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Apple.of.my.I

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 12, 2011
23
1
Texas
I'm looking at purchasing a new iMac with the 5k display. The thing is I am currently using Mavericks 10.9.5 on my 2011 IMac. Would I be able to clone the new iMac which will come with El Capitan with my Mavericks clone? Is it possible? Is there a work around of some sort? Thanks in advance.
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,482
16,197
California
I'm not clear what you are trying to do? You won't be able to run Mavericks on the new iMac. Can you explain exactly what you are trying to accomplish.
 

Apple.of.my.I

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 12, 2011
23
1
Texas
I'm not clear what you are trying to do? You won't be able to run Mavericks on the new iMac. Can you explain exactly what you are trying to accomplish.
[doublepost=1458660568][/doublepost]I'm running software for audio recording and it's been running very well and is very stable with Mavericks. It's an earlier version of recording software. Since El Capitan is still new, a lot of users of this recording software are having issues. It would be much easier if I could clone the new iMac and not worry about incompatibilities. I'm also running 3rd party applications in conjunction with the recording software.
 

CoastalOR

macrumors 68040
Jan 19, 2015
3,032
1,151
Oregon, USA
I'm looking at purchasing a new iMac with the 5k display. The thing is I am currently using Mavericks 10.9.5 on my 2011 IMac. Would I be able to clone the new iMac which will come with El Capitan with my Mavericks clone? Is it possible? Is there a work around of some sort? Thanks in advance.
Maybe you should re-evalute the purchase of a new iMac if you must have Mavericks. Apple will not officially support what you are trying to do. Apple will not provide any technical support if you have software problems. You could look at buying a iMac newer than the 2011 that will run Mavericks. A mid 2014 21.5" non-retina iMac or older will run Mavericks.
 

Apple.of.my.I

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 12, 2011
23
1
Texas
It would be difficult to find a new 2014 model. I'm ok with Apple not giving me tech support if I put Mavericks on a 2015 IMac. I was just wondering if it was possible.
[doublepost=1458667998][/doublepost]
It would be difficult to find a new 2014 model. I'm ok with Apple not giving me tech support if I put Mavericks on a 2015 IMac. I was just wondering if it was possible.

I guess I can update my current system to El Capitan and see how stable it is with my software. I have a clone of my Mavericks system anyway. I wonder if I can clone it back to Mavericks after the update?
 

simon lefisch

macrumors 65816
Sep 29, 2014
1,006
253
[doublepost=1458660568][/doublepost]I'm running software for audio recording and it's been running very well and is very stable with Mavericks. It's an earlier version of recording software. Since El Capitan is still new, a lot of users of this recording software are having issues. It would be much easier if I could clone the new iMac and not worry about incompatibilities. I'm also running 3rd party applications in conjunction with the recording software.
You can purchase the new iMac, then partition the drive and clone the older version of OS X to the other partition. Only annoyance is you'll have to boot between OS's.

Or just use 1 machine for recording and the other everything else.
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,482
16,197
California
It would be difficult to find a new 2014 model. I'm ok with Apple not giving me tech support if I put Mavericks on a 2015 IMac. I was just wondering if it was possible.

Okay... understood. Bottom line is a new 5k iMac is not going to run Mavericks. It does not have the necessary drivers for that system.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,243
13,317
OP wrote:
"I'm running software for audio recording and it's been running very well and is very stable with Mavericks. It's an earlier version of recording software. Since El Capitan is still new, a lot of users of this recording software are having issues"

What DAW software do you want to run?
My advice:

DON'T change anything on the Mac you have now.
If the software runs under Mavericks, it runs.
Leave the internal drive alone.

BUT --
Why don't you try installing El Capitan on an EXTERNAL drive, along with your audio production software?
You can boot and run that way and give your DAW app a "test run" without messing with your current Mavericks setup on the internal drive.

Just because others are having problems, doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have the same problems.
If things don't work out, just re-initialize the "test drive" and try something else.

If nothing works, you could always keep the old iMac around as your "music production platform", running an older OS -- and still use the new iMac for other things...
 
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