documents,photos and maybe some back up) and purchase new boot drive.
All my audio and music samples I’m running from 4 bay ( sata ) exterior hot swap enclosure with Lycom card so my boot drive will be clearly for OS X and applications.
Now - I’ve gone through a big research and even though I have not really make up my mind about my purchase - here is what I’ve found out so far.
As a boot drive I’ve been considering following ( I’m adding my comments as well)
1) My first pick was Hitachi T7K500 320GB SATA II HD 16MB Cache -
seemed to me like a very good choice for a boot drive since it has a great random access .But after reading review in “ AMUG reviews “ Using a Hitachi T7K500 320GB with a Mac Pro I was not that sure .Apparently They don’t recommend Hitachi T7K500 for internal Mac Pro usage since it is slower without using SATA host adapter. But that is Mac Pro - I have Dual processor so it might be different?
Second choice was
2) Maxtor MaXLine III 500GB or Maxtor MaXLine Pro 500 GB
here I’m not sure -some guys don’t really recommend this brand but in bunch of online reviews I’ve read it was mentioned as a very good choice for a boot drive .
I’ve been told that this drive is too noisy and too cheap which I think is not a bad thing though.
And finally
3) Raptor 74 GB or 150 GB
Everyone knows those drives are fast
Downside is that size is not very big ( just my OS X will be around 50 GB)
plus 150 Gig won’t work natively on my G5 without host card which would be another extra expense .
Maybe one more thing to add - I have not consider neither seagate drives (since random access speed is not that great) nor pairing any of those previously mentioned drives into raid 0 configuration .
So basically that is my selection.I’m trying to pick up drive which would work natively without PCI - X card and would be reliable and fast.( Only if I would have no choice - Than I would probably buy a host card )
Also I’m not sure whether for example in the case of hitachi ( or even other brands ) would be smarter to go with bigger size - maybe 400 or 500 GB for a boot since all drives getting slower as they get filled up.
I would really appreciate if anyone can give me a feedback as far as what drive would be the best choice in my case.
Thank you very much for your time
Milan

OK - I'll try that one more time - second choice is Maxtor Maxline III 500 GB or maxtor maxline Pro 500 GB.

Hard Drive for Mac Pro Questions

Hi, I have 2, 600GB hard drives (Approximately) in my Mac Pro. 1 is for Windows Vista, the other is for Leopard. I'm running low on storage space on the Mac Side. I customized my Mac Pro when I bought it off the Apple Site.
I would like to add another hard drive to my Mac so I have more storage space, 600 GB would be a good size. Would this Hard Drive work? http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB983ZM/A.
I've never installed a hard drive in a computer before. Is it safe to do? is it difficult? My only fear is somehow messing up my mac.
I would like the new hard drive to only be used on my Mac Side running Leopard (not Windows Vista). how would I do this?
Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Thanks guys. I have a couple more questions, I'll be purchasing a 1TB Hard Drive. Why are the hard drives much more expensive from the Apple Store than from Amazon? Is it safer to pay more money and buy the hard drive from the Apple Store than from Amazon?
After I install the Hard Drive will I see a New Hard Drive Icon on my Desktop?
How do I tell the computer that the new Hard drive will be used only on the mac side and not the Windows side?
When I go into Disk Utility to format how will I know which is the new hard drive? I don't want to accidentally format my current hard drive will all my data on it.
How will I store data on the new hard drive?
Any info is greatly appreciated.

How to access hard drive on mac pro desktop from laptop?

I sold my Mac monitor and wireless keyboard. Now I want to sell my Mac Pro Desktop, but I need to wipe the hard drive first. How can I turn it on and access the drive from my Mac laptop?

It will show up as a drive, you can just access the drives on the desktop provided you turned on disk sharing. You can't access the "desktop".. If you had previously turned on screen sharing then you could use that via network connection.
If you can find the file that has preferences and then edit it then you can change to startup in Target disk mode. I do not know the file or how to edit it.
GSC818 wrote:
If I can start it from the button, then can't I connect to my laptop via firewire or Ethernet and would it show up as an external drive? Then I could change the startup disk in the preferences panel on my laptop. Would that work?

Table for Mac Pro Desktop

Hi, I am looking for a table for my Mac Pro Desktop only. Preferably with casters to keep it off the floor. I have a desk that I like and would like to free up some space and put the computer on its own table. I have checked one site, Anthro. They have a carrier with casters but it is 20 inches wide, too wide for me. The Mac Pro is only 9 inches wide. Any help would be appreciated.
John

What you want to look for is a CPU stand.
http://www.amazon.com/Cyberguys-Exclusives-Grip-Stand-System/dp/B000BSJCGY/ref=p dbxgy_e_imgb

Procedure for SSD boot drive in Mac Pro?

I just purchased a 115GB SSD that I want to use as the boot drive in my Mac Pro running OS 10.6.8. I've read several articles about how to set this up but none seem to be working for me. On the SSD boot drive I want only the essentials: OS, Home Folder, Apps. Everything else (docs, downloads, music, photos, movies, etc.) needs to go on my 1TB storage HD. The problem I'm having using Carbon Cloner and Super Duper to copy the OS, HF and apps to the SSD is they're copying too much data, filling up the SSD with non-essentials (there should only be about 90GB of data being copied but much more seems to be transferred). I can't seem to lean-down what's being moved. Would doing a new install with the Snow Leopard DVD and then copying over only the essential files/folders with Migration Assistant be better, more specific?
Has anyone perfected this procedure, and can give me step-by-step instructions? All help is greatly appreciated!

There are dozens and dozens of threads, MPG, MacRumors and elsewhere.
don't move anything from "home" except the bare essential ~/Library (1GB at most) with CCC and deelect everything else. That should get you down to size.
Before you bought I hope you asdded up the /applications and good estimate. most users can get an OS/apps into 60GB or less (the max I would want to see on SSD you have) FCP and some others or if you hae a lot of large apps - some allow for installing in alternate locations as well as into system/library.
Some - there are always some - have had trouble cloning. Some had trouble with installing, too. Can't win for losing at every turn sometimes.
Been there, but look again at MPG series.
How To Clone a Volume
How to upgrade your system/boot drive
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy

Best way to transfer everything on new hard drive for mac book pro

Hi have a mid-2009 macbook pro with 4 GB ram and 250 GB hard drive, which is full now. I just bought 8 GB RAM to speed it up and a new 1 TB hard drive. I am running latest Lion (that I downloaded from mac app store - I have the original install DVD for Snow leopard). What would be the best and cleanest way to transfer everything (OSX, applications, data, files, user preferences, passwords, etc from the old hard drive to the new one)^
1- I heard I can hook the new hard drive via USB and do a clean install of my Snow leopard DVD, then update to Lion via mac app store. Then how do I transfer everything else?
2- I also heard about carbon copy cloner, but somewhere it says there is a file in Lion that this will not copy.
Anybody have any helpfull answers?
thanks
Naniners

My suggestion would be to use Migration Assistant. This program you have in your Utilities folder and once you hook up your old Hard Drive to the new computer via USB or Target Disk mode, it will pretty much direct you on how to do the whole process. If you have any other questions, let me know.
Migration Assistant steps for 10.6xxx
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4413
Migration Assistant steps for 10.7xxx
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889
I've done this many times and it works very well.

Creating external ssd boot drive on mac mini late 2012

I just bought mac mini (i7) late 2012 and have ordered Lacie rugged 120GB ssd. I would like to create the new ssd as a boot disk. I have already installed quite a few applications on hard drive. What should I do in order to create the external boot disk? I have for instance Adobe Photpshop, Adobe Premiere Elements and o course Apple's video and photo editing software. Should I also transfer the applications (and which) to the new SSD and how should I do it in order to keep activations etc. Detailed instructions are wished, because I am newbie with Mac,

I am not clear why you want to do this, because it sounds to me like you want to make the new drive a complete duplicate of the internal drive. I do not see the point of this. If it is for security reasons, you need only an inexpensive external drive to serve as a Time Machine backup.
However, if that is indeed what you want to do, all you need is a program like Carbon Copy Cloner. Use it to make a copy of the internal drive on the external. CCC will make it bootable.
As far as Adobe activations are concerned, your copies on the same computer will retain their activated status.
Detailed instructions:
1. download CCC
2. connect the external
3. run CCC to duplicate the internal to the external.

New hard drive in Mac Pro showing 0 bytes after partitioning

I bought a Western Digital Caviar 2TB internal hard drive for my Mac Pro (2 x 2.66 GHz Dual Core Intel Xeon (late 2006), 12GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6.8). It already has two 500GB internal drives in two of the four slots.
I slotted the new WD hard drive in and started up the Mac, getting an alert saying there was an unrecognisable disk and did I want to initialise it? Yes, so it opened up Disk Utility.
This showed my two 500GB drives plus the new WD drive at 2TB. To initialise it I erased the disk which failed with an error ("POSIX reports: The operation
couldn't be completed. Input/output error").
I next decided to use Partition instead, choosing just one partition of 2TB, Mac OS Extended (Journaled). After 7 minutes it said the process had been completed and the volume was mounted, though it didn't appear on my desktop, just in Disk Utility. I thought a restart would refresh and show it on the desktop.
Once the Mac was up and running again there was nothing there at all - and now it wasn't even listed in Disk Utility. I shut down, took the hard drive out,
looked at it, scratched my head, replaced it, and turned the Mac back on.
Once again I got an alert telling me the disk was uninitialised and would I like to format it, so clicked OK and Disk Utility opened. This time the disk was
there (WDC WD20EZRX-00DC0B0) but no volume. The info said the drive had a size of 0 Bytes and I could not erase or partition as all buttons were greyed out,
with the Partition tab saying 'this disk is too small to contain partitions'.
So what can I do now? According to macupgrades.co.uk this drive should work in my model of Mac (they recommend and sell it, though I purchased it from NORDPC via Amazon as it was a little cheaper).
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/product_info.php?products_id=532
I tried, with the help of my more computer-literate brother, to erase the disk from the command line via the Terminal, getting a result of "Error: 6: POSIX
reports: Device not configured". (Actually we first tried to reformat it, with an error of "does not appear to have a valid file system format").
Does anyone with more knowledge of such things have any ideas or advice? It would be much appreciated.

Unless the drive and sled are not inserted properly - unlikely - or that other drives don't work in that slot - watch out if true, unlikely but loose SATA cable - it IS a bad drive.
If you don't have a PC, setup Windows VM and use WD Lifeguard which is excellent and tests for things like bad SATA cable communicating.
You could also - I always use Partition tab btw - go in there and set it to exFAT and Windows Master Boot Record. All you want is a good drive. This one is not.
GUID tests first and last 10,000 sectors or more to insure that the partition tables and hidden areas work (they are not it is failing). Use to be that a "backup volume information block" was treated as optional if any sectors failed, now it is not.

Cant install mountain lion on a new hard drive 2011 mac pro 17"

for some reason I bought the infamous 2011 mac pro, and the hard drive kept having IN/OUT problems and after it destroyed half day of work, I decided to get a new hard drive, *blue WD 500g" but i have tried EVERYTHING and i just cant install mountain lion on it.
1.- i tried forcing the recovery mode so It would connect to the internet and download mountain lion but after 10 min or so i trows the -2002f error at me
2.- I tried to use the old hard drive that i put on a external hard drive reader so I could get the recovery partition but i just keep restarting the installation no reason given
3.- downloaded the mountain lion and tried to installing it on the system hard drive of the laptop trough a computer running snow leopard but dosn't let me.
4.- tried the same thing on target mode without success
5.- using the recovery partition I used disk utility to se of the partition was locked but it was not
6.- created a different partition to see if it would install it there didn't work.
i just don't understand why
any toughs?
if you answer this you would be a personal hero of mine
cheers

Make Your Own Mavericks, Mountain/Lion Installer
After downloading the installer you must first save the Install Mac OS X application. After the installer downloads DO NOT click on the Install button. Go to your Applications folder and make a copy of the installer. Move the copy into your Downloads folder. Now you can click on the Install button. You must do this because the installer deletes itself automatically when it finishes installing.
   2. Get a USB flash drive that is at least 8 GBs. Prep this flash drive as follows:
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
After DU loads select your flash drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the leftside list. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list.
Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to an hour depending upon the flash drive size.
Use DiskMaker X to put your installer clone onto the USB flash drive.
Make your own Mavericks flash drive installer using the Mavericks tool:
You can also create a Mavericks flash drive installer via the Terminal. Mavericks has its own built-in installer maker you use via the Terminal:
You will need a freshly partitioned and formatted USB flash drive with at least 8GBs. Leave the name of the flash drive at the system default, "Untitled." Do not change this name. Open the Terminal in the Utilities folder. Copy this entire command line after the prompt in the Terminal's window:
     sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume
     /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction
Press RETURN. Enter your admin password when prompted. It will not be echoed to the screen so be careful to enter it correctly. Press RETURN, again.
Wait for the process to complete which will take quite some time.

Creating A New Boot Drive For Mac Pro Desktop

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for