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iMac Pro stop gap...

violst

violst

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 14, 2012
339
161
Have any Mac Pro users bought an iMac Pro as a stop gap until the new 2019 Mac Pro is released. My external thunderbolt 2 drives are starting to have problems and I don't know if I want to invest in new TB 2 drives or just upgrade to the iMac Pro and get TB3 drives, then use the TB3 drives on the new Mac Pro.

Any thoughts?
 
1) Typically the chance of disk failures are much higher than the enclosure itself being the source of problems, have you trouble shot enough to confirm that?

2) You can invest in TB3 enclosures even just using them for a TB2 computer for now. The Apple TB3>2 dongle is bidirectional, it is a cost but not that much. You only need one of it then the rest of the chains remain with their respective generation cable.

3) depending on the use case, nowadays a USB3 enclosure is already quite enough, if its a single platter or even a dual drive RAID.

4) I am unsure why you proposed upgrading to the iMac Pro with your problems, that seems entirely drive related. So if you find extra reasons in upgrading to the iMac Pro then those are probably more important than just your drives.
 
Chancha said:
1) Typically the chance of disk failures are much higher than the enclosure itself being the source of problems, have you trouble shot enough to confirm that?
Click to expand...

You bring up some very good points Chancha. I should have elaborated a little further. I'm not sure weather its the drives or the I/O ports. Both thunderbolt and usb. My drives stopped sleeping when I put the mac to sleep and my time machine drive unmounts daily now. My wacom tablet sometimes isn't recognized so I have to unplug the usb cable and re-pulg to fix it and my display USB downlink sometimes stops working and I have to do the same.

I'm not sure if this Mac Pro is starting to have problems that I can't diagnose, but I need a system that is up and running with no problems. Thats why the idea of a new Mac with AppleCare to be safe.
 
Well if multiple flavors of external devices are acting up, then it is indeed not a good sign. If you don't have a central hub, then it is likely to be the MacPro's I/O board being the problem. But that can also be as trivial as some system library file corruption.

It is true that if you are not confident or can't afford the time to pinpoint the issue, then a better solution might be to get a new Mac altogether. Given the fact there's no new Mac Pro to replace with then you are also correct that the best if not only choice is to get an iMac Pro. The higher spec models are pretty significant upgrades from your MP 6,1.

I wouldn't worry about the Mac Pro 7,1 for now. Its specs are unknown, or the form factor even. The release date can be as late as 2019 December without counting delays and backorders. If an iMac Pro is a solution for you now it will be for the next 2 years, in fact you may not even find a need to upgrade until 2nd or 3rd gen of the next MP.
 
I tried to install High Sierra but I upgraded my internal SSD to an OWC Aura. When I try and do the install it says I don't have the proper partition. I was told that I need to reinstall the original drive, do the install and then put the OWC SSD back in and then it will let me install High Sierra on the Aura. Seems pretty convoluted to me?
 
violst said:
I tried to install High Sierra but I upgraded my internal SSD to an OWC Aura. When I try and do the install it says I don't have the proper partition. I was told that I need to reinstall the original drive, do the install and then put the OWC SSD back in and then it will let me install High Sierra on the Aura. Seems pretty convoluted to me?
Click to expand...

Doesn't sound right, I assume you have a MP6,1. I don't see how installing the original drive is going to help, because you have to pull it back out to reinstall the OWC drive?

That won't change the data on the installer, I'm sure I'm missing something, but last time I checked computers don't run on magic.
[doublepost=1528367182][/doublepost]Maybe you are trying to run the installer by opening it and it's giving you some error about partitions?

Best to make a bootable USB stick with the installer.

Install Disk Creator

BACK UP YOU DATA.

I know this maybe a hard step, as I have no idea how much data you have, and you external drives are not working correct. You maybe able to backup your data to iCould, or get a USB3 drive for this. I know that sucks, but you really need to do a format and install, not just run the installer, because for some reason I ran the installer twice the other day, and it gives no option to archive and install, and doesn't replace everything the OS runs on.

Once you have backed up you data, boot the USB installer by holding the option key at boot time and selecting it. Once the installer boots, you will have a menu at the top of the screen where you can select the disk utility, open it and erase the OWC drive and format it APFS( or HFS+ Journaled if you need to maintain backward compatibility for some reason, not recommended ).

Once the disk has been erased and formatted, quit the disk utility and continue the install, you should now be able to select your OWC SSD as the place you want to install.

Let us know if that doesn't work.
 
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/26/owc-aura-ssd-macos-high-sierra/

I guess its a firmware problem.

Here is an update

Update: I have spoken with OWC customer service, and they say I will need to reinstall the OEM SSD. Then upgrade to High Sierra, which will update the Mac's firmware. Then re-install the OWC drive, and upgrade that to High Sierra. I hope I can find the old drive...


4JOd1.png
 
Ok, so now I sort of understand, tho I'm not real sure how you installed on the drive in the first place?

I don't get the missing firmware partition, unless you don't have your EFI partition.

If you would post the results of Applications>Utilities>Terminal:

Code: 
diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *68.7 GB    disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk3         68.5 GB    disk0s2

/dev/disk1 (internal):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                         250.1 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk2         249.8 GB   disk1s2

/dev/disk2 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +249.8 GB   disk2
                                 Physical Store disk1s2
   1:                APFS Volume High_Sierra             33.7 GB    disk2s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 21.7 MB    disk2s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                517.8 MB   disk2s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      1.1 GB     disk2s4

/dev/disk3 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +68.5 GB    disk3
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume Untitled                58.1 GB    disk3s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 20.9 MB    disk3s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                517.8 MB   disk3s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      20.5 KB    disk3s4

/dev/disk4 (disk image):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        +251.7 MB   disk4
   1:                  Apple_HFS MacX YouTube Downloader 251.6 MB   disk4s1
 
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