Cloning A Boot Drive For Mac Pro

[strangepumpkin]

Hi all,
I've got a scenario that I want to double check. In my experience there should be no problem this. Here's the story (sorry for the length):

I bought a Mac Pro (late 2013) in December 2016 to replace my Mac Mini (Late 2012). When I received the new Mac Pro, I decided to install Sierra 10.12.1 instead of Yosemite 10.10.5 (which was running on my mac mini). Everything seemed fine after installing PT 12, and all third party plugins. But then I started getting random shutdowns, graphics lag, and general system instability.

First, I checked to make sure all my software was approved for Sierra 10.12.1, which it was. Then I tried reinstalling PT. Then I tried a new clean install of my entire system. Still no luck.

Then I thought maybe it's a hardware issue with my Mac Pro. So, I ran some tests but they were inconclusive. After speaking with Apple of several days, they asked me to bring it in and have their techs check it out. They kept it for a few days and then called saying it was in tip top shape. They believed it was a software install issue and recommended I do yet another clean installation. That brought us into February 2017 at which point I could no longer afford to be messing around with the system as my studio was getting busier. So, I did a barebones install with only the most crucial software installed. I should mention that I've tried every troubleshooting option that I could find including reducing all animation, app naps, wifi, bluetooth, all variations of connected peripherals.

I figured I'd deal with the lags and crashes until I could schedule some down time to try some other options. A few days ago, I tried cloning my mac pro OS drive and placing that clone in my MBP (late 2012), and I received the same problems as I did on the mac pro. So, that's ruled out hardware being the issue. Now everything pointed to Sierra or PT, however, I'm leaning towards Sierra as some of the issues occur outside of PT.

The latest thing I've tried is I put a blank SSD in my MBP and installed Yosemite 10.10.5, then proceeded to install, piece by piece, exactly what was installed on my mac pro running 10.12.1. The result, none of the issues I was experiencing on my mac pro were present on my MBP via Yosemite.

Now I know maybe people are running Sierra and PT without issue, but that hasn't been my experience.

The problem I'm facing is I do not have enough downtime in the foreseeable future to do a clean install of Yosemite on my Mac Pro. However, what I could do is install Yosemite on an external drive, and slowly install everything I need. Then, once finished, I could simply wipe my Mac Pro OS drive and clone the Yosemite drive to the Mac Pro OS drive.

This should work, right?

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by strangepumpkin

The problem I'm facing is I do not have enough downtime in the foreseeable future to do a clean install of Yosemite on my Mac Pro. However, what I could do is install Yosemite on an external drive, and slowly install everything I need. Then, once finished, I could simply wipe my Mac Pro OS drive and clone the Yosemite drive to the Mac Pro OS drive.

This should work, right?

I don't understand.
You have the time to do it on the macbookpro, but not on the mac pro?

Anyway, I think it very well might work. Or not.
I'm pretty certain the OSX installers do things slightly differently on different types of macs. F.ex different power savings on laptops versus desktops.
My guess is it'll work just fine, then with time you'll notice a quirk or two.

[strangepumpkin]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

I don't understand.
You have the time to do it on the macbookpro, but not on the mac pro?

With the MBP I can install everything over a period of days. Working on it when I have a few spare minutes, since the MBP isn't my main computer. This way I can keep working on my Mac Pro, and then once the Yosemite install is fully ready to go, and can take an hour or two and clone it over. Fewer consecutive hours of downtime vs. installing yosemite on the mac pro from scratch.

[Ben Jenssen]

Well, then I would suggest, install OS X on the external while it's connected to the mac pro, shouldn't take too much time, then do the rest with the macbookpro booted from the external drive.

[strangepumpkin]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

Well, then I would suggest, install OS X on the external while it's connected to the mac pro, shouldn't take too much time, then do the rest with the macbookpro booted from the external drive.

Ah yes! Good tip!

[TheMightyQuinn]

While I can't directly comment on any 3rd party software and / or utilities that you might try cloning along with any Apple OS, I support over 100 Macs of various flavors (Mac Pro, iMac, Macbook, Macbook Pro, etc.) in a Graphic Arts environment (Not Pro Tools), ages and configurations in my day job and use a single master OS clone to image these machines. So, as long as the hardware supports whatever OS you're trying to clone, you should be good to go when cloning an entire disk to another machine.

That aside, I'm running PT HDX 12.7.1 on a 5,1 Mac Pro running Sierra 10.12.2 without any deal breaker issues. (Lots of tracks including fairly heavy usage of VI's) Are you sure you're installing the latest and greatest of every software version you're installing?

[Darryl Ramm]

Just clone the MBP to a disk using Carbon Copy Clonerand boot that disk on your Mac Pro. Test it works.

You can also put your MBP in disk target mode, connect to the Mac Pro and clone from there to a spare partition on the Mac Pro.

[strangepumpkin]

Originally Posted by TheMightyQuinn

That aside, I'm running PT HDX 12.7.1 on a 5,1 Mac Pro running Sierra 10.12.2 without any deal breaker issues. (Lots of tracks including fairly heavy usage of VI's) Are you sure you're installing the latest and greatest of every software version you're installing?

Yeah, I've gone through every single piece of software and made sure it is the most current version. However, I'm not running 10.12.2 so I may try that before cloning the 10.10.5 installation I've been preparing.

[strangepumpkin]

A quick update: I have almost completed a complete copy of the third party software I'm using on Sierra, on a bootable Yosemite install.

I ran a test the other day and the lag issues are gone. I have yet to install my native instruments collection so we shall see.

Side Note: TheMightyQuinn when installing any third party software do you receive any delay after entering your password to authorize the installer? After I input my password and select continue there's a 2-3 second delay before the window closes. This behaviour doesn't happen on any of my other macs running Sierra, but I've noticed this on my Mac Pro with each clean install of Sierra. This delay is non-existent on the Yosemite install on the same computer.

[Tao Jones]

I'm very curious about this. I have a nMP on the latest Sierra/Pro Tools and I'm experiencing meter lag when I'm moving up and down tracks while the session is playing. Also dragging midi notes as the play head passes by will cause a considerable amount of lag to the midi note being moved. No lag when the midi note is being nudged.. only when dragged by the mouse AND when the play head is scrolling by. Once the play head is further away, the midi note moves freely as it should. I did a clean install of Sierra/Pro Tools last night and slowly introduced my plug-ins one by one. The first session on the fresh install was only one instrument track and dragging midi note was already lagging. I have a USB boot image of Yosemite from a MacBook Pro. I may have to try it out as well.