MP 1,1-5,1 Obsolete, Use OpenCore instead | What you need to do to make Catalina work with MacPro5,1

[eksu]

Not yet, no cloning tool supports the way Catalina is installed.

For what it's worth, I was able to use the DD command to migrate Catalina.

My external drive (firewire hdd) was the same exact size of my NVMe drive so it made it easy, but I think there is a way to re-claim the space if you are moving from smaller to bigger.

My understanding is that you shouldn't have both drives connected to the same machine afterward because their may be weird APFS ID things, but it worked fine for me.

 

[dlwg]

Not yet, no cloning tool supports the way Catalina is installed.

One of the evident differences is that User data is now isolated in a separate APFS container.

 

[Rastafabi]

Not yet, no cloning tool supports the way Catalina is installed.

It does work with dd, though. Just did it.

sudo dd if=/dev/rdiskX_source of=/dev/rdiskY_target bs=1m

This takes some time: ~200GB/h from SATA to NVME. It results in a bootable system. Also I realized that you can rename both Catalina partitions to your liking without issues. At least while booted.

 

[tsialex]

It does work with dd, though. Just did it.
This takes some time: ~200GB/h from SATA to NVME. It results in a bootable system. Also I realized that you can rename both Catalina partitions to your liking without issues. At least while booted.

I did not tested it yet, no NVMe drives that I can empty now, but VMware Fusion can use a NVMe drive/blade as a rawDisk too.

 

[AidenShaw]

It does work with dd, though. Just did it.
This takes some time: ~200GB/h from SATA to NVME. It results in a bootable system. Also I realized that you can rename both Catalina partitions to your liking without issues. At least while booted.

Be sure to "fsck -fy" all partitions on the target drive after cloning with "dd", so that it is TRIMed.

"dd" fills 100% of the accessible disk capacity, and does not TRIM. If there is unallocated space (not in any partition), you may need to create a partition, fsck the partition, and then delete the partition.

 

[startergo]

Did somebody try target disk mode? My guess is that you would need 2 adapters thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt2/1 and thunderbolt to FireWire? This would also work nice for Boot camp install.

 

[tsialex]

Did somebody try target disk mode? My guess is that you would need 2 adapters thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt2/1 and thunderbolt to FireWire? This would also work nice for Boot camp install.

Last time I tested TDM, it won't recognise any NVMe drives installed in a MP5,1, maybe this changed with recent BootROMs.

 

[startergo]

Last time I tested TDM, it won't recognise any NVMe drives installed in a MP5,1, maybe this changed with recent BootROMs.

What did you use 2 chained adapters?

 

[tsialex]

What did you use 2 chained adapters?

Mini late-2012 to MP5,1, via FW800 - only drives connected to the SATA southbridge ports were recognised at the time. This could be changed with new firmwares.

 

[dlwg]

I can confirm that all NVMe and AHCI PCIe blade SSDs are visible in Target Disk mode when connecting through FireWire to TB1-2 or TB1-2+TB3 with the latest firmware. Even DVD drive can be used that way through Target Disk mode. Everything also works vice-versa, when a modern Mac is in Target Mode itself connected that way.

 

[startergo]

I can confirm that all NVMe and AHCI PCIe blade SSDs are visible in Target Disk mode when connecting through FireWire to TB1-2 or TB1-2+TB3 with the latest firmware. Even DVD drive can be used that way through Target Disk mode. Everything also works vice-versa, when a modern Mac is in Target Mode itself connected that way.

Very well. I already ordered my converters.

 

[mangombia]

Okay, so I've got a 2012 i5 mini that I run headless as an iTunes server for our house (~4tb of movies & music). I plan on installing another NVMe SSD into my 5,1 formatted as APFS, connect both with a Firewire cable, reboot the 5,1 into target disk mode, then using Remote Desktop install Catalina on the NVM. What problems or caveats should I anticipate?

 

[dlwg]

Okay, so I've got a 2012 i5 mini that I run headless as an iTunes server for our house (~4tb of movies & music). I plan on installing another NVMe SSD into my 5,1 formatted as APFS, connect both with a Firewire cable, reboot the 5,1 into target disk mode, then using Remote Desktop install Catalina on the NVM. What problems or caveats should I anticipate?

You can’t install Catalina using Remote Desktop if only you are not using the VMware method. This method can be executed solely on MP 5,1 itself. I also do not recommend formatting your drive as APFS – your installation will stuck after the first phase in VMware.

If you are planning of installing Catalina on your MacMini using a Target Mode MP 5,1 disk, then you must attach a monitor to your MacMini first.

 

[fiatlux]

There are two types of socket 1366 i7s, older ones are the same as W35xx with ECC and TXT disabled (Nehalem), newer ones are W36xx Xeons with ECC and TXT support disabled (Westmere).

So, it's exactly the same instruction set and it's a downgrade since RAM speed are limited to just 1066MHz ECC is disabled.

My cMP (4,1 flashed into a 5,1) happily runs with an i7 980x and 24 GB of non-ECC RAM. At the time of upgrade, going for an i7 and non ECC RAM saved me hundreds of €/$. An i7 990x should work equally well, it is just a bit more difficult to source.

 

[tsialex]

My cMP (4,1 flashed into a 5,1) happily runs with an i7 980x and 24 GB of non-ECC RAM. At the time of upgrade, going for an i7 and non ECC RAM saved me hundreds of €/$. An i7 990x should work equally well, it is just a bit more difficult to source.

Now this route don't make any sense whatsoever since X56xx Xeons are cheaper than i7 9xx.

 

[fiatlux]

Now this route don't make any sense whatsoever since X56xx Xeons are cheaper than i7 9xx.

You are right. I suspect i7 9xx may also not work in dual-CPU machines.

 

[tsialex]

You are right. I suspect i7 9xx may also not work in dual-CPU machines.

i7 9xx are the downgraded equivalent of W36xx, so no dual socket support.

 

[tsialex]

10.15 DP2 build 19A487l - MacPro5,1 blocked as expected:

 

[racer]

10.15 DP2 build 19A487l - MacPro5,1 blocked as expected:

View attachment 843433

Blocked but still working with the DP1 workaround?

 

[tsialex]

Blocked but still working with the DP1 workaround?

Probably, I'll test it tonight.

 

[The Spirit]

where can i find AirPortBrcm4331.kext on my system?

 

[tsialex]

where can i find AirPortBrcm4331.kext on my system?

/System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/

 

[bsbeamer]

where can i find AirPortBrcm4331.kext on my system?

 

[tsialex]

Finally starting the install of DP2:

 

[dlwg]

I couldn’t update from DP1 to DP2 through VMware. I don’t think the current Fusion knows how to load Catalina’s boot.efi from APFS for the installer... It just shows Apple and freezes.