migration from 9600 to G4

[dss]

i have the opportunity to score a new generation G4 867 at a great price.

after reading up on the compatabilityy pages it would seem that this move is a bit too hasty.

i have a number of questions:

1. does anyone actually use a PT TDM system on a new generation G4 without issues?

1A. does anyone use a PT TDM system on a new generation G4 WITH issues?

2. looking into the HBA SCSI controllers i found that my adaptec 2940UW is not compatible with new G4 systems.

only recommended card i see is the ATTO card. this is the new scheme of hard drives. i have three Seagate Cheetas. they are 50 pin and 10,000 RPM. i have no real wish to replace them.

will the ATTO card support them (i suspect no) so what other cards do folks use successfully on a G4?

3. apart from that, there seems to only be the question of OMS compatability and what floppy disk drive to buy?

any insight or assistance would mean a lot to me.

thanks.

dss

[rtcstudio]

Dss,

I've used ProTools on a G4/733 for around 5 months now with no problems. I migrated from a 9600/G3 (NewerTech upgrade).

I too had to get an ATTO card. You won't have to change your drives, the Atto card works fine with my existing Rorke and Glyph Ultra SCSI removeable drives. You may have to change the cables, my Adaptec cables would not fit the Atto card. All my drives are Seagate Cheetas, 50 pin, 10,000 RPM in the removeable trays.

Use Mac OS 9.1 or 9.2. If OS X is on your new computer, get rid of it and install 9.1 or 9.2.

You have to get a USB floppy for some authorizations. I use an Imation external USB Floppy Drive model FD-05PUB. Get this file: USB Floppy Enabler Version 2.1 from www.paceap.com. That will make the drive work with key disks and such. This will be the hardest part of your migration, moving all your authorizations. Hope you still have all your original disks. Even so, some of my disks did NOT get the authorization off my old drive, so I had to call the companies and show proof of purchase via fax to get a challenge/response thing going. In the end all was successful.

Hope you enjoy your new G4

[dss]

incredible,

thank you for the report.

please tell me more about the Atto cable please. from what i have read, it's a 68 pin LVD connection?

where'd you get the cabel?

since it seems we have a similar set up, can you imagine why some folks would see a move to the new G4's as a "downgrade?"

thank you again.

dss

[rtcstudio]

You need to check the model of the ATTO card you get. I got an Ultra SCSI 160 Dual Channel card. It uses 68 pin Very High Density (VHD) Ultra SCSI plugs. My hard drive chassis are all High Density (HD) 68 pin Ultra SCSI 3 plugs. Check your plugs.

My assistant tried many places and only about 2 out of 10 cable companies had the right ones. We think he found our cables at cablewholesale.com. He started by doing a search at pricewatch.com and he thinks he did the search on keywords like VHD, HD, CABLES and the like. It's been a while back.

I think some people consider moving from the 9600 to the G4 as a downgrade because for some reason a LOT of people have trouble with the move. You definitely need to allow about a week for the transition, and that's mainly because of the hassle of moving your authorizations for the plug-ins and other software. You'll need to have proof of purchase, and a fax machine. Some companies like McDsp are extremely helpful and cooperative. I won't mention the rest...

Some people have had trouble with Dual Video cards. If you are using only one monitor, you'll have no problem. If you need two, check out the DUC for ones that work. I did my far enough back that I bought the EXTREMELY expensive Jeronimo Dual Monitor Card ($795) but there are cheaper ones that work now.

If you are installing ProTools 5.1 some of your plug-ins may have to be upgraded. Some of the upgrades are free, some are not. Using the USB floppy drive I told you about will pull some of the authorization off your old 9600, but you may find some are unsuccessful. Then you have to call the company and do the challenge/response thing.

So there are many hassles involved, but just give yourself time and it will be worth it.

I loved my 9600 set up and it WAS rock solid for over a year. The G4 had a tweak stage, but again, I was up and working within a week. I can't imagine not having the extra speed and memory at this point, and the built in Super Drive is great too. My G4/733 system is rock solid too. I have that with a Bit 3 13-slot expansion chassis with 4 Mix cards and 4 Vintage cards, USD, 2 888/24's, 1 ADAT 24 bit bridge, MOTU MTP-AV USB midi interface, HUI, and two Sony 20" monitors.

By the way, I did not sell my 9600. I have it sitting in the corner and am using one of my drive bays (the one with the Sony AIT tape drive on one side and an Ultra SCSI bay in the other) that is hooked up to the Adaptec card. So I have a little station there to back up and burn CD's so I can keep working on the new G4. I downloaded Pro Tools Free into it and can use that to do editing for vocal tracks, put CD's together etc.

Good luck, reply if you have more questions. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[earprint]

Just to give you another report from a different perspective. I migrated to a G4 from a 9600 and went completely firewire. I have a 466 4 slot with the d 24 and 2 farm cards. In order to do digital picture I installed a miro DC 30+. that took all my slots so i had no choice except to go firewire.

I bought the 75 gig IBM deskstar with the 911 oxford chipset enclosure and have had no problems. I also got 60 gig internal drive and have no probs with it either. from what I understand, this option is far less expensive than the ATTO option. but, it's hard to get access to the stuff on old scsi drives. I use my 9600 with LE for small projects and to transfer files form SCSi to Firwire.

the benefits of the g4 are speed, speed and speed, especialy when working to picture.

Hope you find this valuable.

[dss]

thanks to both of you...

well, seeing as i already have three 50 pin internal drives that have been reliable, i think that firewire would be excessive.

i have not heard of folks getting many more than 8 tracks of audio off firewire? are you getting more?

ultimately i agree and am impressed with this thread.

i believe that i have all my key disks, and agree that colin at mcdsp is a fine man, and has been exteremely helpful to us in our studio.

so it seems that it's a go.

wonderful news!

thank you.

dss

[earprint]

I am getting up to 32 tracks playback with no stutter in anything. I'm very happy. I've talked to alot people who have had the same or better with firewire.

[Kurtstudio]

I'm getting 48-52 tracks per drive. With the fire wire drives it reduses the number of tracks you can have but they are cheeper and you don't thave to give up a slot.. But for my $ Atto runs great,I run 9.2.1 OS w 5.1.1 PT 1.5 ram nd tunes of tdm and rtas You'll love the upgrade, it was a piece of cake!> [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[Ray Lyon]

The March 2001 edition of Electronic Musician has an excellent article on the perils and pitfalls of upgrading from 9600 type to G3 or G4... check it out!

[rtcstudio]

I agree that firewire is a cool way to go. I am in the process of building a portable ProTools system around a Titanium Powerbook G4/500 using a Magma 4 slot PC card expansion chassis. The Magma holds 4 Mix Cards on one side and on the other side of it there is room for up to three drives, one of which can be a CD-ROM size bay. In this bay I'm putting a Granite Digital removeable Firewire drive, and the other two bays will hold two more firewire internal drives.

If you are interested in this do a search on Ed Hamilton on the DUC. He has really debugged and tested this type of system and he is getting 64 tracks playback on his Powerbook/firewire system. And yes, that's with edits.

You could use firewire drives with your other drives. I am using internal IDE drives, a removeable IDE drive bay, firewire and Ultra SCSI with my G4/733.