MAC Pro 4,1 - New SSD & OSX Install

[Vudo2]

I have recently started preparing my older Mac Pro 4,1 (Early 2009) 8-Core Dual 2.26MHz for switching OS X from Snow Leopard 10.6.8 to El Capitan 10.11.6.

I have a new Samsung EVO 1TB SSD drive on the way for the install of the new OS. I also downloaded the El Capitan Installer and saved on my current OS drive.

Right now my current boot drive (Bay-1) is running Snow Leopard (and mind you beautifully!). I was wondering if I could just pull out the existing 1TB drive from Bay-1 and slide it into Bay-2 - Install the new bare SSD into Bay-1 - Restart the machine and then install 10.11.6 from the install file on SL by selecting the new SSD when prompted for a destination drive. My MAC Pro will automatically find the original boot drive now in Bay-2 and just boot to it right?

If this works my plan would be to "option" boot into each OS at will while I get acclimated to El Capitan. Later I would probably wipe out SL in Bay-2 and use as a file storage drive once I know I am 100% done with SL…although sadly..it will surely be an OS I will forever miss I must comment here that it has worked almost 99.2% flawlessly for me over the past 7 years up to present and will forever be an OS I will remember as one of the most rock solid and best performing I have ever had the pleasure of living in...I have literally no major complaints about it and have loved it all this time.

 

[usna92]

I believe your plan should work as described. With no OS on bay 1 your mac will find the OS in bay 2. You will be able to boot from that and download and point at the other drive. Another option would be to download ElCap on the bay 2 drive and create a USB stick to install it on Bay1. Either way should work.

 

[h9826790]

You can always boot from one drive and install OSX into another drive. That's why apart from my system SSD, I keep a full macOS on one of my internal HDD. Which gives me full functioning backup OS. As long as not both drive fail together, I can always boot from the remaining drive and install OS onto another drive easily. For cMP, there is no need to make that USB installation drive.

Anyway, why move the drive around? Just keep the original one in bay 1, install the new drive in bay 2, finish the OSX 10.11.6 installation, and then use it. You can move the drive to whichever bay you want, but it shouldn't make any difference.

 

[fatespawn]

I was wondering if I could just pull out the existing 1TB drive from Bay-1 and slide it into Bay-2 - Install the new bare SSD into Bay-1 - Restart the machine and then install 10.11.6 from the install file on SL by selecting the new SSD when prompted for a destination drive. My MAC Pro will automatically find the original boot drive now in Bay-2 and just boot to it right?

That will all work, but you might want to try something like this:

Apricorn Velocity Solo x2

Plug this into an open PCI express slot and you'll get much better performance than the old onboard SATA connections. You can boot from this as well.

They sell them on Amazon for $90

 

[Vudo2]

Anyway, why move the drive around? Just keep the original one in bay 1, install the new drive in bay 2, finish the OSX 10.11.6 installation, and then use it. You can move the drive to whichever bay you want, but it shouldn't make any difference.

Thanks all for the responses..I figured this would work as planned but just wanted to make sure before I went moving my drives around and setting them into the correct "numbered" aluminum trays. I want to keep my main use OS in drive bay #1 because I am kinda anal like that...I just like to keep things in order and prefer it setup that way and then have any secondary use OS's in any subsequent bays....I want to also make sure my trays have the correct corresponding numbers on them .

Now onto seeing if firmware updating my 4,1 to 5,1 is something worth considering...any responses on that would be most appreciated before I post another thread.

I just want to know if its worth it OR even more so safe with no drawbacks, to do the Update with intention of ONLY doing so so that I have the option of LATER Upgrading to Sierra when/if I am ever needing too.

I do not have any future plans to change my CPU's unless I really have too but it might be beneficial to upgrade to Sierra someday or even just being able to download the install file now before its no longer available from Apple, which I am assuming can't be downloaded at all from the app store unless the firmware has been Updated...right? Any opinions on all of this?

 

[h9826790]

I am assuming can't be downloaded at all from the app store unless the firmware has been Updated...right?

I don't think Appstore will check your Machine's type. Anyway, why not just try it? It only cost you a minute to know the answer. Once it start the download, you can cancel it if you have no plan to install that now.

 

[ActionableMango]

I just want to know if its worth it OR even more so safe with no drawbacks, to do the Update with intention of ONLY doing so so that I have the option of LATER Upgrading to Sierra when/if I am ever needing too.

I do not have any future plans to change my CPU's unless I really have too but it might be beneficial to upgrade to Sierra someday or even just being able to download the install file now before its no longer available from Apple, which I am assuming can't be downloaded at all from the app store unless the firmware has been Updated...right? Any opinions on all of this?

You can download the three files now and defer the update until you need it. The three files you'll need the updater, the latest 5,1 firmware update, and the latest 4,1 firmware update (in case you'd ever want to revert back).

Once you have the files downloaded, there is no concern about where the files are hosted or if they are hosted at all. I know some of the existing procedures out there seem to require that, but it's old and incorrect information.

Personally, I cannot think of any reason not to do the update except in the very unlikely scenario where you have MP41.0081.B08 firmware, just because it is special and can never be reverted back to. You can check like so:

• From the Apple menu, select About This Mac.
• Click System Report, select the Hardware section, and view the Boot ROM Version.

 

[Vudo2]

You can download the three files now and defer the update until you need it. The three files you'll need the updater, the latest 5,1 firmware update, and the latest 4,1 firmware update (in case you'd ever want to revert back).

Once you have the files downloaded, there is no concern about where the files are hosted or if they are hosted at all. I know some of the existing procedures out there seem to require that, but it's old and incorrect information.

Personally, I cannot think of any reason not to do the update except in the very unlikely scenario where you have MP41.0081.B08 firmware, just because it is special and can never be reverted back to. You can check like so:

• From the Apple menu, select About This Mac.
• Click System Report, select the Hardware section, and view the Boot ROM Version.

I have B07 so totally doable. I did download the Tool and both Firmware files. I am going to hold on to those and also keep my Snow Leopard install on a separate hard drive...that being said if I do decide to do the firmware update I can run it from SL so I don't have to worry about the issues I read about when doing the update from El Capi and the need to shut off SIP.

My only concern is if I will have hardware issues with what I currently run on the 4.1 firmware by flashing to 5.1 or if any issues if I update my hardware like new graphics cards or anything in the next few months.

 

[pastrychef]

If/when you do the 5,1 firmware update, you can download Sierra from the App Store even if you don't intend to use it yet. Once your account has downloaded it, you can always have access to it at a later date if you ever decide you want to use Sierra.

 

[Vudo2]

If/when you do the 5,1 firmware update, you can download Sierra from the App Store even if you don't intend to use it yet. Once your account has downloaded it, you can always have access to it at a later date if you ever decide you want to use Sierra.

Thanks Pastrychef....I wasn't sure it wasn't allowing the update because I am running Snow Leopard vs just checking for the firmware version. That answers the question of what Apple looks for to download Sierra...I thought at first it was just a matter of not being able to go that far via upgrading from too old of an OS all the way to Seirra (software related) or a combination of the 2.

TO DO or NOT TO DO - 4,1 to 5,1 Firmware Update
------------------------------------------------------------

I might just hold off on the firmware update for now until I am 100% sure it won't adversely effect ANYTHING regarding the hardware once the firmware is implemented....as stated I do not plan on updating anything hardware related (aside from graphics in the distant future) and not sure if the 5,1 machines (aside from the CPU's and memory) still had the same internals that my 4,1 machine has. I would hate to to do the firmware update and find my machine, for any reason, runs slower OR is effected in the future if I do install new hardware like new new graphics cards just because I am running a new firmware version not intended for the original machine build.

How can we be 100% sure there are absolutely no drawbacks to doing the upgrade? Have enough people done this to qualify that or is this still to new of a process to tell? Most of what i read most people do the firmware update and then go right to new memory type (1333MHZ) and CPU upgrades (these I will NOT be doing at anytime in the future).

If I knew this was 100% I'd just do the flash now while still having Snow Leopard installed and be done with it. Has anyone did system bench-marking to determine any performance issues or glitches on a system that has gone from 4,1 to 5,1 (without changing anything else)? My machine is an 8-Core / duo 2.26MHz with 48GB mem (Tri-Channel configured).

I don't want to cause myself ANY issues with all this stuff but do want to take advantage of what I can out of this awesome machine....it has ran absolutely awesome for the past 7 years AS IS on Snow and I LOVE IT! What brought me to all this crap is now I have to finally bare down and and upgrade the OS for simply 2 reasons and those alone:

- The need to update my browsers (Safari and/or Firefox) moving forward
- I'd like to finally be able to update my iPhone and iPad to the latest OS and still be able to connect to iTunes and sync my constantly changing contacts and calendar

If the above 2 were not a concern I'd THANKFULLY and JOYOUSLY be running Snow till the pigs fly. I have never in my life had a more flawless build and one that is so lighting fast...I haven't even installed a new SSD drive yet!