mrnabo Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 Hi, I'm on Mavericks with my old Mac Pro at the moment but want to upgrade to Sierra. Is there anything I should be aware of before starting the process? My biggest concern is that I have a Firewire 800 Apogee Ensemble and I understand Sierra doesn't recognise FW anymore, but are there any other known issues I should know about as well? Obviously, I'll need to upgrade all my apps. The Mid-2010 also doesn't have a Thunderbolt port and only USB2, so thinking that as well as upgrading to Sierra, I should get something like this Caldigit card so that I have more options for attaching external drives etc. - seems like it adds a USB-C port so in theory I assume I could use OWC's new Thunderbolt 3 Hub to get more ports right? Either that, or sell the whole thing and buy a new machine! Being a composer is expensive... Thanks for any advice. MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplets Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 First of all, you CAN'T get Thunderbolt or Usb-c on an old Mac Pro computer. It has to be part of the motherboard. So that Caldigit card won't give you what you want. I use this Inateck card for USB 3 and it works great on my 2009 Mac pro: https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Ports-PCI-E-Express-Version/dp/B00I027GPC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502555827&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+3+pcie+card+mac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrnabo Posted August 12, 2017 Author Share Posted August 12, 2017 Thanks for getting back to me triplets - I had a chat with OWC earlier and they said the same thing, so frustrating as it seems like my Mac Pro is well into the 'useless' category when it comes to selling it. What do you tend to do with old machines like this? Use them as slaves until they conk out? Cheers for the tip on the card, that could be useful for giving the machine a bit more mileage for the next year or two at least! I stream samples for orchestral mock ups so wanted to get a Blackmagic with some SSD's to stream from, but obviously I can't use that on my old Mac Pro. Streaming from USB3 must be a big no-no right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplets Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 Streaming from USB3 must be a big no-no right? You mean stream video? I say that because you mentioned Blackmagic USB 3 is 5 Gbits a second theoretical, so that's about 60-70% real world. If you stream 4k video it won't work. But 720p for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrnabo Posted August 12, 2017 Author Share Posted August 12, 2017 No, I mean streaming samples - the Blackmagic I was referring to is the Thunderbolt SSD Multidock they offer which I planned to use with libraries like Albion, Symphobia etc. However, I'm wondering if USB3 can be used instead of that on my old non-thunderbolt Mac Pro... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplets Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 However, I'm wondering if USB3 can be used instead of that on my old non-thunderbolt Mac Pro... I think it's worth trying with a 30 bucks Pcie card Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrnabo Posted August 12, 2017 Author Share Posted August 12, 2017 Haha, yes, you're right I'll update this thread with my findings once I've set everything up in case it's of use to other reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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