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2009 Mac Pro can i save it / some questions

sparkie1984

sparkie1984

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Dec 20, 2009
2,909
2,227
a small village near London
Hi all,

Long story short I've been working at a school that uses macs. On Friday as I was leaving I noticed a mac pro thrown in the site skip along with an old HP server and some printers etc.

Anyway I went and spoke to the caretaker and he it doesn't do what they want it to anymore and isn't used so I can have it if I want.

I brought it home and it turns out its a 2009 MacPro!! and it works deposit being a little busted up and scratched, however its running 10.5.8 OS X Server and I obviously do not have the password for it. So I had a google and found a way to start in single user mode an input some bits to make it think it had just completed the installation. Only problem is it then asks for the software serial number. Which I obviously don't have.

Is there a way that I can just install a new OS X on it. I am not bothered about keeping OS X Server, I am just trying to get it to work.

I have tried cmd R but apparently 10.5.8 never had that option.

I have a spare 640GB drive but I can't work out how to get any software onto it if I can't boot the Mac Pro and it doesn't have the recovery feature?

Any help much appreciated
 
On any other Mac with a recent OSX you can make a USB install stick, I do not have a link at hand but if you google "osx usb install" it will surely pop up.

It will however ask for the Apple ID to check if that ID is registered for owning a Mac with that version of OSX. OSX is not free as people might think now, it is just not sold seperately anymore.
 
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Yes, finding someone with a Mac to help you make a USB install drive is probably the easiest way to get a fresh install of OS X on it. I don't recall exactly, but I believe you can skip the part about entering your Apple ID during the install.

Alternatively, you can install OS X on another Mac and transplant the drive back in to your Mac Pro or clone the drive.
 
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As bokkow and pastrychef posted it's not difficult to revive it. Don't give up, it's a very capable system.
Try to ignore the current 10.5.8 installation and move on.
If you can also install 10.6.8 by finding an install dvd or from anywhere else, you could join app store and install the latest os x versions.
Good Luck.
 
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You could also connect the mac pro to you mbp via firewire (the mac pro in target disk mode) and install OS X from the mbp or even use CCC (carbon copy cloner) to clone your mbp disk directly to mac pro.
 
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filmak said:
You could also connect the mac pro to you mbp via firewire (the mac pro in target disk mode) and install OS X from the mbp or even use CCC (carbon copy cloner) to clone your mbp disk directly to mac pro.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's even faster! If you have a Firewire cable that is. With CCC you will have the exact same install on your Mac Pro as what you're used to on you MBP, same settings and such, worked for me several times when trading up!
 
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I actually have the install CDs for a Mac Pro 2009 in my office draw, I assume that they should also work in a 2009 Mac Pro Server. If you fail to install via the USB method I could either send you an image of them, burn a copy and throw them in the post or....

...I could also just send you the disks themselves, if you promise to send them back to me.

Either way congrats on you dumpster-diving! I now live in the Netherlands, although I'm originally also from a small village outside of London, and we do like things that are 'Gratis' over here! ;)
 
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It appears to be a 2009 base model mac pro 3gb ram, 2.66ghz processor.

It also has a raid card, not sure if it was an expensive upgrade? And 3x 640gb hard disks

Even the HP server has 2gb ram and 2.66 ghz processor with 2x 10K 146gb hard disks

Not bad for a skip find!!
 
sparkie1984 said:
...It also has a raid card, not sure if it was an expensive upgrade?
Click to expand...
Oh absolutely. But it's not worth keeping it, more of a troublemaker. Will ask you periodically to leave the machine alone while it's recharging its battery. Sell it, I think I've still got ~170€ in 2014 for the one that came with my 4,1.
 
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Fangio said:
Oh absolutely. But it's not worth keeping it, more of a troublemaker. Will ask you periodically to leave the machine alone while it's recharging its battery. Sell it. I think I've still got ~170€ in 2014 for the one that came with my 4,1.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough it was warning the battery was low, I don't think it's been used for a while.

I've left it on to try and let it charge
 
Just sell it, then use the money to get a SSD. For general use, there is no need to have super large capacity high speed storage. A relatively small SSD can do the job better than few RAID HDD. If you still want a single large partition. You can simply use software RAID 0 to achieve that (remember to backup all your data).
 
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Yeah I'll look into selling it, thanks.

I just thought I'd leave it powered up to check it works. However it still says the battery is low after several hours so perhaps it's dead?

I'm wondering if I can turn the Mac Pro into some sort of basic server where I can store all my photos, do time machine backups etc? (Obviously I'd back up the Mac Pro also)
 
Sure check it out. Charging may take quite some time. There are just a lot better RAID solutions out there in the meantime. But there's also still demand for these cards, maybe because of the Apple branding, so nothing wrong with passing it on either.
 
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Well to update:

The raid card battery must be dead as it never charged!

I'm now thinking about turning it into my daily computer and selling my MacBook Pro.

So for ssd options as I understand it I can either put one in the hard drive sled but limited to SATA II speeds

Buy a pci adapter and run an ssd at SATA III speeds

Or run a PCI E ssd. Which I am assuming are mega expensive?


Then I can whack any half decent graphics card in it and it'll work but no display a boot screen is that correct?
 
SSD via SATA2 -> Yes
SSD Via PCIe SATA 3 -> Yes (and bootable if you get the correct card)
PCIe SSD -> Yes (maybe not that expensive as you expect)

NOT any GPU will work, you better check the sticky thread.
 
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sparkie1984 said:
Oh i thought it was an upgrade to add bluetooth / wifi?
Click to expand...

Bluetooth 2.1 was standard. Wifi was optional. They are separate cards. You should be able to check what you have by going to About this Mac/System Report or the System Preferences.

If you want to add wifi, you have several options. Any mPCIe Airport card from a recent (2009-2013ish) Mac should be simple plug and play. (I am using the wireless-N Airport card from the 2011 iMac, part number 661-5946. This card can use all three of the Mac Pro's built-in antennae for a max 450 Mbit/s link speed, better than Mac Pro card which oddly can only use two antennae. Can be had for around $10 in the US.)

You might also be interested in this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...orking-on-mac-pro-2010-keep-updating.1748061/
 
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