2018 MBP to Mac Pro... would this work?

[lovejimbo]

So, my main work machine is now the 2018 i9 MacBook Pro and it’s lovely for most jobs and when on site with clients.

However I also have a 2009 Mac Pro flashed to a 2010 with 12 core 3.3ghz processors, Sonnet PCI USB C and a 1080ti that I use for CUDA based 3D work at home.

Before I buy the cables, would it be possible to install the Nvidia drivers and then boot the Mac Pro using the MBP in Target Disk Mode over USB C - that would allow me to work on jobs that need the Mac Pro graphics card, whilst allowing me to keep all the work under one OS/plugin environment?

Any ideas welcome!

Basically, I just want to manage one machine, that the docks onto the Mac Pro for certain tasks...

 

[Samuelsan2001]

So, my main work machine is now the 2018 i9 MacBook Pro and it’s lovely for most jobs and when on site with clients.

However I also have a 2009 Mac Pro flashed to a 2010 with 12 core 3.3ghz processors, Sonnet PCI USB C and a 1080ti that I use for CUDA based 3D work at home.

Before I buy the cables, would it be possible to install the Nvidia drivers and then boot the Mac Pro using the MBP in Target Disk Mode over USB C - that would allow me to work on jobs that need the Mac Pro graphics card, whilst allowing me to keep all the work under one OS/plugin environment?

Any ideas welcome!

Basically, I just want to manage one machine, that the docks onto the Mac Pro for certain tasks...

In theory you should be able to use the MacBook Pro with the new external GPU without the Mac Pro at all, you may have to use Windows if you don’t want to mess around getting the nvidia to work though.

 

[lovejimbo]

Hey, thanks for the tip!

Yea - I'd prefer to stay away from Windows out of both an ecosystem point of view and the need to buy new plugin licences etc which will cost potentially tens of thousands.

At the moment I have a Vega 64 eGPU for general use - the Mac Pro will only come into play when needing the CUDA acceleration and I'd rather keep all the project files on the laptop so I can pick it up and put it in my bag, knowing all the project files are up-to-date etc

 

[Thysanoptera]

It should work, but you’re going to break keychain every time you boot from one machine to another.

 

[lovejimbo]

It should work, but you’re going to break keychain every time you boot from one machine to another.

Oh dear - what does breaking key chain involve, is it easy to fix?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Thysanoptera]

Oh dear - what does breaking key chain involve, is it easy to fix?

Thanks for the help!

There is no fix, it will be gone, you will have to type all your passwords again. And repeat that every time you boot on different machine. It may get annoying.

 

[lovejimbo]

Haha - yea, that sure sounds annoying!

Would this work -

I log in to my Mac Pro and have the MacBook Pro shared on my LAN Network (Gigabit unfortunately).

I then run my programs on the Mac Pro, sourcing them off the shared hard drive sat in my MacBook Pro and save any project file changes and outputs to the MacBook Pro.

It'd mostly be Octane for C4D renders and After Effects compositing that'd be getting produced.

Once that is done, I'd return to the MacBook Pro for the edit and motion graphics.

(This is literally just an endeavour to still be able to use Octane, but not want to deal with moving my files back and forth, syncing plug ins between machines and potentially forgetting something important )

Would you be able to run programmes not installed on the machine your physically in front of, over a gigabit network?

 

[Thysanoptera]

I don’t know if this would work, depends on application, if it uses any configuration files in system directories. You can just try it, and you may still use target disk mode, just do not boot from it on MP. This way the MBP ssd will be shown as external on MP.

 

[lovejimbo]

Thanks for the tips @Thysanoptera - glad I posted as I'd have well just lumbered in and wrecked my keychain without that heads up